Tarqumiyah () is a city located 12 kilometers northwest of Hebron, in the southern West Bank, in the Hebron Governorate in the State of Palestine. The city had a population of 19,311 in 2017.

History Tarqumiyah is an ancient town situated on a rocky hill. Cisterns have been found here.Dauphin, 1998, p. 938 According to the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP), this place is the early Christian Tricomias, an episcopal see.Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. 310

Middle Ages A Mamluk endowment record attests to the village's inhabited status in 1262 CE.

Ottoman Empire In the 16th century, Tarquimyah was a small village.Grossman, D. (1986). "Oscillations in the Rural Settlement of Samaria and Judaea in the Ottoman Period". in Shomron studies. Dar, S., Safrai, S., (eds). Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House. p. 368 In the census of 1596 the village appeared to be in the Nahiya of Halil of the Liwa of Quds. It had a population of 17 families, all Muslim. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 33,33% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, olive trees, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues; a total of 6,500 akçe.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 123

In 1838 Edward Robinson passed by and noted that Tarqumiya was on the most common path from Gaza, via Bayt Jibrin to Hebron. While resting at Tarqumiya, he was visited by the local Sheikh and other dignitaries, who “demeaned themselves kindly and courteously."Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 2, p. 399Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, pp. 11-12 He further noted it as a Muslim village, between the mountains and Gaza, but subject to the government of el-Khulil.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 117

In 1863 Victor Guérin found it to have 400 inhabitants,Guérin, 1869, p. 345 while an Ottoman village list from about 1870 counted 45 houses and a population of 108, though the population count included men, only.Socin, 1879, p. 162Hartmann, 1883, p. 143 noted 80 houses

In 1883 SWP described Tarqumiyah as “A small village on a rocky hill near the low lands. On the east, about a mile distant, is a spring; on the south are olives.”

British Mandate According to the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Tarqumiyah had a population of 976 inhabitants, all Muslims,Barron, 1923, p. 10 increasing in the 1931 census to 1,173, still entirely Muslim, in 225 inhabited houses.Mills, 1932, p. 34

In the 1945 statistics the population of Tarqumiyah was 1,550 Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 23 and the total land area was 21,188 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 50 1,029 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 6,614 were used for cereals,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 94 while 152 dunams were built-up (urban) land.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 144

Jordan and Israel

In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Tarqumiyah came under Jordanian rule.In 1961, the population of Tarqumiyah was 2,651.Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 14

In 1967, it came under Israeli occupation. The population in the 1967 census conducted by the Israeli authorities was 2,412. Israel has expropriated land from Tarqumiyah in order to construct two Israeli settlements: Telem and Adora.Tarqumiya Town Profile, ARIJ, p. 15

Palestinian Authority Since 1995, Tarqumiyah has also been governed by the Palestinian National Authority as part of Area B of the West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of over 14,357 in 2007.2007 PCBS Census Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. p.118.

Footnotes

Bibliography

External links

Welcome To Tarqumiya Tarqumya, Welcome to Palestine Survey of Western Palestine, Map 21: IAA, Wikimedia commons Tarqumiya Town (fact sheet), Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem, ARIJ Tarqumiya Town Profile, ARIJ Tarqumiya - aerial photo, ARIJ The priorities and needs for development in Tarqumiya town based on the community and local authorities' assessment, ARIJ