Yatma (original) (raw)

Municipality type D in Nablus, State of Palestine

Yatma
Municipality type D (Village council)
Arabic transcription(s)
• Arabic يتما
Yatma, 2012Yatma, 2012
Yatma is located in State of PalestineYatmaYatmaLocation of Yatma within Palestine
Coordinates: 32°06′30″N 35°16′06″E / 32.10833°N 35.26833°E / 32.10833; 35.26833
Palestine grid 175/168
State State of Palestine
Governorate Nablus
Government
• Type Village council
Population (2017)[1]
• Total 3,363
Name meaning from Yetma, personal name[2]

Yatma (Arabic: يتما) is a Palestinian town in the Nablus Governorate in northern West Bank, located 15 kilometers south of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the town had a population of 3,363 inhabitants in 2017.[1]

Yatma is located 12.4 km south of Nablus. It is bordered by Qabalan to the east and south, Beita to the north, Yasuf and As Sawiya to the west.[3]

Pottery sherds from the Iron Age II, Persian, Hellenistic/Roman and the Crusader/Ayyubid eras have been found here.[4]

It has been suggested that this was the place of origin of Dosthai of Kefar Iathma who is mentioned in the Mishnah as a disciple of the House of Shammai,[5][6] and that it was the Eincheitem of the Crusader period.[4]

Sherds from the Mamluk era has also been found here.[4]

In 1517, the village was included in the Ottoman empire with the rest of Palestine, and in the 1596 tax-records it appeared as Yitma, located in the Nahiya of Jabal Qubal of the Liwa of Nablus. The population was 10 households and 2 bachelors, all Muslim. They paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and beehives, a press for olive oil or grape syrup, in addition to occasional revenues and a fixed tax for people of Nablus area; a total of 1,800 akçe.[7] Sherds from the early Ottoman era have also been found here.[4]

In 1838, Edward Robinson noted it as part of Jurat Merda District, south of Nablus.[8][9]

In 1850/1 de Saulcy noted Yatma on his travels in the region,[10] as did Victor Guérin in 1870.[11]

In 1870/1871 (1288 AH), an Ottoman census listed the village in the nahiya (sub-district) of Jamma'in al-Thani, subordinate to Nablus.[12]

In 1882, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine Yetma was described as "A little village, on high ground, with olives round it."[13]

British Mandate era

[edit]

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Yatma had a population of 242 Muslims,[14] increasing in the 1931 census to 325 Muslims, in 64 houses.[15]

In the 1945 statistics the population was 440 Muslims[16] while the total land area was 3,777 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[17]Of this, 1,214 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 1,741 for cereals,[18] while 44 dunams were classified as built-up areas.[19]

In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Yatma came under Jordanian rule.

The Jordanian census of 1961 found 618 inhabitants.[20]

Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Yatma has been under Israeli occupation. According to the Israeli census taken that year, the village had a population of 681.[21]

After the 1995 accords, 29% of village land is defined as Area B land, while the remaining 71% is defined as Area C land. Israel has also confiscated village land for Israeli bypass roads.[22]

In 2011, two cars were set ablaze in Yatma and the village mosque was vandalised with Hebrew graffiti, reading "price tag" and "Migron", in what was assumed to be a price tag attack by Israeli settlers.[23][24]

  1. ^ a b Preliminary Results of the Population, Housing and Establishments Census, 2017 (PDF). Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) (Report). State of Palestine. February 2018. pp. 64–82. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
  2. ^ Palmer, 1881, p. 250
  3. ^ Yatma Village Profile, ARIJ, p. 4
  4. ^ a b c d Finkelstein et al, 1997, p. 639
  5. ^ Mishnah, Orlah, 2:5
  6. ^ Neubauer, 1868, pp. 268-269
  7. ^ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 136
  8. ^ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol. 3, Appendix 2, p. 127
  9. ^ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol. 3, p. 92
  10. ^ Saulcy, 1854, vol 1, p. 103
  11. ^ Guérin, 1875, p. 163
  12. ^ Grossman, David (2004). Arab Demography and Early Jewish Settlement in Palestine. Jerusalem: Magnes Press. p. 252.
  13. ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 287
  14. ^ Barron, 1923, Table IX, p. 25
  15. ^ Mills, 1932, p. 66
  16. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 19
  17. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 61
  18. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 108
  19. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 158
  20. ^ Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 25
  21. ^ Perlmann, Joel (February 2012). "The 1967 Census of the West Bank and Gaza Strip: A Digitized Version" (PDF). Levy Economics Institute. p. 15. Retrieved 28 December 2024.
  22. ^ Yatma Village Profile, ARIJ, pp. 15-17
  23. ^ Second West Bank Mosque Vandalized, Settlers Blamed, 8 September 2011
  24. ^ Quamar Mishirqi-Asad,'High ‘Price Tag’ in the Mosque of the Village Yatma,' in Rabbis for Human Rights, 13 September 2011. Archived September 3, 2012, at the Wayback Machine