'Atara (Arabic: عطارة'Atâra) is a Palestinian village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, located 15 kilometers north of Ramallah in the central West Bank. It is situated along a mountain ridge line with four peaks and is built upon the second highest point in the West Bank at 810 meters above sea level.[3][4] 'Atara's total land area consists of 9,545 dunams, most of which is cultivable.[4]
In 1517, the village was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire with the rest of Palestine. In 1596 it appeared in the tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Quds of the Liwa of Quds. It had a population of 55 Muslim households who paid a fixed tax rate of 33.3% on various agricultural products, including wheat, barley, olives, vineyards or fruit trees, and goats or beehives; a total of 4,300 Akçe.[11]
In the 17th-19th centuries, 'Atara was located in the nahiya of Bani Zeid. Adult males were required to pay 58-60 akçe to the Ottoman government in Jerusalem.[12] It was also noted as a Muslim village.[13]
The French explorer Victor Guérin passed by the village in 1870, and estimated it to have about 300 inhabitants.[14] An official Ottoman village list from about the same time (1870) showed that 'Atara had a total of 80 houses and a population of 225, though the population count included men only.[15][16] In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Attara as a large village, seemingly ancient, in a conspicuous position on a hill, with olives round it.[17]
In 1896 the population of Atara was estimated to be about 480 persons.[18]
In the 1945 statistics the population of 'Atara was 690 Muslims,[22] while the total land area was 9,545 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[23] Of this, 3,524 were allocated for plantations and irrigable land, 3,550 for cereals,[24] while 45 dunams were classified as built-up areas.[25]
The Jordanian census of 1961 found 1,110 inhabitants.[26]
Post-1967
Since the Six-Day War in 1967, 'Atara has been under Israeli occupation. The population in the 1967 census conducted by the Israeli authorities was 903, of whom 61 originated from the Israeli territory.[27]
After the 1995 accords, 40.8% of village land has been defined as Area A land, 43.8% as Area B, while the remaining 15.4% is Area C. Israel has confiscated a total of 163 dunams of land from the village in order to construct the Israeli settlement of Ateret.[28]
In 2002, 95-year-old Atara resident Fatima Hassan became the oldest Palestinian fatality in the Second Intifada when the taxi she was in was shot at by Israeli soldiers. Witnesses said the car was waiting in a long line of cars and soldiers smashed the windows before firing. An Israeli military source said soldiers fired at the taxi after it ignored orders to halt on a prohibited road.[29]
Sanctuaries
'Atara contains two sanctuaries for saintly figures. The village's old mosque encases the Sanctuary of I'mar. There used to stand a Byzantine church.[4]
The Mamluk period Maqam Sheikh al-Qatrawani shrine in 2017.
The historic maqam of Sheikh al-Qatrawani is located on the Dahrat Hamoud hill about 1.5 km south-west of Atara.[30][31][32] The shrine is named after a local holy man, Sheikh Ahmad al-Qatrawani, who is believed to have died here with miraculous happenings.[32][31] It is built during the Mamluk period in the 16th century, as part of a series of watchtowers looking over the nearby coast.
Demographics
Emigration surged between 1952 and 1955 to the Gulf Arab states, due to poor economic conditions in the West Bank. Several others moved to Ramallah and Jerusalem for work.[3] By 1961, the population was 1,110,[26] however, it decreased tremendously after the 1967 Six-Day War, in which Israel captured and occupied the West Bank from Jordan. The village population slowly grew to 903 in 1982, then 976 in 1987.[33]
In the first census taken by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) in 1997, 'Atara's population reached 1,661, of which 92 were Palestinian refugees (5.6%).[34] The gender make-up was 50.2% male and 49.8% female.[35] According to a PCBS estimate, 'Atara had a population of approximately 2,400 inhabitants in mid-year 2006.[36] In the PCBS census in 2007, 'Atara had a population of 2,270, of which 1,139 were males and 1,131 females. There 495 housing units and the average household size consisted of 5.5 family members.[37] By 2017, the village had a population of 2,492.[1]
Economy
Until the early 1950s, 'Atara's inhabitants were dependent on agriculture as a main source of income. After 1967, many inhabitants began to work in Israel. As a result, agricultural production has been further reduced and a substantial portion of 'Atara's economy became dependent residents working abroad. Transportation is an issue in the village, with only one road being able to access through Bir Zeit.[3][38]
Eggs are a primary agricultural product and there are eleven egg farms in the village. Olives are also widely produced and are delivered to an oil pressing factory in the town of 'Arura, where olive oil is produced. Israeli checkpoints around 'Atara, as well as the harvest of 'Atara's olive crop by Israeli settlers from Ateret has effectively strained the village's economy.[3]
40.8% of village land is defined as Area A land, 43.8% as Area B, while the remaining 15.4% is defined as Area C. Israel has confiscated 163 dunums of the village land in order to construct the Israeli settlement of Ateret.[39]
^Adam Zertal; Dror Ben-Yosef; Oren Cohen & Ron Be'eri (2009). "Kh. 'Aujah el-Foqa (Ataroth) — an Iron Age Fortified City in the Jordan Valley". Palestine Exploration Quarterly. 141 (2): 104–123. doi:10.1179/174313009x437819. S2CID161233235.
