al-Khader | |
|---|---|
| Arabic transcription(s) | |
| • Arabic | الخضر |
| • Latin | al-Khadr (official) |
 Eastern al-Khader and Solomon's Pools | |
  al-Khader Location of al-Khader withinPalestine | |
| Coordinates:31°41′34″N35°09′59″E / 31.69278°N 35.16639°E /31.69278; 35.16639 | |
| Palestine grid | 162/124 |
| State | State of Palestine |
| Governorate | Bethlehem |
| Government | |
| • Type | Municipality |
| • Head of Municipality | Ahmad Salah |
| Area | |
• Total | 19.9 km2 (7.7 sq mi) |
| Population (2017)[1] | |
• Total | 11,960 |
| • Density | 601/km2 (1,560/sq mi) |
| Name meaning | "the [town] of Saint George"[2] |
Al-Khader (Arabic:الخضر) is aPalestinian town in theBethlehem Governorate in the south-centralWest Bank. It is located 5 kilometers (3.1 mi) west ofBethlehem. According to thePalestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 11,960 in 2017.[1] The area around al-Khader is marked by vineyards, and olive and fig trees.[3]
Al-Khader was founded in the late 18th or early 19th century.[4] Its main landmarks areSolomon's Pools, the Murad Fortress (a Turkish Ottoman castle built by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1617 to defend Solomon’s Pools, that today houses a Museum for Palestinian Culture and Heritage), theMonastery and Church of St. George, andAl-Hamadiyya Mosque.[5]
Al-Khader, in Arabic literally "The Green One", is the modern name of the village, which was called "Casale S. Georgii" during theCrusader era.[6] It is named afterSaint George – who inArab culture is associated with the Muslim figure ofal-Khadr, "the green one". According to local tradition, Saint George was imprisoned at the location the currentMonastery and Church of St. George stand. Chains displayed inside the church are said to be the ones that held him while he was imprisoned, and are said to have healing power.[7]
In 1953, a hoard of twenty-sixarrowheads were discovered in al-Khader, five of them bearing inscriptions.[8] dating from c. 1100 BCE.[9] The inscriptions are in a transitionalscript, offeringepigraphists the "missing link" between thepictographs of theProto-Canaanite or Old Canaanite script, and thelinearalphabetic Early LinearPhoenician script.[9][10] The owner of the arrowheads "signed" them, the translation being "dart/arrow of 'Abd Labi't [son of] Bin-'Anat", both names known from the period (see for instance the warriorShamgar Ben Anat from thebiblical Song ofDeborah,Judges 5:6).[10][11]
During theCrusader era, the village was calledCasale S. Georgii.[6]
Around 1421/1422 CE the Church of St. George was mentioned by Western traveler John Poloner as situated on a hill near Bethlehem.[12][13]
Al-Khader was founded as a subsidiary village ofal-Walaja, emerging due to theQays–Yaman war in the late 18th or early 19th century, duringOttoman rule.[4] It was part of the political-administrativesheikdom andnahiyah ("subdistrict") of Bani Hasan, which was ruled by the Absiyeh family of al-Walaja. In 1838 it was recorded as a Muslim village by the English scholarsEdward Robinson andEli Smith, part of the Bani Hasan District, west ofJerusalem.[14][15] In 1863Victor Guérin found the village "reduced to two hundred inhabitants, almost all Muslims." He further noted remains of constructions, with rather large stones, which he thought were dated from an era prior to the Arab conquest.[16]
Albert Socin notes that an official Ottoman village list from about 1870 documentedel-chadr with a population of 122 in a total of 43 houses, though that population count only included men. It was further noted that the small Greek monastery served as a mental asylum.[17][18] In 1882, thePEF'sSurvey of Western Palestine described al-Khader as a moderate-sized village with a "Greek church and convent." It was surrounded by vineyards and olive groves and "rock-cut tombs" were situated to the north of the village.[13] It had a mixed population of Muslims andGreek Orthodox Christians, according to theSurvey of Western Palestine.[13] In 1896 the population of al-Khader was estimated to be about 210 people.[19]
In the British Mandate1922 census of Palestine, al-Khader had a population of 697; 694 Muslims and 3 Christians.[20] By the1931 census of Palestine, the population was 914, mostly Muslim with three Christian inhabitants.[21]
In the1945 statistics the town had 1,130 Muslim inhabitants[22] and a total land area of 20,100dunams. It was a part of the Jerusalem District.[23] Of the land, 5,700 dunams were irrigated or used for plantations, 5,889 dunams were for cereals,[24] while 96 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[25]
The Orthodox Christian Church owns several hundreds of dunams made up of vineyards, olive groves and field crops. The lands were entrusted to them since theRashidun era during thecaliphate ofUmar who presided over theconquest ofPalestine in the 630s. Most of the land is leased to Muslim farmers.[26]
In the wake of the1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the1949 Armistice Agreements, al-Khader came underJordanian rule. It wasannexed by Jordan in 1950.
In 1961, the population of al-Khader was 1,798.[27]
Since theSix-Day War in 1967, al-Khader has been underIsraeli occupation. The population in the 1967 census conducted by the Israeli authorities was 2,051.[28]
After the1995 accords, 9% of al-Khader's land was classified asArea A land, 5.5% asArea B, and the remaining 85.5% asArea C.[29]
Israel has confiscated land from al-Khader in order to construct twoIsraeli settlements:
In 1997, thePCBS recorded a population of 6,802 of which 3,606 were males and 3,196 were females.[30] Unlike many Palestinian towns in the area,refugees and their descendants do not have a substantial population in al-Khader. In 1997, 5.2% of the town's inhabitants were recorded as refugees.[31] In the 2007 PCBS census, al-Khader had a population of 9,774.[32]
Since the construction of theIsraeli West Bank barrier around al-Khader, several thousand dunams of farmland have been separated from the village, with the inhabitants unable to access them without a permit. In 2006, 50 villagers protested the barrier by filling bags with grapes and selling them alongRoute 60. Israeli soldiers and police attempted to quell protesters resulting in the injuries and detainment of two residents.[33]
In April 2015 villagers blocked work by settlers to create a bypass road for access to an illegal outpost, which, if completed, would alienate a further 400 dunams of village land.[34]
The older part of al-Khader is situated on a saddle-shaped hill facing a steep ridge to the south and open areas to the north, in the central highlands of the West Bank.[13] Nearby localities include theDheisheh Refugee Camp adjacent to the east, the village ofArtas further to the east,Beit Jala to the northeast,al-Walaja and theIsraeli settlement ofHar Gilo to the north,Battir andHusan to the northwest,Nahalin and the Israeli settlements ofBeitar Illit to the west,Neve Daniel to the southeast, andElazar to the south.
The Orthodox ChristianMonastery and Church of St. George andSolomon's Pools are the town's main tourist attractions.[35] Al-Khader's main and oldestmosque isal-Hamadiyya Mosque. According to theInternational Middle East Media Center, in 2007, it was burned down byIsraeli settlers. The mosque is about 700 years old and was restored by theTourism Ministry of thePalestinian National Authority.[36]
Next to Solomon's Pools stands the town's Convention Palace, amidst restored historic ruins that include the Murad Fortress, a Turkish Ottoman castle built by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1617 to defend Solomon’s Pools. The fortress also houses the Murad Castle Museum for Palestinian Culture and Heritage.[5][37]
Al-Khader is also well known in the area for its peaches, grapes and apples. It hosts its annualGrape Festival every September. The festival was initiated by the al-Khader municipality to promote the town's primary agricultural product, grapes. Other exhibitions held at the festival include one onembroidery and knitting, a local heritage exhibition of mills, grinders, and harvest tools, and an exhibition of home-made grape products such asdibs (molasses made from grapes).[38]Al-Khader Stadium, which holds up to 6,000 people, is located in the town.
Al-Khader is governed by a municipal council of thirteen members including the mayor. In the 2005 municipal elections, theHamas-affiliated Reform list won the most seats (five), while theFatah-affiliated Falasteen al-Ghad list won four seats. Two independent lists — Al-Aqsa and Abnaa al-Balad — each won two seats.[39]
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