About two km east of Kafr Malik, at'Ain Samiya (grid: 1817/1550), are buildings, possibly dating to theCrusader era.[5]
Kafr Malik has been identified with the villageCaphermelic of theCrusader period.[6][7] In addition, Kafr Malik has been suggested as being identical toBeth HaMelekh, whereHasmonean kingAlexander Jannaeus besieged hisPharisee adversaries.[8]
Ottoman era
Kafr Malik was incorporated into theOttoman Empire in 1517 with all ofPalestine, and in 1596 it appeared in thetax registers as being in thenahiya of Al-Quds in theliwa ofAl-Quds. It had a population of 21 household,[9] who were allMuslims. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 33,3 % on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, olive trees, vineyards, fruit trees, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues; a total of 7,750akçe.[9]
In 1838, ‘’Kefr Malik’’ was noted as a Muslim village in the District ofBeni Salim, east of Jerusalem.[10]
In 1870,Victor Guérin found Kafr Malik to have 350 inhabitants, some thirtyCatholics and fifteen"schismatic Greek"; the others were Muslim. In the courtyard of themedhafeh, or guesthouse, he was shown several beautiful stone plaques and three sections ofcolumns and severalcapitals of theDoric form belonging to an old edifice long since destroyed.[11]
An Ottoman village list of about 1870 counted a population of 416 Muslims in 77 houses, and 15 Christians in 6 houses. In total 432 persons in 83 houses, though the population count included men, only.[12][13]
In the1945 statistics the population was 1,100; 1,080 Muslims and 20 Christians,[18] while the total land area was 52,196dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[19] Of this, 3,580 were allocated for plantations and irrigable land, 10,984 for cereals,[20] while 53 dunams were classified as built-up areas.[21]
In June 2023, it was the target – along with nearbyTurmus Ayya and several other Palestinian villages – ofIsraeli settler terror attacks.[24] After the attack, theIsrael Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson called the incursions and attacks by armed Jewish settlers "acts of terror conducted by criminals",[24] adding that the IDF had “failed to prevent” the attacks, described as “very grave”, and that such incidents "create terror" by pushing the attacked civilian populations "towards extremism".[25]
Footnotes
^West BankArchived 2008-12-19 at theWayback Machine Local Elections ( Round two)- Successful candidates by local authority, gender and No. of votes obtained, Kofr Malik p 21
State of Palestine
