Qatanna

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title: "Qatanna" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["jerusalem-governorate", "towns-in-the-west-bank", "municipalities-of-palestine"] topic_path: "general/jerusalem-governorate" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatanna" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]

FieldValue
nameQatanna
translit_lang1Arabic
translit_lang1_typeArabic
translit_lang1_infoقطنّه
translit_lang1_type1Latin
translit_lang1_info1Qatanaa (official)
Qatna (unofficial)
typeMunicipality type C
pushpin_mapPalestine#West Bank
pushpin_map_captionLocation of Qatanna within Palestine
pushpin_label_positiontop
coordinates
grid_namePalestine grid
grid_position160/136
subdivision_typeState
subdivision_nameState of Palestine
subdivision_type1Governorate
subdivision_name1Quds
established_titleFounded
government_footnotestags --
government_typeMunicipality
unit_prefdunam
area_total_km23.6
area_total_dunam3555
population_footnotes
population_total6981
population_as_of2017
population_density_km2auto
blank_name_sec1Name meaning
blank_info_sec1p.n.; confer Heb קָטָן "little"
::

| name = Qatanna | translit_lang1 = Arabic | translit_lang1_type = Arabic | translit_lang1_info = قطنّه | translit_lang1_type1 = Latin | translit_lang1_info1 = Qatanaa (official) Qatna (unofficial) | type = Municipality type C | image_skyline = | image_caption = | pushpin_map = Palestine#West Bank | pushpin_map_caption = Location of Qatanna within Palestine | pushpin_label_position = top | image_map = | map_caption = | coordinates = | grid_name = Palestine grid | grid_position = 160/136 | subdivision_type = State | subdivision_name = State of Palestine | subdivision_type1 = Governorate | subdivision_name1 = Quds | established_title = Founded | established_date = | government_footnotes = tags -- | government_type = Municipality | leader_title = | leader_name = | unit_pref = dunam | area_footnotes = | area_total_km2 = 3.6 | area_total_dunam = 3555 | elevation_footnotes = | elevation_m = | elevation_min_m = | elevation_max_m = | population_footnotes = | population_total = 6981 | population_as_of = 2017 | population_note = | population_density_km2 = auto | blank_name_sec1 = Name meaning | blank_info_sec1 = p.n.; confer Heb קָטָן "little" | website = | footnotes = Qatanna () is a Palestinian town in the central West Bank part of the Jerusalem Governorate, located 12 km. northwest of Jerusalem. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 6,981 inhabitants in 2017. Primary health care for the town is level 2.

Geography and land

Qatanna has an elevation of 650 meters above sea level. Nearby towns and villages include Biddu to the east and Beit Liqya to the north. Khirbet Kefireh is located just north of Qatanna.

History

In the Roman and Byzantine periods, Qatanna was home to extensive settlement including agricultural institutions, roads, and many burial caves.Nagorsky, 2008, Nahal Kefira, Survey

Ottoman era

Incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of Palestine, Qatanna appeared in the 1596 Ottoman tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Quds of the Liwa of Quds. It had a population of 12 households, all Muslim, and paid taxes on wheat, barley, olives, occasional revenues, goats and/or beehives.

In 1838 Katunneh was noted as a Muslim village, part of Beni Malik district, located west of Jerusalem.

In 1863, the French explorer Victor Guérin found the village to have 250 inhabitants, while an Ottoman village list of about 1870 showed that Kattane had a population of 300, in 57 houses, though the population count included only men. It was also noted that it was located north of Abu Ghosh, in the Beni Malik district.

In 1883, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described it as a "small village in a deep, narrow, rocky valley, surrounded by fine groves of olives and vegetable gardens."

In 1896 the population of Katanne was estimated to be about 351 persons.

By the beginning of the 20th century, residents from Qatanna settled Khirbat al-Buwayra, establishing it as a dependency – or satellite village – of their home village.

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Qatanneh had a population 633, all Muslims. In the 1931 census it was counted with Nitaf, together they had 875 Muslim inhabitants, in 233 houses.

In the 1945 statistics Qatanna had a population of 1,150, all Muslims, with 9,464 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 1,829 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 1,603 used for cereals, while 32 dunams were built-up (urban) land.

Jordanian era

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

After the 1948 war, much of Qatanna's land area was designated as "no-man's land" forming a part of the Demilitarized Zone between the armistice lines of Israeli and Jordanian territory.

In the early 1950s, some people from Qatanna moved to Jerusalem after hearing about empty homes in the then-depopulated Jewish Quarter of the Old City, joining Palestinian refugees. As a result, although Qatanna itself was not occupied or depopulated in 1948, some of its residents now live in the Shu'fat Refugee Camp.

In 1961, the population of Qatanna was 1,897.

Post-1967

Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Qatanna has been under Israeli occupation. The population in the 1967 census conducted by the Israeli authorities was 1,594, of whom 151 were refugees.

Currently, the town has a total land area of 3,555 dunams, of which 677 dunams are designated as built-up area. After the 1995 Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, civil administration of 716 dunams of Qatanna's land (including the built-up zone) was transferred to the Palestinian National Authority.

Qatanna contains three schools, three kindergartens, three clinics, a pharmacy and a medical center run by the Palestinian Red Crescent. There is also a sport's club and a women's center in the town. Qatanna is governed by a village council and Ramallah serves as the town's main urban provider. Four springs – al-Balad, as-Samra, an-Nimr and an-Namous – provide water for the town. The latter spring is completely isolated from the town by the Israeli West Bank barrier.

36 dunums were confiscated from Qatanna for the Israeli settlement of Har Adar, built in 1986.

Enclave

Qatanna along with Biddu, Beit Duqqu, Beit Surik, Beit 'Anan, al-Qubeiba, Beit Ijza, Kharayib Umm al Lahimand, and at-Tira form the "Biddu enclave". The enclave will be linked to Ramallah by underpasses and a road that is fenced on both sides. From the "Biddu enclave" Palestinians will travel along a fenced road that passes under a bypass road to Bir Nabala enclave, then on a second underpass under Bypass Road 443 to Ramallah.

Demography

Local origins

As per local tradition, the residents of Qatanna are said to have originally come from Hebron, then lived in Marda, and eventually established themselves in Qatanna around the 18th century.

Both Mordechai Nisan and Tsvi Misinai cite stories that claim that although the people of Qatanna practice Islam today, they are originally of Jewish ancestry.

References

Bibliography

References

  1. (February 2018). "Preliminary Results of the Population, Housing and Establishments Census, 2017". [[State of Palestine]].
  2. Palmer, 1881, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp00conduoft#page/297/mode/1up 297]
  3. "West Bank Healthcare".
  4. [http://poica.org/2006/06/the-effects-of-the-israeli-practices-on-the-palestinian-village-of-qatanna/ The effects of the Israeli practices on the Palestinian village of Qatanna], 22 June 2006, POICA
  5. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 113
  6. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/124/mode/1up 124]
  7. Guérin, 1868, p. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongog01gu#page/283/mode/1up 283]
  8. Socin, 1879, p. [https://archive.org/stream/zeitschriftdesde01deut#page/156/mode/1up 156]
  9. Hartmann, 1883, p. [https://archive.org/stream/bub_gb_BZobAQAAIAAJ#page/n926/mode/1up 118], noted 75 houses
  10. Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp03conduoft#page/17/mode/1up 17]
  11. Schick, 1896, p. [https://archive.org/stream/zeitschriftdesde19deut#page/n232/mode/1up 125]
  12. Marom, Roy. (2022). "Lydda Sub-District: Lydda and its countryside during the Ottoman period". Diospolis – City of God: Journal of the History, Archaeology and Heritage of Lod.
  13. Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Jerusalem, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n17/mode/1up 15]
  14. Mills, 1932, p. [https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas 42]
  15. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. [http://cs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/VSpages/VS1945_p25.jpg 25]
  16. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20I/Jerusalem/Page-058.jpg 58]
  17. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20II/Jerusalem/Page-104.jpg 104]
  18. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20III/Jerusalem/Page-154.jpg 154]
  19. Abu Haneya, Halim. (2023). "The Intertwined History of Shu'fat Refugee Camp in Jerusalem: The Making of Refugees". Jerusalem Quarterly.
  20. Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. [http://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/JordanCensusPages/JordanCensus1961-p24.pdf 24]
  21. Perlmann, Joel. (November 2011 – February 2012). "The 1967 Census of the West Bank and Gaza Strip: A Digitized Version".
  22. [http://vprofile.arij.org/jerusalem/pdfs/vprofile/Qatanna_Vp_En.pdf Qatanna Town Profile], p. 17. ARIJ
  23. [http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/opt/docs/UN/OCHA/ochaHU0605_En.pdf OCHA] {{webarchive. link. (November 12, 2005)
  24. 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. 355
  25. ניסן, מרדכי. (2010). "ישראל במזרח: מסע תרבותי ומדיני באסיה". הוצאת ספרים ראובן מס.
  26. מסיני, צבי. (2014). "ההתחברות: בעית ארץ ישראל שורשיה ופתרונה". ליעד.

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