Jisr az-Zarqa
Encyclopedia
Jisr az-Zarqa is an Israeli Arab
local council
on Israel
's northern Mediterranean coastal plain
. Located just north of Caesarea
within the Haifa District
, it achieved local council status in 1963. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics
(CBS) the town had a population of 11,100 residents at the end of 2005. Its name refers to the Taninim stream
, which is known in Arabic as 'the blue [stream].'
that is located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea
(though there are coastal towns such as Acre
, Haifa
, and Jaffa with significant Arab populations). Other Arab towns located along the coast were depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
during a large Israeli offensive called Coastal Clearing. However, the intervention of Jews from the neighboring towns of Zikhron Ya'akov and Binyamina, who relied on the population of Jisr az-Zarqa and nearby Fureidis
for agricultural labor, prevented the Israeli authorities from dispersing the Arab populations there.
. The construction was undertaken without informing the Jisr az-Zarqa municipal council, and for acoustical reasons; i.e., to block out noise from the muezzin
, celebratory gunfire, etc. Other explanations given have been the frequent thefts by village residents and the preservation of property values in Caesarea. The residents of Jisr az-Zarqa claim that with a national park located to the north, the embankment to the south, a highway to the east and the sea to the west, there is no room for their town to develop, and that it is effectively cut off from the surrounding areas.
. There have also been unverified reports of the existence of a small community of idol worshipers or polytheists, who are the descendants of the ancient Canaanite
and Philistine nations. The town has the lowest average monthly wage of any locality in Israel at 3,800 New Israeli Sheqel
(NIS), or a little over 1,100 USD. According the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics
, Jisr az-Zarqa also has the highest high school drop out rates in the country at 12%.
A woman from the town, Mariam Amash
, applied for a new identity card in Hadera
in February 2008, using a birth document issued by the Ottoman Empire
that said she was born in 1888. If verified by the Guinness Book of World Records, this would make her the oldest living person in the world.
Arab citizens of Israel
Arab citizens of Israel refers to citizens of Israel who are not Jewish, and whose cultural and linguistic heritage or ethnic identity is Arab....
local council
Local council (Israel)
Local councils are one of the three types of local government found in Israel, with the other two being cities and regional councils. As of 2003, there were 144 local councils in Israel, these being settlements which pass a minimum threshold enough to justify their operations as independent...
on Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
's northern Mediterranean coastal plain
Israeli Coastal Plain
The Israeli coastal plain is the narrow coastal plain along Israel's Mediterranean Sea coast which houses 70% of the country's population. The plain extends north to south and is divided into a number of areas; the Plain of Zebulun , Hof HaCarmel , the Sharon plain , and the Plain of Judea The...
. Located just north of Caesarea
Caesarea (Israel)
Caesarea is a town in Israel located mid-way between Tel Aviv and Haifa , on the Israeli Mediterranean coast near the city of Hadera. The town was built by Herod the Great about 25-13 BCE as the port city of Caesarea Maritima. Modern Caesarea as of December 2007 has a population of 4,500 people...
within the Haifa District
Haifa District
Haifa District is an administrative district surrounding the city of Haifa, Israel. The district is one of six administrative districts of Israel, and its capital is Haifa...
, it achieved local council status in 1963. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics
Israel Central Bureau of Statistics
The Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , abbreviated CBS, is an Israeli government office established in 1949 to carry out research and publish statistical data on all aspects of Israeli life, including population, society, economy, industry, education and physical infrastructure.It is headed by a...
(CBS) the town had a population of 11,100 residents at the end of 2005. Its name refers to the Taninim stream
Taninim Stream
Nahal Taninim is a river in Israel, originating near Ramot Menashe and emptying into the Mediterranean Sea south of Ma'agan Michael. The Arabic name for this river is Wadi a-Zarka....
, which is known in Arabic as 'the blue [stream].'
History
Jisr az-Zarqa is the only Arab town in IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
that is located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
(though there are coastal towns such as Acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
, Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
, and Jaffa with significant Arab populations). Other Arab towns located along the coast were depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
1948 Arab-Israeli War
The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known to Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation The war commenced after the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine and the creation of an independent Israel at midnight on 14 May 1948 when, following a period of civil war, Arab armies invaded...
during a large Israeli offensive called Coastal Clearing. However, the intervention of Jews from the neighboring towns of Zikhron Ya'akov and Binyamina, who relied on the population of Jisr az-Zarqa and nearby Fureidis
Fureidis
Fureidis is an Israeli Arab town in the Haifa District of Israel. It received local council status in 1952.-History:Fureidis was established in the 19th century. The name is believed to come from the Arabic , meaning little Garden of Eden, borrowed from the Persian paradise...
for agricultural labor, prevented the Israeli authorities from dispersing the Arab populations there.
Caesarea embankment
In November 2002, the Caesarea Development Corporation began constructing a large earthen embankment running the length of the 160 meter-wide corridor between the village and neighboring CaesareaCaesarea (Israel)
Caesarea is a town in Israel located mid-way between Tel Aviv and Haifa , on the Israeli Mediterranean coast near the city of Hadera. The town was built by Herod the Great about 25-13 BCE as the port city of Caesarea Maritima. Modern Caesarea as of December 2007 has a population of 4,500 people...
. The construction was undertaken without informing the Jisr az-Zarqa municipal council, and for acoustical reasons; i.e., to block out noise from the muezzin
Muezzin
A muezzin , or muzim, is the chosen person at a mosque who leads the call to prayer at Friday services and the five daily times for prayer from one of the mosque's minarets; in most modern mosques, electronic amplification aids the muezzin in his task.The professional muezzin is chosen for his...
, celebratory gunfire, etc. Other explanations given have been the frequent thefts by village residents and the preservation of property values in Caesarea. The residents of Jisr az-Zarqa claim that with a national park located to the north, the embankment to the south, a highway to the east and the sea to the west, there is no room for their town to develop, and that it is effectively cut off from the surrounding areas.
Demographics
The inhabitants of Jisr az-Zarqa are primarily MuslimMuslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
. There have also been unverified reports of the existence of a small community of idol worshipers or polytheists, who are the descendants of the ancient Canaanite
Canaan
Canaan is a historical region roughly corresponding to modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and the western parts of Jordan...
and Philistine nations. The town has the lowest average monthly wage of any locality in Israel at 3,800 New Israeli Sheqel
Israeli new sheqel
The Israeli New Shekel is the currency of the State of Israel. The shekel is divided into 100 agorot...
(NIS), or a little over 1,100 USD. According the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics
Israel Central Bureau of Statistics
The Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , abbreviated CBS, is an Israeli government office established in 1949 to carry out research and publish statistical data on all aspects of Israeli life, including population, society, economy, industry, education and physical infrastructure.It is headed by a...
, Jisr az-Zarqa also has the highest high school drop out rates in the country at 12%.
A woman from the town, Mariam Amash
Mariam Amash
Mariam Amash is a claimant to the title of the oldest living person.Amash, born in the now defunct Ottoman Empire, lives in the town of Jisr az-Zarqa in northern Israel. She is an Arab citizen of Israel of Bedouin descent...
, applied for a new identity card in Hadera
Hadera
Hadera is a city located in the Haifa District of Israel approximately from the major cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa. The city is located along of the Israeli Mediterranean Coastal Plain...
in February 2008, using a birth document issued by the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
that said she was born in 1888. If verified by the Guinness Book of World Records, this would make her the oldest living person in the world.
Coexistence
Several events involving the village's residents highlight tensions surrounding its place in wider Israeli society:- In 1998, the first multiple kidney transplantKidney transplantationKidney transplantation or renal transplantation is the organ transplant of a kidney into a patient with end-stage renal disease. Kidney transplantation is typically classified as deceased-donor or living-donor transplantation depending on the source of the donor organ...
in Israel took place between a couple from the village and a Jewish couple from Jerusalem. - A Jewish motorist killed after a stone was thrown at his vehicle as he drove on the Haifa-Tel Aviv freewayHighway 2 (Israel)Highway 2 is an Israeli highway located on the coastal plain of the Mediterranean Sea. It stretches from Tel Aviv to Haifa. The highway is also called The Coastal Highway or The New Haifa - Tel Aviv Highway ....
near Jisr az-Zarqa and is generally considered the first Israeli fatality in the al-Aqsa IntifadaAl-Aqsa IntifadaThe Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada and the Oslo War, was the second Palestinian uprising, a period of intensified Palestinian-Israeli violence, which began in late September 2000...
. Four youths from the village were initially arrested, but for lack of evidence three were released, and one subjected to house arrestHouse arrestIn justice and law, house arrest is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to his or her residence. Travel is usually restricted, if allowed at all...
. - In the course of the Intifada, a 41 year old Arab resident was killed by a Palestinian suicide bomberSuicide attackA suicide attack is a type of attack in which the attacker expects or intends to die in the process.- Historical :...
in AfulaAfulaAfula is a city in the North District of Israel, often known as the "Capital of the Valley", referring to the Jezreel Valley. The city had a population of 40,500 at the end of 2009.-History:...
.
Further reading
- Benny MorrisBenny MorrisBenny Morris is professor of History in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Be'er Sheva, Israel...
(1994): "1948 and after; Israel and the Palestinians1948 and after; Israel and the Palestinians1948 and After: Israel and the Palestinians is a collection of essays by the Israeli historian Benny Morris. The book was first published in hardcover in 1990. It was revised and expanded, and published by Clarendon Press, Oxford, in 1994, ISBN 0-19-827929-9.The expanded 1994 edition contained a...
" ISBN 0-19-827929-9. (Chapter 8, p. 257-289: The Case of Abu GhoshAbu GhoshAbu Ghosh is an Israeli Arab town in Israel, located west of Jerusalem on the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway. It is situated 610–720 meters above sea level. In 2010, it set the Guinness World Record for largest dish of hummus...
and Beit Naqquba, Al FureidisFureidisFureidis is an Israeli Arab town in the Haifa District of Israel. It received local council status in 1952.-History:Fureidis was established in the 19th century. The name is believed to come from the Arabic , meaning little Garden of Eden, borrowed from the Persian paradise...
and Jisr Zarka in 1948 -or Why Four Villages Remained.) - Kareem Sa‘id (2009): Jisr ez-Zarqa Final Report Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel, No. 121