Tubas (city)

Edward Robinson thought Tubas to be identical with the Canaanite/Israelite town of "Thebez" (Hebrew: תבץ) mentioned in the Hebrew Bible in the Book of Judges.[2][3][4] It is the namesake of the titular woman of Thebez.

Archaeological remains such as cemeteries and olive presses indicate that Tubas was inhabited during the Roman era of rule in Palestine.[5] Jerome mentioned Thebez being 13 Roman miles east of Neapolis (Nablus). Besides the Biblical story, nothing has been known about Thebez before or after the revolt.[6]

In 1596 it appeared in the Ottoman tax registers as "Tubas", in the nahiya of Jabal Sami in the liwa of Nablus. It had a population of 41 households and 16 bachelors, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33.3% on wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, occasional revenues, goats, beehives, and a press for olives or grapes; a total of 11,704 akçe.[7]

In the late 19th century during Ottoman rule in Palestine, groups of Arabs belonging to the Daraghmeh clan—mostly shepherds and farmers who lived in the Jordan Valley—migrated northward to the site because of its fertile ground, proximity to several springs, and its high elevation compared to the Jordan Valley and Wadi al-Far'a plain;[5] Mount Gerizim was visible from the area.[8] The Daraghmeh clan had lived in the Jordan Valley since the 15th century and in addition to Tubas, they founded or inhabited the nearby hamlets of Kardala, al-Farisiya, Khirbet al-Malih, Kishda, Yarza, and Ras al-Far'a. Soon after being established in Tubas, Arabs from Najd, Syria, Transjordan, Hebron and nearby Nablus came to settle in the area.[5] During this period, Tubas became the site of clashes between the 'Abd al-Hadi and Tuqan families of Nablus and suffered incursions by Bedouins from areas east of the city.[8] The Jarrar family did not inhabit, but administrated Tubas, as it was located within the nahiya ("subdistrict") of Mashariq al-Jarrar.[9]

Tubas was one of the largest villages in the District of Nablus. Most of the inhabitants resided in mud-built houses or tents in order to work on their distant lands in the Jordan Valley and to graze their sheep and goat flocks.[10] According to traveler Herbert Rix, compared to other towns of its size in Samaria, Tubas was "well-to-do" and had abundant amounts of timber which was harvested for firewood.[3] Tubas, unlike the villages in the rest of the district, depended on livestock and not olives for income. Livestock products included cheese, clarified butter, woolen rugs, tents, ropes, and cloth bags.[11] In 1882 a boys' school was established in the town.[12]

In 1877 Lieutenant Kitchener, of the Palestine Exploration Fund survey team, reported uncovering an Arabic inscription buried in the wall of the village mosque recording its building and dedication. He also wrote that the villagers had paid a bribe of £100 in gold to the Pasha of Nablus to avoid their young men being conscripted into the Turkish army fighting in Crimea. He noted that they would probably have to repeat the payment.[13]

The Palestine Exploration Fund noted that the Samaritans believed that the tomb of Asher, known locally as Nabi Tota ("the good prophet"), was located in Tubas. The tomb served as a shrine in local Muslim tradition.[14]

In 1917, the British captured Palestine from the Ottomans. After rule under a military government, it was reorganized in 1922–23 Tubas was incorporated into the British Mandate of Palestine.

In the 1922 census of Palestine Tubas had a population of 3,449; 3,441 Muslims[15] and 7 Orthodox Christians.[16] In the 1931 census, Tubas, (including Kashda and Jabagia) had 773 occupied houses and a population of 4,097, mostly Muslims, but also including 29 Christians.[17]

In Sami Hadawi's 1945 statistics land and population survey, Tubas and nearby Bardala had a combined population of 5,530; 5,470 Muslims and 60 Christians,[18] with 313,123 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.[19] Of this, 18,498 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 98,518 dunams for cereals,[20] while 204 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[21]

In 1947, the United Nations drew up a partition plan to divide Palestine into Jewish and Arab states; Tubas and the surrounding villages and hamlets were to be included in the Arab state. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Fawzi al-Qawuqji led 750 Arab Liberation Army (ALA) soldiers to Tubas from Transjordan and set up base there; Tubas would serve as the ALA's headquarters in central Palestine throughout the war.[22]

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

In 1955 the first girls' school was opened.[12]

In 1961, the population was 5,709,[23] while in 1964, Tubas alone had a population of 5,880.[24]

2018 United Nations map of the area, showing the Israeli occupation arrangements.

Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Tubas has been under Israeli occupation.

Tubas was transferred to Palestinian National Authority (PNA) control in 1995 under the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. During the Jordanian and Israeli periods, the city was under the administration of the Nablus Governorate, but in 1996, the PNA declared Tubas and the immediate area to be an electoral district, and later, an independent administrative area—the Tubas Governorate.[25]

Tubas has not seen as much violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict as nearby Nablus and Jenin, but a number of incidents occurred during the Second Intifada, which began in 2000. In April 2002, the Israeli forces (IDF) killed six active Hamas members in the town, including Ashraf Tamza Daraghmeh—the chief Hamas commander in Tubas and the surrounding area.[26][27] On August 31, 2002, an Israeli Apache helicopter fired four Hellfire missiles at a civilian car suspected of carrying a local al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades commander and a nearby home. The strike instead killed five civilians, including two children, two teenagers and a 29-year-old Fatah activist accused of being a member of the al-Aqsa Brigades. The Israeli Defense Minister, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, issued a statement expressing "regret" over "harming" civilians in Tubas. Ben-Eliezer described the raid in Tubas as a "mistake", and promised that the army would investigate the incident.[28] On August 21, 2009, a clash between the Sawafta clan and another city clan left a member of the former dead and 38 others injured. Five homes were also burnt and Palestinian Security Forces arrested five people in connection to the death.[29]

Buses and taxis are the primary means of transportation in Tubas. The total length of paved roads is 10,000 meters (33,000 ft), whereas there are 10,000 meters (33,000 ft) of deteriorating paved roads and 25,000 meters (82,000 ft) of road that are entirely unpaved. Tubas is located on Highway 588 connected to the main Ramallah-Nablus road (Highway 60) by a network of northeastern offshoots of the road, that pass through the villages of Azmut, al-Badhan and Ras al-Far'a. It is connected to Jenin from a northern road which passes through 'Aqqaba, Zababdeh and finally to Jenin.[5] Travel to Jordan is through Highway 57 which is connected with Highway 588 just to the south of Tubas.[43]

The city contains five health centers run by various organizations including the Palestinian Red Crescent.[38] There are no hospitals in Tubas, nor in the Tubas Governorate; Residents must travel to Nablus for hospital treatment, but there are two ambulances in Tubas for emergency transportation. There are four clinics in the city: Two are run by non-governmental organizations, one by the Palestinian National Authority and one is privately owned. The clinics lack modern equipment and specialists, however. In addition, ten pharmacies exist in Tubas.[5]

Approximately 60% of the residents have a telephone connection, and roughly 90% are connected to the water. The Tubas Municipality administers all water resources in and around the city. In addition to the water network, there is one spring (Far'a) in the immediate area which is the main provider of water for use in households. The city also has a water reservoir with a capacity of 900 cubic metres (31,783 cubic feet). This is primarily used to provide water to the urban areas of the city during Summer, and is only available once on a weekly basis.[5]

From 1963 to 1997 local municipal-owned electric generators provided Tubas with all of its electricity needs. In 1997, the city connected with the Tubas Area Electricity Network which is provided by the Israeli Electric Cooperation. In that period, 99% of households in the city were connected with electricity. Solid waste management in Tubas is operated by the municipality and Joint Services Council. It is collected 3-4 times daily from the residential area, which is sent to a shared dumping site 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) from the city. The main disposal method used is burning. Tubas is not connected to the sewage network, therefore all households dispose of their waste water in cesspits, a major source of pollution in groundwater.[5]