Asira al-Qibliya
| ’Asira al-Qibliya | |
|---|---|
| Other transcription(s) | |
| • Arabic | عصيرة القبلية |
 ’Asira al-Qibliya
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| Coordinates: 32°10′44″N 35°12′53″E / 32.17889°N 35.21472°ECoordinates: 32°10′44″N 35°12′53″E / 32.17889°N 35.21472°E | |
| Palestine grid | 170/176 |
| Governorate | Nablus |
| Government | |
| • Type | Municipality |
| Area | |
| • Jurisdiction | 6,447 dunams (6.4 km2 or 2.5 sq mi) |
| Population (2007) | |
| • Jurisdiction | 2,336 |
| Name meaning | "The southern difficulty" |
’Asira al-Qibliya (Arabic: عصيرة القبلية) is a Palestinian town in the Nablus Governorate in the eastern West Bank, located 14 kilometers (8.7 mi) southwest of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the town had a population of 2,336 inhabitants in 2007.
Asira al-Qibliya is situated on an ancient site on low ground. Carved stones have been reused in village houses and agricultural terraces. Rock-cut cisterns have also been found, together with Byzantine ceramics.
The village was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of Palestine, and in 1596 it appeared in the tax registers under the name of 'Asirah, as being in the nahiya of Jabal Qubal in the liwa of Nablus. It had a population of 33 households and 6 bachelors, all Muslim. The inhabitants of the village paid taxes on wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, and goats and/or beehives.
The French explorer Victor Guérin visited the village (which he called A'sirah) in 1870, and he estimated it had three hundred inhabitants. He further noted that the medhafeh, or guest-house, was situated on the highest ground in the village. In 1882 the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Asiret al Kibliyeh as a village of moderate size on low ground, with a well to the south-east.
In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, 'Asira al-Qebliyeh had a population of 282, all Muslim, increasing in the 1931 census to 326, still all Muslim, in 84 houses.
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