Kafr Qasim

Kafr Qasim כַּפְר קָסִם, כפר קאסם‎‎ كفر قاسم‎
Hebrew transcription(s)
• ISO 259	Kpar Qásim, Kpar Qáˀsem
• Also spelled	Kafar Qasem (official) Kufur Kassem (unofficial)
Monument in Kafr Qasim to the victims of the massacre in 1956.
Kafr Qasim
Coordinates: 32°06′54″N 34°58′30″E / 32.1151°N 34.9751°E / 32.1151; 34.9751Coordinates: 32°06′54″N 34°58′30″E / 32.1151°N 34.9751°E / 32.1151; 34.9751
Grid position	167/148 PAL
District	Central
Founded	19th century
Government
• Type	City (from 2008)
• Mayor	Adel Badir
Area
• Total	9,154 dunams (9.154 km2 or 3.534 sq mi)
Population (2015)
• Total	21,848
Name meaning	The village of Kasim

Kafr Qasim (Arabic: كفر قاسم‎‎, Hebrew: כַּפְר קָאסִם‎), also known as Kafr Qassem, Kufur Kassem, Kfar Kassem and Kafar Kassem, is a hill-top Israeli Arab city located about 20 km (12 mi) east of Tel Aviv, near the Green Line separating Israel and the West Bank, on the southern portion of the "Little Triangle" of Arab-Israeli towns and villages. In 2015 its population was 21,848. The town was the site of the Kafr Qasim massacre, in which the Israel Border Police killed 49 civilians on October 29, 1956. On February 12, 2008, Israeli Minister of the Interior Meir Sheetrit declared Kafr Qasim a city in a ceremony held at the town.

The town's area was populated in ancient times, based on remains from the Middle Paleolithic period found in the Qesem Cave.Cisterns, a winepress and terraced fields have also been documented, together with remains from the Byzantine era.

Charles van de Velde visited the site in 1851–2, noting "the many ancient stones used in the construction of the present houses and many other remains indicating an ancient site."

In 1870, during the Ottoman period, French explorer Victor Guérin visited the village, which he called Kafr Kasim. He found the place to be "the site of a more ancient town, as is shown by cisterns and the mass of rubbish found outside the present village". The village had about four hundred inhabitants.