Kafr ad-Dik
| Kafr ad-Dik | |
|---|---|
| Other transcription(s) | |
| • Arabic | كفر الديك |
| • Also spelled | Kafr al-Deek (official) Kafar ad-Deek (unofficial) |
Kafr ad-Dik, 2012
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 Kafr ad-Dik
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| Coordinates: 32°04′00″N 35°04′59″E / 32.06667°N 35.08306°ECoordinates: 32°04′00″N 35°04′59″E / 32.06667°N 35.08306°E | |
| Palestine grid | 157/163 |
| Governorate | Salfit |
| Government | |
| • Type | Municipality |
| Area | |
| • Jurisdiction | 15,228 dunams (15.2 km2 or 5.9 sq mi) |
| Population (2007) | |
| • Jurisdiction | 4,453 |
| Name meaning | "Village of the Rooster", "The Village" |
Kafr ad-Dik (Arabic: كفر الديك) is a Palestinian town located 9.5 kilometers west of Salfit in the Salfit Governorate, in the northern West Bank and eight kilometers east of the Green Line. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the town had a population of 4,453 in 2007.
Approximately 70% of the families in Kafr ad-Dik are dependent on agriculture as the main source of income, while the remaining 30% work in the private and public sectors. The unemployment rate in the town is 60%.
The town's total land area consists of 15,228 dunams of which 578 dunams are built-up. However, 119 of those dunums is located outside Kafr ad-Dik's jurisdiction. There are five Israeli settlements built on 1,448 dunams of Kafr ad-Dik's land and the population of the settlers is 2,062. As a result of the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian National Authority controls the civil affairs 1,953 dunums of Kafr ad-Dik's land (Area B), while 13,275 dunams are classified as Area C — which is under full Israeli control.
It has been suggested that this is the place mentioned in Crusader sources under the name of Caphaer; a village connected with the Casale Santa Maria. In 1175, Crusader sources mentions a former cistern-keeper of the village.
The coat of arms the Mamluk Sultan Qaitbay has been found in a mosque in the village.
In 1870 French explorer Victor Guérin found here very considerable remains. They included two birkets cut in the rock, one 15 paces long by 12 broad, the other not quite so large; about 30 cisterns and 20 tombs cut in the rock, some with sepulchral chambers, their walls pierced with loculi, others simple graves, either intended for a single body or having right and left vaulted tombs with arcosolia. These graves were formerly covered with stone slabs. There were also several lintels, decorated with the rectangular cartouche, on either side of which were triangles, and in the middle a cross. There are four mosques, built with stones and columns belonging to a Christian church. There is also a square tower, measuring 7 paces on each side. It is lit by loopholes, and is covered with immense slabs forming a roof, and supported by vaulted arcades. Within it is a cistern. On the lintel is a cross with equal branches inserted in a circle near four semicircles, which lie in a four-leaved rose. This tower formed part of a larger building, now destroyed.
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