Rafat, Jerusalem
| Rafat | |
|---|---|
| Other transcription(s) | |
| • Arabic | رافات |
Rafat
|
|
 Rafat
|
|
| Coordinates: 31°52′14″N 35°11′32″E / 31.87056°N 35.19222°ECoordinates: 31°52′14″N 35°11′32″E / 31.87056°N 35.19222°E | |
| Palestine grid | 168/141 |
| Governorate | Jerusalem |
| Government | |
| • Type | Village council |
| Area | |
| • Jurisdiction | 3,773 dunams (3.8 km2 or 1.5 sq mi) |
| Population (2006) | |
| • Jurisdiction | 2,100 |
| Name meaning | from personal name |
Rafat (Arabic: رافات) is a Palestinian town, located approximately 4 km (2.5 mi) southwest of the city of Ramallah in the central West Bank in the northern Jerusalem Governorate. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, it had a population of 2,100 in 2006. Its total land area consists of 3,773 dunams.
Ceramics from the Byzantine era have been found here.
Rafat, like the rest of Palestine, was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, and in the census of 1596, the village was noted in the Nahiya of Quds of the Liwa of Quds. The population was 27 households, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on various agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, summer crops, goats and/or beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues"; a total of 3,300 akçe.
In 1838, it was noted as a Muslim village in the Jerusalem District.
In 1863 Victor Guérin found Rafat to have one hundred and twenty inhabitants, and was located on a mound. It had mosque is dedicated to Sheikh Ahmed. He further noted that in some houses several stones looked of an ancient appearance. In one house he found a fragment of a broken column.
An Ottoman village list from about 1870 showed that rafat had 35 houses and a population of 100, though the population count included men, only.
In 1882, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine described it as: "A semi-ruinous stone village on a ridge, apparently an ancient site, with a very conspicuous Mukam on a piece of rock west of the village, and rock-cut tombs. The water supply is from wells and cisterns."
...
Wikipedia