Qalqilya

32°11′26″N 34°58′06″E / 32.19056°N 34.96833°E / 32.19056; 34.96833 Qalqilyah (Arabic قلقيلية Qalqīlyaḧ) is a city under Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Most of the residents are farmers, and constant contact with Israeli farmers has made Qalqīlyah a bilingual town. The town is located in the West Bank's closest point to the Mediterranean Sea, some 12 km away. As of 1996, its number of inhabitants was estimated at 28,300.

Early history

The town's area has been populated from prehistoric times, and prehistoric flint tools were found in the modern town's area. In Roman times, a way-station existed in the location called Kalkaliya. Invading armies, many of which came from the Mediterranean coast just 12 km away, often came through Qalqilyah. Its Canaanite origins are murky, but its current name comes from the Roman Qala'alia, meaning high fortress. During the subsequent Muslem rules of the area, the town was populated with Arab inhabitants.

Recent history

Residents established an independent local council in 1909, and by 1945, a municipal council. In World War I, a few Jewish families settled in the town after being evicted from Tel Aviv by the ruling Turks.

Thousands of landless Palestinian refugees swarmed the city after the Arab defeat in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and made one city quarter their home. Known as the people of Kufre Saba and Arab Abu Kishek, the refugees got UNRWA help, but a refugee camp was never created because local politicians negotiated UN help for the whole city in return for integrating the refugees.

In the 1949 Armistice Agreements between Israel and Jordan, the town was included in the Jordanian-occupied area, together with the rest of the West Bank. The town came under Israeli occupation in the 1967 Six-Day War.

Following the Oslo Accords, the town came under the juristriction of the Palestinian Authority. Qalqilya was the scene of the first fireclash in the Al-Aqsa Intifada, on September 29, 2000 (a day after Ariel Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem), when a Palestinian police officer working with Israeli police on a joint patrol opened fire and killed his Israeli counterpart. Since then Israeli security forces routinely enter the town and arrest suspects.

Since 2003, the Israeli West Bank barrier has been built to completely encircle Qalqīlyah, separating the city from lands on both sides of the fence, leading to anger and protests from many of the citizens of the city.

Economy

Between 1967-1995 almost 80 percent of Qalqilya's labor force worked for Israeli companies or industries in the construction and agriculture sectors. The other 20% engaged in trade and commerce, and many if not most of their traditional markets are across the green line.