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Rumana, Israel

Coordinates: 32°47′17″N 35°18′38″E / 32.78806°N 35.31056°E / 32.78806; 35.31056
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Rumana
רומאנה
رمانة
Etymology: Pomegranate[1]
Rumana is located in Northwest Israel
Rumana
Rumana
Rumana is located in Israel
Rumana
Rumana
Coordinates: 32°47′17″N 35°18′38″E / 32.78806°N 35.31056°E / 32.78806; 35.31056
Grid position179/243 PAL
CountryIsrael
DistrictNorthern
Councilal-Batuf
Population
 (2022)[2]
1,276

Rumana (Arabic: رمانة; Hebrew: רֻמָּנָה, רומאנה) is an Arab village in northern Israel. Located near Nazareth, it falls under the jurisdiction of al-Batuf Regional Council. In 2022 its population was 1,276.[2]

History

The Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine found cisterns and rock-cut caves, and traces of ancient remains at this village.[3]

Sherds ascribed to the Early Bronze Age I and the Intermediate Bronze Age have been found, as well as a cluster of sherds from the Iron Age II (tenth–eighth centuries BCE). A building with sherds from the Iron Age II and the Persian era have also been excavated.[4]

Graves dating to the Persian era and remains of an architectural complex from the Roman era (first–third centuries CE) have been excavated here.[5]

It has been suggested that Rumana was Romette, a casuale belonging to the Knights Hospitallers in the Crusader era.[6][7]

A small number of remains from the Mamluk era has also been found.[4]

Ottoman era

Rumana, like the rest of Palestine, was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, and in the census of 1596, the village was located in the nahiya of Tabariyya in the liwa of Safad. It had a population of 9 households, all Muslim. The villagers paid taxes on wheat, barley, fruit trees, cotton, goats and beehives.[8] Pierre Jacotin called the village Roumani on his map in 1799.[9]

Biblical scholar Edward Robinson passed by the village in 1852, and assumed it was the ancient Rimmon of the Tribe of Zebulun.[10] French explorer Victor Guérin described the village in the 1870s as being small, and protected from the outside by a continuous wall, and hedges of cactus. He also found many fine remains from former times and also speculates that it might be the Biblical site of Rimon, which is mentioned in the Book of Joshua.[11] (Joshua 19:13) In Palestine Exploration Fund's 1881 Survey of Western Palestine, the village (called Rummaneh) was described as:

A small village built of stone, and containing about 70 Moslems. It is situated on a low ridge above the plain, and there are a few olive-trees around. The water supply is from cisterns and a well.[12]

A population list from about 1887 showed that er Rummaneh had about 40 Muslim inhabitants.[13]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Rummaneh had a population of 37, of which 33 were Muslims and 4 Christians.[14] The Christians were all Melkite.[15]

In the 1931 census the population was counted with nearby Rumat al-Heib, and together they had 197 inhabitants; 195 Muslims and 2 Christians, in a total of 36 houses.[16]

In the 1945 statistics the population was 590, all Muslims[17] while the total land area was 1,493 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[18] Of this, 28 dunams were allocated for plantations and irrigable land, 796 for cereals,[19] while 5 dunams were classified as built-up areas.[20]

State of Israel

In 1948 the village was captured by the Israeli army during Operation Dekel, 15–18 July.[21] It remained under martial law until 1966.

References

  1. ^ Palmer, 1881, p. 133
  2. ^ a b "Regional Statistics". Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
  3. ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 414
  4. ^ a b Feig, 2016, Rumana
  5. ^ Stepansky, 2002, Rumana
  6. ^ Rey, 1883, p. 444
  7. ^ Conder, 1890, pp. 35 -6
  8. ^ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 188
  9. ^ Karmon, 1960, p. 166
  10. ^ Robinson and Smith, 1856, p. 109 ff
  11. ^ Guérin, 1880, pp. 365 ff
  12. ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 363
  13. ^ Schumacher, 1888, p. 184
  14. ^ Barron, 1923, Table XI, p. 38
  15. ^ Barron, 1923, Table XVI, p. 51
  16. ^ Mills, 1932, p. 75
  17. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 8
  18. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 63
  19. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 110
  20. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 160
  21. ^ Morris, 1987, p. 200

Bibliography