Hableh

Hableh (Arabic: حبله‎, also transliterated Hable, Habla, Hablah, Hibla, Hiblah; Hebrew: חבלה) is a Palestinian village located in the Qalqilya Governorate in the northwestern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) census, the town had a population of 6,016 in 2007.

Location

Habla is located just east of the Green Line, about 1-mile (1.6 km) southeast of the Palestinian town of Qalqilya as the crow flies, in the West Bank.

History

About a dozen tombs, with loculi have been found, together with cisterns. The type of tombs indicate that they are Christian. Ancient remains of a mosque and houses have been found in the village.

Ottoman era

During the period of Ottoman rule over Palestine, Hableh appeared in Ottoman tax registers in 1596, where it is listed as forming part of the Nahiya of Jabal Qubal in the Liwa of Nablus. It had a population of 41 Muslim households.Pierre Jacotin called the village Hableh on his map in 1799.

Edward Robinson and Eli Smith visited Hableh in the mid-19th century and describe it as being situated along the southern side of a low rocky ridge overlooking a plain on which could be seen the villages of Kilkilieh, Kfer Saba, Jiljulieh, and Ras al Ain. Camping on the ground to the south of the village and north of a wali on a low rocky hill, Robinson and Smith found themselves surrounded by cisterns dug into the rock. Most of these had round openings, some with one or two steps by which one could descend into them to draw water. All appeared to be ancient, and only one was still in use. There was also a sepulcher with an arched vault and an ancient wine press made up of two vats, one shallower and smaller than the other in which grapes would have been trodden with the juice going down through a hole to the larger, deeper vat directly adjacent and slightly below.