Muqeible or Muqeibila (, ), meaning "The front place",Palmer, 1881, p.151 is an Arab town in Israel's Northern District, situated in the Jezreel Valley between Jenin in the West Bank and the Ta'anakh area. It is a part of the Gilboa Regional Council. In , its population was . The inhabitants are mostly Muslims.
History
During the Roman-era, a town called "Muqeibleh" stood at the site. Byzantine-era settlement is attested to archaeologically by a well and pottery workshops from that period near the present village.Petersen, 2001, p. 223Dauphin, 1998, p. 743
Ottoman Empire According to a local inhabitant, the villagers moved here from the al-Haram-Sidna Ali-area in the latter part of the Ottoman period. In 1838 Edward Robinson noted Mukeibileh as a “village in the plain, on the direct route from Jenin to Nazareth.”Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, p. 161 He placed Mukeibileh as being in the District of Jenin, also called "Haritheh esh-Shemaliyeh".Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd app, p. 130, no 8
Victor Guérin, who visited in 1870, noted that the village contained 400 inhabitants and had a number of cisterns.Guérin, 1874, p. 327. Also cited in Petersen, 2001, p. 223 In 1870/1871 (1288 AH), an Ottoman census listed the village in the nahiya (sub-district) of Shafa al-Qibly.
In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Muqeible as "a mud village in the plain, supplied by cisterns."Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 45, also cited in Petersen, 2001, p. 223
British Mandate In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Muquibleh had a population of 201; 181 Muslims and 20 Christians,Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Jenin, p. 29 where all the Christians were Orthodox.Barron, 1923, Table XV, p. 47 In the 1931 census, the population had increased to 270; 244 Muslims and 26 Christians, in a total of 67 houses.Mills, 1932, p. 69
By the 1945 statistics Muqeible had 460 inhabitants, all classified as Muslims.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 16 They owned a total of 2,687 dunams of land, while 4,441 dunams were public, a total of 7,128.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 55 Of this, 174 dunams were used for plantations or irrigable land, 6,421 for cereals,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 99 while 22 dunams were built-up land.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 149
Israel After the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Muqeible became part of Israel.
In 1994, Andrew Petersen, an archaeologist specializing in Islamic architecture, examined the "Hawsh"; a large, square courtyard building, resembling a khan, in the center of the village. The central courtyard of the "Hawsh" measures approximately 30m per side. On the east side there is a small gateway, leading into a tall iwan. Petersen noted that the masonry suggested that it was built either in late Ottoman or early Mandate Period.
Demographics
See also Arab localities in Israel Muqeible Airfield
References
Bibliography
External links Welcome To Muqeibila Survey of Western Palestine, Map 8: IAA, Wikimedia commons Map, 1946