Kafr ad-Dik () is a Palestinian town located 9.5 kilometers west of Salfit in the Salfit Governorate of Palestine, in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the town had a population of 5,551 in 2017.
In 2007, 70% of the families in Kafr ad-Dik engaged in agriculture as their main source of income, while the remaining 30% worked in the private and public sectors. The unemployment rate in the town was 60%.More of Bruqin's and Kafr Ad dik's land are targeted by the Segregation Wall Applied Research Institute Jerusalem 2007-03-05.
The town's total land area consists of 15,228 dunams of which 578 dunams are built-up. The archaeological ruins of Deir Samaan are located on the village outskirts.
The Israeli settlements of Peduel and Alei Zahav were established on 1,448 dunams of land claimed by Kafr ad-Dik. Since the Oslo II Accord, 1,953 dunums of Kafr ad-Dik are classified as Area B, under Palestinian control, while 13,275 dunams are classified as Area C, under Israeli control.House Demolitions warnings in Kafr ad Dik village Applied Research Institute Jerusalem 2007-05-07.
Location
Kafr ad Dik located west of Salfit. It is bordered by Bruqin to the east, Bani Zaid to the south, Rafat and Deir Ballut to the west, and Biddya and Sarta to the north.
History Archaeological surveys have not been conducted at the village.
It has been suggested that this is the place mentioned in Crusader sources under the name of Caphaer; a village connected with the Casale Santa Maria.Clermont-Ganneau, 1898, pp. 166-176; Prawer and Benvenisti, 1970; all cited in Finkelstein, et al., 1997, pp. 267–8 In 1175, Crusader sources mentions a former cistern-keeper of the village.Röhricht, 1893, RHH, p. 142, no 533; quoted in Pringle, 1997, p. 13 In 1176, the revenues from Caphaer (=Kafr ad-Dik) and caslia S. Maria (=Aboud) were given for the provision of white bread for the sick in the Hospital in Jerusalem.Röhricht, 1893, RHH, p. 145, no 547; cited in Pringle, 1993, p. 18
The coat of arms the Mamluk Sultan Qaitbay (1468–1496 C.E.) have been found in a mosque in the village.DOA Mandatorial file; cited in Finkelstein, et al., 1997, p. 268
Ottoman era This village may be the Kufeir Bani Humeid of the 1596 Ottoman tax records, with 83 Muslim families.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 132, according to Grossman, 1986, p. 354, cited in Finkelstein, 1998, p. 268
In the 16th century, the neighboring village of Susya was listed as inhabited, but it became abandoned before the 19th century, with its land being absorbed by Kafr al-Dik.Marom, Roy (2026). Settled Land: The Arab Countryside in Israel/Palestine (in Hebrew). Ra'anana: Lamda Scholarship, The Open University of Israel Press. p. 20.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the village formed part of the highland region known as Jūrat ‘Amra or Bilād Jammā‘īn. Situated between Dayr Ghassāna in the south and the present Route 5 in the north, and between Majdal Yābā in the west and Jammā‘īn, Mardā and Kifl Ḥāris in the east, this area served, according to historian Roy Marom, "as a buffer zone between the political-economic-social units of the Jerusalem and the Nablus regions. On the political level, it suffered from instability due to the migration of the Bedouin tribes and constant competition among local clans for the right to collect taxes on behalf of the Ottoman authorities."
In 1838 it was referred to as el-Kufr, part of the Jurat Merda district, south of Nablus.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p. 127
In 1870 Victor Guérin found two birkets cut in the rock, one 15 paces long by 12 broad, the other not quite so large; about 30 cisterns and 20 tombs cut in the rock, some with sepulchral chambers, their walls pierced with loculi, others simple graves, either intended for a single body or having right and left vaulted tombs with arcosolia. These graves were formerly covered with stone slabs. There were also several lintels, decorated with the rectangular cartouche, on either side of which were triangles, and in the middle a cross. There are four mosques, built with stones and columns belonging to a Christian church. There is also a square tower, measuring 7 paces on each side. It is lit by loopholes, and is covered with immense slabs forming a roof, and supported by vaulted arcades. Within it is a cistern. On the lintel is a cross with equal branches inserted in a circle near four semicircles, which lie in a four-leaved rose. This tower formed part of a larger building, now destroyed.Guérin, 1875, pp. 153, 154, as cited in Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 324
Guérin writes that the houses were constructed from red and white stone masonry, as in Deir Ghassaneh and Beit Rima.Guérin, 1875, pp. 153 ff
In 1870/1871 (1288 AH), an Ottoman census listed the village in the nahiya (sub-district) of Jamma'in al-Thani, subordinate to Nablus.
In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described a hillside village of moderate size with ancient rock-cut tombs to the east.Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 284
British Mandate era
In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Kufr al-Dik had a population of 487, all Muslim,Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Nablus, p. 26 increasing in the 1931 census to 665, still all Muslim, in 139 houses.Mills, 1932, p. 61.
In the 1945 statistics the population was 870, all Muslims,Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 18 while the total land area was 15,308 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 60 Of this, 2,075 were used for plantations and irrigable land, 2,603 for cereals,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 106 while 58 dunams were classified as built-up areas.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 156
Jordanian era In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Kafr ad-Dik came under Jordanian rule. It was annexed by Jordan in 1950.
In 1961, the population was 1,365.Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 26 It was further noted (note 2) that it was governed through a village council.
1967–present
Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Kafr ad-Dik has been under Israeli occupation.
After the 1995 accords, 14.5% of village land was classified as Area B, the remaining 85.5% as Area C. Land was expropriated for the construction of Israeli settlements: 594 dunams for Pedu'el, 300 dunams for Alei Zahav, 144 dunams for Har Alei Zahav, and 246 dunams for an industrial zone, near Pedu'el.Kafr ad Dik Town Profile, ARIJ, p. 17
After an Israeli court approved the expropriation of 3,000 dunams (750 acres) of private land in Kafr ad-Dik's Thahir Subih neighborhood, bulldozers reportedly uprooted dozens of olive trees and fruit trees while leveling over 10,000 dunams (2,500 acres). The Israel Civil Administration spokesperson said the works were part of a national agricultural development plan. In Israel's view, these are Israeli state lands. Ma'an News Agency 29 June 2014.
Demography Residents of Deir Istiya, Sanniriya, Kafr Jammal, Attil, Annaba, Ballut and Nablus, trace their ancestry back to this village.Grossman, D. (1986). "Oscillations in the Rural Settlement of Samaria and Judaea in the Ottoman Period". in Shomron studies. Dar, S., Safrai, S., (eds). Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House. p. 354
References
Bibliography
External links Welcome To Kafr al-Dik Kufr ad-Dik, IWPS Survey of Western Palestine, Map 14: IAA, Wikimedia commons Kafr Ad Dik Town (Fact Sheet), Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem (ARIJ) Kafr ad Dik Town Profile, ARIJ Kafr ad Dik aerial photo, ARIJ Kfar Ad Dik and Deir Ballut in Salfit Governorate receive New Land confiscation Order 10, January, 2007, POICA More of Bruqin's and Kafr Ad dik's land are targeted by the Segregation Wall 05, March, 2007, POICA House Demolitions warnings in Kafr ad Dik village 07, May, 2007, POICA The Israeli Occupation Forces re-closes Kafr ad Dik main entrance 05, February, 2010, POICA Colonial Expansion amplified on Lands of Kafr ad Dik village 03, December, 2010, POICA Expansions in Eli Zahav and Bedouil Colonies in Kafr ad Dik 05, July, 2011, POICA Demolishing 22 Structures in Kafr ad Dik town – Salfit Governorate 06, October, 2011, POICA Demolition Orders in Kafr ad Dik- Salfit Governorate 11, October, 2011, POICA Blocking Kafr ad Dik Entrance 28, January, 2012, POICA Demolishing Cisterns and Sheds in Kafr ad Dik 19, April, 2012, POICA Kafr ad-Dik