Mirka () is a Palestinian village in the West Bank, located Southwest of the city of Jenin in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 1,555 inhabitants in mid-year 2006 and 2,203 by 2017.Projected Mid -Year Population for Jenin Governorate by Locality 2004– 2006 Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
History Just southeast of the village (at grid 172/199) is a site where sherds mainly from the Persian era have been found.Zertal, 2004, pp. 189-190
Pottery sherds from the early and late Roman, Byzantine, early Muslim and Medieval eras have been found at the village site.Zertal, 2004, pp. 186-187
Locals say they have origins in Arraba.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. 351
Ottoman era Mirka, like all of Palestine, was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517. In the 1596 tax registers, it was part of the nahiya ("subdistrict") of Jabal Sami, part of the larger Sanjak of Nablus. It had a population of 9 households, all Muslims. The inhabitants paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and beehives, a press for olive oil or grape syrup, in addition to occasional revenues and a fixed tax for people of Nablus area; a total of 3,780 akçe.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 128
In the 1882 PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP), Merkeh is described as: "a hamlet on the side of a bare hill."Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 156
British Mandate era In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Merka had a population 142 Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table V, Sub-district of Jenin, p. 29 increasing in the 1931 census to 167 Muslim, in a total of 32 houses.Mills, 1932, p. 69
In the 1945 statistics, the population was 230 Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 16 with a total of 4,396 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 54 Of this, 546 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 1,300 dunams were for cereals,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 99 while a total of 26 dunams were built-up, urban land.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 149
Jordanian era In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Mirka came under Jordanian rule.
In 1961, the population was 303.Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 25
Post-1967 Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Mirka has been under Israeli occupation, and according to the Israeli census of that year, the population of Mirka stood at 142, of whom 59 were registered as having come from Israel.
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Bibliography
External links Welcome To Mirka Survey of Western Palestine, Map 11: IAA, Wikimedia commons