Nuba () is a Palestinian town located eleven kilometers north-west of Hebron.The town is in the Hebron Governorate of the State of Palestine, in the southern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the village had a population of 5,631 in 2017.
History Mamluk period Nuba is mentioned in three waqf (religious endowment) documents dating to the first decade of the 14th century, during Mamluk rule in Palestine (1260–1516). The waqf concerned revenues from the village for the benefit of the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron and provide information about the residents of Nuba. In one of the documents, three (sing: ; headmen), all belonging to a family called the Banu Amir, recognize their duties to forward grain revenue to the waqf and guarantee each other's obligations. In the second document, dated to July 1306, four of Nuba swear to the governor of Jerusalem to act lawfully, keep the peace between themselves, and cultivate the village lands belonging to the waqf. Thirteen men, some from clans called al-Abbas and al-Ghazi, from the nearby villages of Halhul, Tarqumiya, Beit Ula, Beit Einun and Nuba's satellite village of Beit Nasif all agreed to ensure the peace in Nuba, indicating there had been persistent strife in the village prompting intervention. The third document, dating to 1307, orders three villagers of Nuba, all members of the Banu Amir but not , to act lawfully and not engage in mischief.
Ottoman era Nuba, like the rest of Palestine, was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1516, and in a tax register from 1596, the village was listed as part of the (subdistrict) of Hebron in the of Jerusalem. It had a population of 82 Muslim households. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on wheat, barley, vineyards and fruit trees, occasional revenues, goats and/or beehives; a total of 10,000 akçe.
In 1838, the biblical scholar Edward Robinson noted Nuba as a Muslim village between the mountains and Gaza, and administratively attached to Hebron. It was one of a cluster of villages at the foot of a mountain, together with Kharas and Beit Ula. An Ottoman village list from showed that Nuba had 52 houses and a population of 200, though the population count only included men. In 1883, PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Nuba as a "small village perched on a low hill, with a well about a mile to the east." In 1896 the population of Nuba was estimated to be about 537.
British Mandate period In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Nuba had a population 357, all Muslims. This had increased at the time of the 1931 census to 611 Muslims, living in 140 houses. In the 1945 statistics the population of Nuba was 760, all Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 23 who owned 22,836 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. 50 403 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 10,116 for cereals,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 93 while 33 dunams were built-up (urban) land.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 143
Jordanian period In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Nuba came under Jordanian rule. The Jordanian census of 1961 found 1,075 inhabitants in Nuba.Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 23
Post-1967 Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Nuba has been under Israeli occupation.
Notable people Abdulrahim Abu-Husayn, a Palestinian historian.
Footnotes
Bibliography
External links
Welcome To The City of Nuba Nuba, Welcome to Palestine Survey of Western Palestine, Map 21: IAA, Wikimedia commons Nuba Village (Fact Sheet), Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem (ARIJ) Nuba Village Profile, ARIJ Nuba aerial photo, ARIJ The priorities and needs for development in Nuba village based on the community and local authorities’ assessment, ARIJ