Rafat () is a Palestinian town in the Jerusalem Governorate of the State of Palestine, located approximately southwest of the city of Ramallah in the central West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, it had a population of 2,941 in 2017.https://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Downloads/book2364-1.pdf . Its total land area consists of 3,773 dunams.

Location Rafat is located northwest of Jerusalem. It is bordered by Qalandiya to the east, Al Judeira to the north, Ramallah to the west, and Beituniya to the south.Rafat Village Profile, ARIJ, 2012, p. 4

History Ceramics from the Byzantine era have been found here.Dauphin, 1998, p. 843

Ottoman era Rafat, like the rest of Palestine, was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, and in the census of 1596, the village was noted in the Nahiya of Quds of the Liwa of Quds. The population was 27 households, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33.3% on various agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, summer crops, goats and/or beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues"; a total of 3,300 akçe.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 118Toledano, 1984, p. 298, gives the location as 31°52′20″N 35°11′20″E

In 1838, Rafat was noted as a Muslim village in the Jerusalem District.Robinson and Smith, vol.3, Appendix 2, p. 122Robinson and Smith, vol.2, p. 133Robinson and Smith, vol.2, p. 135 During this time, residents from Rafat settled Danyal near al-Ramla, establishing it as a dependency – or satellite village – of their home village.

In 1863, Victor Guérin found Rafat to have 120 inhabitants, and was located on a mound. It had a mosque dedicated to Sheikh Ahmed. He further noted that in some houses, several stones appeared to be ancient. In one house he found a fragment of a broken column.Guérin, 1868, pp. 392-393

An Ottoman village list from about 1870 showed that rafat had 35 houses and a population of 100, though the population count only included men.Socin, 1879, p. 158Hartmann, 1883, p. 127 noted 25 houses

In 1883, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Rafat as "a small hamlet on a ridge, with a spring to the west, and many rock cut tombs."Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. 13

In 1896, the population of Rafat was estimated to be about 195 persons.Schick, 1896, p. 121

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Rafat had a population of 219 Muslims.Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Jerusalem, p. 14 According to the 1931 census, Rafat had a population of 218 inhabitants in 46 houses.Mills, 1932, p. 42 In the 1945 statistics, Rafat had a population of 280 Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 25 and a land area of 3,777 dunams.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 58 Of this, 252 dunams were designated for plantations and irrigable land, 1,965 dunams were for cereals,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 104 while 21 dunams were built-up.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 154

Jordanian era In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Rafat came under Jordanian rule.

In 1961, the population of Rafat was 504.Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 23

Post-1967 Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Rafat has been under Israeli occupation. The population in the 1967 census conducted by the Israeli authorities was 499, 75% of whom originated from the Israeli territory.

According to ARIJ, Israel has confiscated 287 dunums of land (8.5% of the total area of the village) for the construction of Camp Ofer (later Ofer Prison). More land has been confiscated from Rafat for the construction of the Israeli West Bank barrier. 637 dunums, which comprises 18.7% of the village’s total area, is isolated behind the wall, on the Israeli side.Rafat Village Profile, ARIJ, 2012, p. 16

References

Bibliography

(p. 154-155)

External links

Welcome To Rafat, Palestine Remembered Rafat, Welcome to Palestine Survey of Western Palestine, Map 17: IAA, Wikimedia commons Rafat Village (Fact Sheet), Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem (ARIJ) Rafat Village Profile, ARIJ Rafat, aerial photo, ARIJ Locality Development Priorities and Needs in Rafat, ARIJ