Tubas () is a city in the northeast of the West Bank, Palestine, and capital of the Tubas Governorate. A city of over 30,000 inhabitants, it is situated northeast of Nablus, west of the Jordan Valley and is an economic center. Its urban area consists of 2,271 dunams (227 hectares). It is governed by a municipal council of 15 members and most of its working inhabitants are employed in agriculture or public services.
Tubas has been identified as the ancient town of Thebez (), a Canaanite town famous for revolting against King Abimelech. In the late 19th century, during Ottoman rule in Palestine, Arab clans living in the Jordan Valley came to live in Tubas, which became a major town in the District of Nablus, particularly known for its timber and cheese making. It came under the British Mandate of Palestine in 1922, was annexed by Jordan after their capture of the town in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and then occupied by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War. The Palestinian National Authority has had control of Tubas since the city was transferred to its jurisdiction in 1995.
History Biblical Thebez Edward Robinson thought Tubas to be identical with the Canaanite/Israelite town of "Thebez" () mentioned in the Hebrew Bible in the Book of Judges.Robinson and Smith, 1856, p. 305Rix, 1907, pp. 157-159Skinner (1895), p. The International Critical Commentary on the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, C. Scribner's Sons, p. 268. It is the namesake of the titular woman of Thebez. Besides the Biblical story, nothing is known about Thebez before or after the revolt.Bromiley, 1995, p. 825
Roman and Byzantine periods Archaeological remains such as cemeteries and olive presses indicate that Tubas was inhabited during the Roman period.Tubas City Profile Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem. February 2006.
Eusebius mentioned Thebez being 13 Roman miles east of Neapolis (Nablus), which led to it being identified with Tubas, which is 16 km (10 mi.) east of Neapolis Nablus.
Ottoman period Late 16th century In 1596 it appeared in the Ottoman tax registers as "Tubas", in the nahiya of Jabal Sami in the liwa of Nablus. It had a population of 41 households and 16 bachelors, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33.3% on wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, occasional revenues, goats, beehives, and a press for olives or grapes; a total of 11,704 akçe.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 125.
Late 19th century In the late 19th century, with Palestine still being Ottoman rule, groups of Arabs belonging to the Daraghmeh clan—mostly shepherds and farmers who lived in the Jordan Valley—migrated northward to the site because of its fertile ground, proximity to several springs, and its high elevation compared to the Jordan Valley and Wadi al-Far'a plain; Mount Gerizim was visible from the area.Finn (1867/1877), pp. 92–93. The Daraghmeh clan had lived in the Jordan Valley since the 15th century and in addition to Tubas, they founded or inhabited the nearby hamlets of Kardala, al-Farisiya, Khirbet al-Malih, Kishda, Yarza, and Ras al-Far'a. Soon after being established in Tubas, Arabs from Najd, Syria, Transjordan, Hebron and nearby Nablus came to settle in the area. During this period, Tubas became the site of clashes between the 'Abd al-Hadi and Tuqan families of Nablus and suffered incursions by Bedouins from areas east of the city. The Jarrar family did not inhabit, but administered Tubas, as it was located within the nahiya ("subdistrict") of Mashariq al-Jarrar.Doumani (1995), "The Hinterland of Nablus: Local Trade Networks".
Tubas was one of the largest villages in the District of Nablus. Most of the inhabitants resided in mud-built houses or tents in order to work on their distant lands in the Jordan Valley and to graze their sheep and goat flocks.Doumani (1995), Notes. According to traveler Herbert Rix, compared to other towns of its size in Samaria, Tubas was "well-to-do" and had abundant amounts of timber, which was harvested for firewood. Tubas, unlike the villages in the rest of the district, depended on livestock and not olives for income. Livestock products included cheese, clarified butter, woolen rugs, tents, ropes, and cloth bags.Doumani (1995), "The Hinterland of Nablus". In 1882 a boys' school was established in the town.
In 1877, Lieutenant Kitchener of the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) survey team, reported uncovering an Arabic inscription buried in the wall of the village mosque recording its building and dedication. He also wrote that the villagers had paid a bribe of £100 in gold to the Pasha of Nablus to avoid their young men being conscripted into the Turkish army fighting in Crimea. He noted that they would probably have to repeat the payment.Kitchener, 1878, p. 62
The PEF noted that the Samaritans believed that the tomb of Asher, known locally as Nabi Tota ("the good prophet"), was located in Tubas. The tomb served as a shrine in local Muslim tradition.Conder (1881), p. 201.
British Mandate In 1917, the British captured Palestine from the Ottomans. After rule under a military government, it was reorganized in 1922–23 Tubas was incorporated into the British Mandate of Palestine.
In the 1922 census of Palestine, Tubas had a population of 3,449 (3,441 MuslimsBarron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Nablus, p. 24 and 7 Orthodox ChristiansBarron, 1923, p. 47). In the 1931 census, Tubas, (including Kashda and Jabagia) had 773 occupied houses and a population of 4,097 (4,068 Muslims and 29 Christians).Mills, 1932, p. 65
In Sami Hadawi's 1945 statistics, a land and population survey, Tubas and nearby Bardala had a combined population of 5,530 (5,470 Muslims and 60 ChristiansGovernment of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 19), with 313,123 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. 61 Of this, 18,498 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 98,518 dunams for cereals,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 108 while 204 dunams were built-up (urban) land.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 158
In 1947, the United Nations drew up a partition plan to divide Palestine into Jewish and Arab states; Tubas and the surrounding villages and hamlets were to be included in the Arab state. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Fawzi al-Qawuqji led 750 Arab Liberation Army (ALA) soldiers to Tubas from Transjordan and set up base there; Tubas would serve as the ALA's headquarters in central Palestine throughout the war.Pipes (1990), p. 57.
Jordanian annexation In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Tubas became a part of Jordan.
In 1955 the first girls' school was opened.
In 1961, the population was 5,709,Government of Jordan, 1964, p. 13 while in 1964, Tubas alone had a population of 5,880.Stendel, Ori (1968).Arab Villages in Israel and Judea-Samaria (the West Bank) in Israel Economist, p. 21.
Post-1967
Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Tubas has been under Israeli occupation.
Tubas was transferred to Palestinian National Authority (PNA) control in 1995 under the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. During the Jordanian and Israeli periods, the city was under the administration of the Nablus Governorate, but in 1996, the PNA declared Tubas and the immediate area to be an electoral district, and later, an independent administrative area—the Tubas Governorate.Bio Data - Tubas United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Tubas has not seen as much violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict as nearby Nablus and Jenin, but a number of incidents occurred during the Second Intifada, which began in 2000. In April 2002, the Israeli forces (IDF) killed six active Hamas members in the town, including Ashraf Tamza Daraghmeh—the chief Hamas commander in Tubas and the surrounding area.Yesterday's Strike on a Terror Squad in Tubas Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 2002-04-06. On August 31, 2002, an Israeli Apache helicopter fired four Hellfire missiles at a civilian car suspected of carrying a local al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades commander and a nearby home. The strike instead killed five civilians, including two children, two teenagers and a 29-year-old Fatah activist accused of being a member of the al-Aqsa Brigades. The Israeli Defense Minister, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, issued a statement expressing "regret" over "harming" civilians in Tubas. Ben-Eliezer described the raid in Tubas as a "mistake", and promised that the army would investigate the incident.Killing deliberately, 'by mistake' Al-Ahram Weekly. 2002-09-05. On August 21, 2009, a clash between the Sawafta clan and another city clan left a member of the former dead and 38 others injured. Five homes were also burnt and Palestinian Security Forces arrested five people in connection to the death.Tubas: Clan clash kills one, injures 38, sees five homes burned. Ma'an News Agency. 2009-08-21.
On 27 August 2024, the IDF invaded Tubas along with Nablus, Jenin and Tulkarm as part of their "Summer Camp" offensive.
On November 26, 2025, Israel deployed heavy reinforcements to the northern Jordan Valley and sealed off large parts of the Tubas Governorate. Residents reported that Israeli Apache helicopters were firing over empty fields around Tubas. The Israeli military stated that the blockade was intended to combat resistance fighters. Four nearby towns, including Tamun and Aqaba, were subjected to house-to-house Israeli military patrols. Tubas Governor Ahmed al-Assad denied the Israeli military’s claim, stating, “The Israeli attack has nothing to do with security; it has everything to do with geography.”
Geography
Tubas is located in the northern West Bank with an elevation of above sea level, whereas most of the Tubas Governorate is located within the Jordan Valley to the south. In a 1945 land survey, Tubas along with nearby Bardala and Kardala consisted of 313,123 dunams (31,312 hectares) of which 220,594 was Arab-owned and the remainder being public property. , its total land area consists of 295,123 dunams (29,512 hectares), of which 2,271 is classified as built-up, roughly 150,000 used for agricultural purposes and about 180,000 has been expropriated by Israel for military bases and buffer zone.Tubas City Fact Sheet Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem.
Tubas is located to the northeast of Nablus, and west of the Jordan Valley. Nearby localities include the town of Aqqaba to the north, Tayasir and Aqabah villages to the northeast, Ras al-Far'a to the southwest, the Palestinian refugee camp of Far'a to the south and the al-Bikai'a village cluster to the southeast.
It has a moderate climate; the summer is hot and dry, and the winter is cold and wet. The average annual temperature is , and the average annual humidity rate is 56%.
Demographics
About 1,100 residents fled Tubas after the 1967 Six-Day War mostly to the Souf refugee camp in Jordan,Souf Camp Dwellers DPA. while 260 immigrated there and in 1981 its population was 5,300.Welcome to Tubas British Mandate Census via PalestineRemembered.