Kafr Dan

Kafr Dan (Arabic: كفر ذان) is a Palestinian village in the Jenin Governorate, located 8 km northwest of Jenin in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) census, the town had a population of 5,148 in 2007 and 6,591 in 2017.^[1][3]

Kafr Dan
Municipality type C
Arabic transcription(s)
• Arabic	كفر دان
• Latin (official)	Kufr Dan
Kafr Dan Location of Kafr Dan within Palestine
Coordinates: 32°28′43″N 35°15′15″E
Palestine grid	174/209
State	State of Palestine
Governorate	Jenin
Government
• Type	Municipality
Population  (2017)[1]
• Total	6,591
Name meaning	"the village of adhan (call to prayer)"[2]

Location

Kafr Dan is located north-west of Jenin; just east of Al-Yamun and north of Burqin.

History

Pottery remains from the Roman, Byzantine, Early Islamic periods and the Middle Ages have been found here.^[4]

Palmer suggested to identify Kafr Dan with Capher Outheni (Hebrew: כפר עותני), a village mentioned in the Talmud.^[2]

Ottoman era

Kafr Dan, like the rest of Palestine, was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517. During the 16th and 17th centuries, it belonged to the Turabay Emirate (1517-1683), which encompassed also the Jezreel Valley, Haifa, Jenin, Beit She'an Valley, northern Jabal Nablus, Bilad al-Ruha/Ramot Menashe, and the northern part of the Sharon plain.^[5][6]

In the census of 1596, Kafr Dan appeared as "Kafradan”, located in the nahiya of Sha'ara in the liwa of Lajjun. It had a population of 9 households, all Muslim. They paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues; a total of 6,000 akçe.^[7] Pottery remains from the Ottoman era have also been found here.^[4]

In 1838 Edward Robinson, calling it Kefr Adan, noted it among many other villages on the plain; Lajjun, Umm al-Fahm, Ti'inik, Silat al-Harithiya, Al-Yamun and el Barid,^[8] located in the District of Jenin, also called Haritheh esh-Shemaliyeh.^[9]

In 1870 Victor Guérin found at Kafr Dan “a broken column and a certain number of cut stones of ancient appearance.”^[10] Guérin estimated that the village had 300 inhabitants.^[11] In 1870/1871 (1288 AH), an Ottoman census listed the village in the nahiya of Shafa al-Gharby.^[12]

In 1882 the PEF’s Survey of Western Palestine described the area as a "village of moderate size on the slope of the hills, built of stone, with olives below, and a well on the west.” They called the village “Kefr Adan”.^[13]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Kufr Dan had a population of 486; all Muslims,^[14] increasing in the 1931 census to 603, still all Muslim, in a total of 135 houses.^[15]

In the 1945 statistics, the population was 850, all Muslims,^[16] with 7,328 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.^[17] 5 dunams were used for citrus and bananas, 2,680 for plantations and irrigable land, 3,799 for cereals,^[18] while 34 dunams were built-up (urban) land.^[19]

Jordanian era

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

The Jordanian census of 1961 found 1,262 inhabitants.^[20]

Post 1967

Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Kafr Dan has been under Israeli occupation.

In 2009, Kafr Dan Village Council was upgraded into a municipality. The mayor, Bilal Mer'i, joined with Prime Minister Rami Hamdullah for the ceremony.^[21]