Kharbatha al-Misbah

Kharbatha al-Misbah () is a Palestinian town in the central West Bank, located west of Ramallah in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 6,366 in 2017. It has a total land area of 4,431 dunams, of which 644 are built-up areas and the remainder agricultural lands and forests.New Colonial Road to be constructed on lands of western Ramallah Villages Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem. 16 January 2006.

Location Kharbatha al Misbah is located west of Ramallah. It is bordered by Beit Ur al Fauqa to the east, Beit Ur at Tahta to the north, Beit Sira to the west, and Beit Liqya to the south.

Etymology Ḫarbatā /Ḫarbata/ is an Aramaic toponym meaning “the ruin”. The second part of the name means "lamp".Palmer, Name Lists, 1881.

History In 1838, it was noted as a Muslim village called Khurbata in the Lydda administrative region.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 121Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, p. 66

In 1863, Victor Guérin found 400 inhabitants, along with ruins identified as the remains of a Christian church. He further noted five or six cisterns as well as ancient tombs. He described it an ancient place founded on the site of a Hebrew settlement whose original name had been lost.Guérin, 1875, p. 347

Albert Socin found an official Ottoman village list from 1870 that shows Charabta, in the Lydda district, had a population of 194 living in 71 houses, although the count included only men.Socin, 1879, p. 149 Hartmann gives the number of houses as 78.Hartmann, 1883, p. 138

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described the village, then called Khurbetha ibn es Seba, as "a small village on a ridge, with a well to the east."Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 15

British Mandate era In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Kherbet al-Mesbah had a population of 369, all Muslim.Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramallah, p. 17 In the 1931 census it had increased to a population of 488, still all Muslim, in 121 inhabited houses.Mills, 1932, p. 50

In the 1945 statistics, the population of Khirbat el Misbah was 600, all Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 26 who owned 4,438 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. 65 1,026 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 2,133 used for cereals,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 112 while 25 dunams were built-up (urban) land.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 162

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

The Jordanian census of 1961 found 942 inhabitants in Kh. Misbah.Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 24

There are two mosques in the town: Omri Mosque and al-Kawthar Mosque. The former was built atop the ruins of an ancient church and was renovated in 1965. Within the town, still lay Ancient Roman cemeteries. It has been governed by a village council.History of the Village Palestine Remembered.

1967-present Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Kharbatha al-Misbah has been under Israeli occupation.

After the 1995 accords, 19% of village land was classified as Area B, while the remaining 81% was classified as Area C. Israel has confiscated 61 dunams of village land in order to build the Israeli settlement of Beit Horon. Kharbatha al Misbah Village Profile, ARIJ, p. 16

Kharbatha al-Misbah

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