Salfit

Infobox Palestinian Authority muni
name=Salfit


imgsize=250
caption=
arname=سلفيت
meaning=
founded=
type=munb
typefrom=
altOffSp=Salfeet
altUnoSp=
governorate=sl
latd=32|latm=04|lats=55.56|latNS=N
longd=35 |longm=10|longs=56.79|longEW=E
population=9,750
popyear=2006
area=4,000
areakm=4.0
mayor=Tahseen Slimi

Salfit ( _ar. سلفيت, _he. סַלפִית), also Salfeet, is a Palestinian town in the central West Bank. Salfit is located at an altitude of 570 meters in the central Samarian highlands. Salfit has been described as a beautiful city, with a moderate "Mediterranean" climate that is hot and dry in summer and temperate and rainy in winters, with an annual average rainfall of 660mm/year. The city is located on hills, and surrounded by several mountains, where olive trees, vineyards, figs, apples and almonds are cultivated making agriculture an important part of its economy. [ [http://www.salfeet.org/ Salfeet Municipality] ] Salfit district is the largest olive oil producer in Palestine, 1500 tons annually. [ [http://www.salfeetchamber.org/engines/page___1161.aspx Salfit Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture] ] Al Zaytouna, the Palestinian Olive Tree Association is active with Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC) in Salfit to improve the quality and sales of Palestinian Olive oil. [ [http://www.zaytouna.org.ps/zaytouna/About_Us.htm Palestinian Olive Tree Association] ] Salfit is located just across a valley to the south of the Israeli settlement of Ariel and around 1/3 the population of Ariel, about midway between Nablus and Ramallah.

According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the City had a population of 9,750 in mid-year 2006. [ [http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Portals/_pcbs/populati/pop05.aspx Projected Mid -Year Population for Salfit District by Locality 2004- 2006] Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics] Salfit was given a Municipality status In 1955. It has been administered by the Palestinian Authority since the 1995 Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and has served as the district capital of the Salfit Governorate since then. [ [http://www.pnic.gov.ps/arabic/palestine/town42.html Palestinian National Information Centre] ar icon] Salfit city is an important commercial center for the 24 surrounding villages. There are several governmental offices and institutions in the city. The educational of the Salfit's children is carried out in four modern schools for male and female in addition to Al-Quds Open University. [ [http://www.qou.edu/homePage/english/qouCenters/salfeetEduArea/salfeetEduArea.jsp Al Quds Open University] ] Salfit is also a well-known area in the field of stone cutting and marble. An industrial zone was established on 200 dunums of land at the east end of Salfit. On 30 May 2008 the US Consulate General in Jerusalem presented 700 books and 100 magazines for a new library at the Community-Based Learning Center in Salfit the ceremony was attended by the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Youth and Sports official, Hussein Azzam, Deputy Governor of Salfit, Mr. Nawaf Souf. [ [http://jerusalem.usconsulate.gov/pe300508salfeet.html US consulate Jerusalem] ] The Community Center is located on al Madares Street in Salfit and was established by Relief International Schools Online (RISOL) in 2007

The Salfit Hospital was completed in 2006. While the Salfit Governorate is not the most heavily populated of the West Bank, with an estimated population at about 80,000, Salfit was isolated from the other West Bank medical facilities, the closest Government Hospitals were in Nablus, Tulkarem and Ramallah at more than one-hour drive away. [ [http://www.undp.ps/en/focusareas/poverty/projects/Project%20Fact%20sheet%20Salfeet%20Hospital.pdf Salfit Hospital project fact sheet] ]

The word “Salfit” is a Canaanite word which means basket of grapes (“Sal” meaning basket and “fit” meaning grapes). [http://www.pal-chambers.org/chambers/salfeet1.html Salfit Chamber of Commerce] ] The historic city of Salfit has many monuments that link the modern inhabitants to a Canaanite, Roman and Islamic heritage.

Water treatment plant

There are a large number of water springs in and around the city but are unfortunately unable to cope with the growing demand of the city. For the past nine years, the municipality has been trying to build a waste-water treatment plant to service the residents of Salfit town. [ [http://www.salfeet.org/water&.htm Salfit Municipal website] ] In July 2007 the House of Water and Environment (HWE) of Ramallah produced a report the “Assessment of the Impact of Pollution Sources on the Water Environment and the Lives of the Residents in the Northern West Bank, Palestine”. [ [http://www.hwe.org.ps/Projects/Research/Environment%20Assessment/Assessment%20of%20the%20Impact%20of%20Pollution%20Sources.pdf HWE] ] The plant was supposed to be built on Salfit Governorate land 13km from the town of Salfit. The municipality received a grant of 22 million euros from the German government to build the plant and a mainline pipe to the town but the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) stopped the construction of the building and seized all of its equipment because it allegedly would interfere with Israel's nearby Jewish settlements. [http://www.hwe.org.ps/Projects/Research/Environment%20Assessment/Water%20and%20Health%20Awareness%20among%20School%20Students.pdf HWE page 8] ] The equipment was returned only 18 months later. As a result, the town had to take out a loan to buy a new piece of land eight kilometers closer to its outskirts and another loan of 2 million euros to move the pipes and the electricity cables. Although Israel approved the new site of the plant but the planned West Bank Barrier will now separate Salfit from the sewage plant. Fact|date=September 2007

In May 2006 international human rights organizations to witness were called to witness sewage of Ariel settlement running into the agriculture valleys north of the city and damaging the surrounding agriculture and environment. [ [http://www.alternativenews.org/projects/settlements-and-settler-violence-project/settler-violence-report-no.-91-may-2006-20060619.html alternativenews.org] ]

References