Beit Fajjar

Infobox Palestinian Authority muni
name=Beit Fajjar


imgsize=
caption=
arname=بيت فجّار
meaning=
founded=
type=munb
typefrom=
altOffSp=Bayt Fajjar
altUnoSp=Beit Fujar
governorate=bl
latd=31|latm=37|lats=29.03|latNS=N
longd=35 |longm=09|longs=20.19|longEW=E
population=10,910
popyear=2006
area=7,933
areakm=7.9
mayor=Umar Abdel Aziz Taqatqa

Beit Fajjar ( _ar. بيت فجّار) is a Palestinian town located eight kilometers south of Bethlehem in the Bethlehem Governorate, in the central West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of over 10,900 in mid-year 2006. [ [http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Portals/_pcbs/populati/pop10.aspx Projected Mid -Year Population for Bethlehem Governorate by Locality 2004- 2006] Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics] The town's primary economic sectors are agriculture and stone-cutting; the town has 52 stone-cutting factories. [http://www.bethlehem.ps/cultural_sites/agricultural_villages/fajjar.php Beit Fajjar] Centre for Cultural Heritage Preservation/] Beit Fajjar is believed to have been a camping area for the Islamic Caliph, Umar ibn al-Khattab. Beit Fajjar was mostly farmland until the 1700s, when it gradually transformed into an urban settlement. The site's high altitude was the highest point in the area and later the town expanded into other hills. During British rule in Palestine during the 1920s-40s, Beit Fajjar was used as an observation point for the Bethlehem-Hebron area.

The former head of Beit Fajjar's local council, Saber Mohammed Abdul Latif, testified to United Nations representatives that after his arrest on November 1, 1969, how Beit Fajjar had been besieged for about four months, no water had been allowed in and some 70 houses had been blown up. Abdul Latif was then deported on August 28, 1970. [ [http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/858c88eb973847f4802564b5003d1083!OpenDocument UN Doc] A/8389 of 5 October 1971]

References