Kafr 'Aqab (Arabic: كفر عقب) is the northernmost Palestinian Arab neighborhood in East Jerusalem. It is part of the area annexed and included in municipal Jerusalem following its occupation by Israel in 1967. This area includes an additional approximate 64 km2 (25 sq mi)[a] of the West Bank, including territory which previously included 28 villages and areas of the Bethlehem and Beit Jala municipalities.[4][5] Although the Jerusalem Law did not use the term, the Israeli Supreme Court interpreted the law as an effective annexation of East Jerusalem.[6] The United Nations Security Council condemned the attempted change in status to Jerusalem and ruled the law "null and void" in United Nations Security Council Resolution 478.
Due to the Separation Wall effectively cutting the neighborhood off from the rest of Jerusalem, while no such barrier exists between this neighborhood and Ramallah and Al-Bireh, this neighborhood is practically part of the metropolitan area of Ramallah.
Location
Kafr 'Aqab is located 11.2 kilometers (7.0 mi) north of Central Jerusalem and 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) southeast of Ramallah.
It is bordered by Burqa lands to the east, Al Bireh to the north, Rafat and Qalandiya to the west, and Ar Ram, Qalandiya and Qalandiya Camp to the south.[7]
In 1517, the village was included in the Ottoman empire with the rest of Palestine and in the 1596 tax-records it appeared as Kafr 'Aqba, located in the Nahiya of Jabal Quds of the Liwa of Al-Quds. The population was 47 households, all Muslims. They paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, olive trees, vineyards, fruit trees, goats and beehives in addition to "occasional revenues"; a total of 3,100 akçe.[10]
In 1838, Edward Robinson noted Kafr 'Aqab during his travels in the region,[11] as a Muslim village, part of El-Kuds district.[12]
An official Ottoman village list sometime around 1870 listed Kefr 'Akab as having 15 houses and a population of 65, though the population count included men, only.[13][14] In 1883, SWP described it as "a small hamlet on the slope of a hillside, with a few olives."[15]
In 1896 the population of Kefr 'akab was estimated to be about 135 persons.[16]
In the 1945 statistics the population of Kafr 'Aqab consisted of 290 Muslims[19] and the land area was 5,472 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[20] Of this, 829 dunams were for plantations and irrigable land, 2,736 for cereals,[21] while 10 dunams were built-up areas.[22]
After the Six-Day War in 1967, Kafr 'Aqab has been under Israeli occupation. The population in the 1967 census conducted by the Israeli authorities was 287, of whom 8 originated from the Israeli territory.[24]
While Kafr 'Aqab was unilaterally annexed by Israel with the rest of East Jerusalem and falls under its full jurisdiction, it is separated from Jerusalem by the Israeli West Bank barrier. Municipal inspectors never inspect the area beyond the barrier. This creates "a planning nightmare and developer's dream".[29]
The al-Faruq mosque in Kafr 'Aqab offers weekly classes in the Islamic teachings of Hizb ut-Tahrir.[28]
2020s
The Israeli Construction and Housing Ministry began preparing the master plan for a new Israeli neighborhood to be located at the northern edge of Jerusalem on land near the former Atarot airport currently inhabited by some 15 Palestinian families and will stretch up to the separation barrier, which will be the border between the new neighborhood and the Palestinian Kafr Aqab neighborhood. The land has been slated to become part of the Palestinian state under U.S. President Donald Trump's peace plan. Though Kafr Aqab is considered to be part of Jerusalem, it is on the other side of the barrier wall.[30]
