Kafr Dan

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.

Kafr Dan
Municipality type C
Arabic transcription(s)
• Arabic	كفر دان
• Latin	Kufr Dan (official)
Kafr Dan Location of Kafr Dan within Palestine
Coordinates: 32°28′43″N 35°15′15″E / 32.47861°N 35.25417°E / 32.47861; 35.25417
Palestine grid	174/209
State	State of Palestine
Governorate	Jenin
Government
• Type	Municipality
Population  (2017)
• Total	6,591
Name meaning	The village of Adhan, from personal name, meaning in Arabic “the call to prayer”

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

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

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

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.

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. Pottery remains from the Ottoman era have also been found here.

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, located in the District of Jenin, also called Haritheh esh-Shemaliyeh.

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

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”.

British Mandate era

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

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

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.

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.

External links