Al-Auja, Jericho

al-Auja
Other transcription(s)
 • Arabic العوجا
 • Also spelled al-'Auja (official)
al-Awja (unofficial)

Southern entrance to al-Auja, 2011
al-Auja

Location of al-Auja within the Palestinian territories

Coordinates: 31°56′51.39″N 35°27′42.39″E / 31.9476083°N 35.4617750°E / 31.9476083; 35.4617750Coordinates: 31°56′51.39″N 35°27′42.39″E / 31.9476083°N 35.4617750°E / 31.9476083; 35.4617750
Governorate Jericho
Government
 • Type Municipality (from 1994)
Area
 • Jurisdiction 107,905 dunams (107.9 km2 or 41.7 sq mi)
Population (2006)
 • Jurisdiction 4,000
Not to be confused with Nahr al-Auja, the Arabic name of the Yarkon River

Al-Auja (Arabic: العوجا‎‎) is a Palestinian town in the Jericho Governorate in the eastern West Bank, located ten kilometers north of Jericho. The town has a total area of 107,905 dunams, however its built-up area comprises only 832 dunams. After Israel's occupation of the West Bank in the 1967 Six-Day War, 30,147 dunams of al-Auja's land was classified as "closed-off area" barred from Palestinian use. It is situated 230 meters below sea level.[1]

The town is built along, and shares the name of, the Wadi al-Auja stream, "al-auja" meaning "the meandering one". This should not to be confused with the other river called in Arabic by the same name, Nahr al-Auja, and known by its biblical and Hebrew name as the Yarkon River. During World War I this coincidence led to the term of "the line of the two Aujas" referring to a strategic line connecting the two river valleys.[2]

Agricultural land makes up over 10% of the town's area,[1] mostly planted with bananas, oranges, and vegetables for which al-Auja is well known. Irrigation water is mainly supplied from the al-Auja spring.[3]

According to a census conducted in 1931 by the British Mandate authorities, Al-Auja had a population of 253, in 100 houses.[4] According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, al-Auja had a population of over 4,000 inhabitants in mid-year 2006.[5] In 1997, refugees constituted 24.7% of the population.[6] Located in "Area A", complete control over al-Auja was transferred to the Palestinian National Authority in a 1994 deal which also included Jericho and Gaza.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Al 'Auja village Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem. 21 January 2006.
  2. ↑ H. S. Gullett (1923). The Australian Imperial Force in Sinai and Palestine, 1914-1918 (PDF). Sydney: Angus & Robertson Ltd. p. 487. Retrieved 16 September 2015. Allenby did not hesitate. His original objective had been the "line of the two Aujas" from the Nahr Auja, which falls into the Mediterranean above Jaffa, to the Wady Auja, a little stream which, bursting from springs in the desert foot-hills above the Jordan valley, flows eastwards to the Jordan River about ten miles north of the Dead Sea.
  3. ↑ Welcome to al-'Auja Palestine Remembered.
  4. ↑ Mills, 1932, p. 45
  5. ↑ Projected Mid -Year Population for Jericho District by Locality 2004- 2006 Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
  6. ↑ Palestinian Population by Locality and Refugee Status (1997) Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.

Bibliography

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Al-Auja, Jericho.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/4/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.