In the 3rd millennium BC Tulkarm is supposed to have been settled by the Canaanites (Semplici 2009:3, Tulkarm Municipality 2011). In the 13th century a village called Tulkarm was founded as a waqf (religious trust) by the Mamluksto support al-Jawhariyya Madrasa which was administrated by elite families of Tulkarm.
“This created a situation where administrative and taxation powers were held by local elites over a long span of time, unlike the normal case in the Ottoman Empire where these functions were held by outsiders for relatively short periods of time” (Al-Salim 2011:65).
Even the great majority of the population was Sunni Muslim during the Ottoman periods, the village of Tulkarm was under control of the Zaydan family during the late Mamluk and early Ottoman periods, which was of Kurdish origin. Later on Tulkarm was registered as part of the property of the Ottoman Sultan in 1596 by the Defterler-iMufassal of Sham Sharief Vilayet. During this time around 968 people lived in Tulkarm in around 176 families. That made it the village with the largest population in this district. Tulkarm was attacked a number of times during the following centuries by nomadic raiders and later on by the French (1799) and Egyptians. Farid al- Salim (2011:78) describes Tulkarm as a waqf village in his historical socio-economic features as a
“[…] prosperous and self-governing village, with dense agricultural settlement and a level of agricultural productivity strikingly greater than elsewhere during the period of decline, which had frequently been extended to include to the whole of Ottoman Palestine and the Middle East”.
During the reforms in the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century Tulkarm was also subjected to central rule. The consequences were that the important local leaders lost their hold. In 1886 the municipality of Tulkarm was established (Al-Salim 2011:65ff).
A major rail junction from Egypt and southern Palestine to Haifa and Akka in the northwest, Jerusalem, Nablus and Ramallah to the south, Lebanon to the north, and Syria and Jordan to the east was established and was running till 1948. Tulkarm was an important center of traffic and traveling during this time. During the First World War the municipality of Tulkarm was used as a military base by the Turkish army and was captured by the British in 1918. Later on during the Arab-Israeli War in 1948 it was under control of Iraq and became a part of Jordan. In 1995 it came under the control of
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the PA during the Oslo process (Semplici al. 2009:3). After the second Intifada in 2005 Tulkarm was given into PA hands and ended the Israeli military administration.
Today Tulkarm lies in the western part in the north of the West Bank and it borders the Governorates of Jenin, Nablus and Qalqīliya and the state of Israel on the western side.
Therefore it is just around 15 kilometers east of Netanya, Israel and around 15 kilometers west of Nablus. Around 14,000 dunums are urban developed area today (Semplici 2009:3). The commercial importance of the Governorate is mainly due to the surrounding farmlands as well as its central location between the Nablus Mountains and plains (HWE 2008:12). The farmers mainly produce olives, melons, citrus fruits, potatoes, wheat, sesame, olive oil, tomatoes, peanuts, eggplant, chili pepper, green beans etc... Tulkarm Governorate is one of sixteen Governorates in the West Bank.
Generally these Governorates are sub-divided into 89 municipalities in the West Bank (UNEP 2003:17). The Tulkarm Governorate has an estimated population of 168, 973 and around 33, 6 percent of it are refugees (Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics 2011:98). Around 41 percent are living in rural areas of Tulkarm. 33 villages are located in the Tulkarm Governorate. The villages around Tulkarm are mostly located in area B, e.g. Deir Al Ghusun and ‘Attil, though a few villages are located in area A, e.g.
‘Anabta. The mountain area around the town of Tulkarm, parts of Far’un village are located in Area C (Tulkarm Municipality 2011, UNOCHA 2009b:36).
The Separation Barrier in the Governorate of Tulkarm is around 40 kilometers long and 78 % of the Barrier is constructed within the West Bank. The land is fertile, and farming takes a fundamental part of the economic and social life of the area (UNOCHA 2009b:36). A huge part of the agricultural land is situated in the Seam Zone, which can only be accessed through permissions since 2003.The access to the Seam Zone is regulated through an “Agriculture Gate”. The permit is issued for a special gate, person and duration of time (UNOCHA 2009b:4f). There are also one village Jubara and several individual houses in the Seam Zone. Movement restrictions and the Separation Barrier influenced the economy of the Tulkarm area. Exports from the West Bank were restricted, many consumers could no longer reach Tulkarm, and therefore poverty began to grow. An important source of income for the people in Tulkarm is PA salaries, apart from agriculture and commerce. When the international community withheld funds
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from the Hamas-led government in March 2006, the situation became very difficult for people dependent on government salaries. Furthermore the Geshuri factory and other pollutants have a negative impact on environment and health. A lot of difficulties in Tulkarm Governorate, such as the collapse of the economy due to the construction of the Separation Barrier, high dependence on PA salaries, high unemployment rate, expansion of settlements, army incursions, permit problems to access agricultural land etc., can also be seen in a lot of other places in the West Bank.
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7.3.1. The Town of Tulkarm
Figure 1: Town of Tulkarm10
The City of Tulkarm has about 80,900 inhabitants including the people living in the two refugee camps with 85,332 males and 83,641 females and is situated in Area A(Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics 2011). The majority of the inhabitants are Muslims, just two families still belong to Christianity due to emigration into other cities in the oPt or to foreign countries (Interview 12). Tulkarm has two universities, al Khodori and Al-Quds Open University, as well as too campuses of the An-Najah National University, which is mainly located in Nablus. Furthermore there are four high schools located in the town, Al'adawiyya and Jamal Abd-Al-Naser (for girls) andAlfadeleyya and Ihsan Samarah (for boys). 11, 1% of the polled people in the questionnaire just completed primary school. 40, 5 % of the people completed secondary school. Even 44, 5 % were able to attend university11. The biggest hospital in town is Thabit Thabit Hospital, which most of the people, who filled out the questionnaire, are going to.
Tulkarm camp and Nur Shams camp are the two refugee camps in Tulkarm under PA control. Tulkarm camp, which is the second largest refugee camp in the West Bank with
10 Wikimapia (2012): Town of Tulkarm http://wikimapia.org/#lat=32.3073457&lon=35.0638908&z=14&l=0&m=s [20.08.2012]
11 3,9 % = no answer
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approximately 18.0000 refugees on 0.18 square kilometers, was established in 1950.
The refugees were mainly from villages or cities in the region of Haifa, Jaffa or Kissaria. Today the camp is connected to public water as well as electricity but lacks sewage infrastructure. Five schools are located in the camp, but still more than a third of the refugees in the camp are unemployed. UNRWA runs a health center and a women´s programme center.
Figure 2, Figure 3: Tulkarm Refugee Camp12
Nur Shams refugee camp has around 9.000 inhabitants (around 1760 families) and was established in 1952 on 0.23 square kilometers and is located around 3 kilometers east of the town of Tulkarm. Most parts of the main street from the town of Tulkarm to the Nur Shams camp lie in Area C. The people, living in the camp, are originally mainly from villages around Haifa. Before the establishment of the camp in Tulkarm, they lived in tents near Janzour (Jenin valley) until a devastating snowstorm. They also have a connection to public water and electricity. It has been under PA control since 1998 after the Wye River Memorandum. Two schools are located in the camp, as well as a health center, rehabilitation center and a women`s programme center etc. Around 220 people from the camp are working in the public sector. The unemployment is also high due to the lack of connection to the Israeli labor market (see UNRWA 2012, Zeitan 2007).
12 Zangl (2011):Tulkarm Refugee Camp. September 2011
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Figure 4: IDF “flying CP” in town of Tulkarm 13