Jiftlik

In late March the Civil Administration announced its intention to add 206  dunams to the Jordan regional council including the village of Jiftlik and the archaeological site of Tel al Mazar. The Palestinian village of Jiftlik is located in the Jordan valley, to the north of Jericho. The name “Jiftlik” originally refers to lands that were purchased by the Ottoman Sultan and were designated as lands that could never be sold.

In 1913, a two-storey building was built at the site of Jiftlik and it functioned as a Saraya building – a governmental regional center. In 1940, a Tegart fort was built in addition to the Ottoman building. Tegart forts were commonly built along the borders of the British Mandate. They are named after Sir Charles Tegart, who first designed them to contend with the Great Arab Revolt (1936-1939).

The fort is built in proximity to the archaeological site of Tel al-Mazar, a small archaeological site which is dated to the Iron I period (1200-1000 BCE) and to the Roman-Byzantine period (1st-7th century CE). Archaeologists who excavated at the site suggested that it may be identified as the town of Atarot, which is mentioned in the book of Joshua in the Old Testament as one of the border cities of the tribe of Ephraim.

Recently, the government decided to expand the jurisdictional area of the Jordan Valley Regional Council so that it will encompass both the Jiftlik fort and the site of Tel al-Mazar. The decision is consistent with similar recent decisions to appropriate lands on which archaeological sites are built such as Herodium.

Emek Shaveh’s response: The historic remains and antiquities at Tel al Mazar and Jiftlik are a pretext for appropriating land. In this case, subsuming the village and the historic sites under the jurisdiction of the Jordan Valley regional council will facilitate developing the site as a Jewish-Israeli touristic site. This particular manoeuvre should be understood in the context of multiple actions during the recent months aimed at clearing Palestinians off land and enabling the construction of Israeli settlements or tourist attractions.

Photography by Danny Gershoni, Wikipedia