{{pp-extended|small=yes}} {{Infobox settlement | name = Al-Jiftlik | translit_lang1 = Arabic | translit_lang1_type = Arabic | translit_lang1_info = {{lang|ar|الجفتلك}} | translit_lang1_type1 = Latin | translit_lang1_info1 = Al-Jeftlik (official)<br />El-Jeftlak (unofficial) | type = Municipality type D (village council) | image_skyline = UNRWA's Ghor El Far'a school in Al-Jiftlik 143 - Aug 2011.jpg | image_caption = UNRWA school in al-Jiftlik, 2011{{dubious|Where? The two dominant Ottoman-age stone houses look abandoned (windowless). |date= February 2026}} | pushpin_map = Palestine#West Bank | pushpin_map_caption = Location of Al-Jiftlik within Palestine##Location of Al-Jiftlik within the West Bank | image_map = | map_caption = | coordinates = {{coord|32|08|39|N|35|29|36|E|region:PS|display=inline,title}}{{dubious|These coordinates are of Far'a el-Jiflik, ca. 2 km SE of Jiflik, so not of Jiflik itself. Is Far'a el-Jiflik administratively part of Jiflik, or is this a mistake? |date= February 2026}} | grid_name = Palestine&nbsp;grid | grid_position = 196/172 | subdivision_type = State | subdivision_name = State of Palestine | subdivision_type1 = Governorate | subdivision_name1 = Jericho | established_title = Founded | established_date = | government_footnotes = <!-- for references: use <ref> tags --> | government_type = Village council | leader_title = Head of Municipality | leader_name = Muhammad Omar Jahalin<ref>[http://www.elections.ps/pdf/Municipal_Elections_Results_EN_(2).pdf West Bank] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070630094514/http://www.elections.ps/pdf/Municipal_Elections_Results_EN_%282%29.pdf |date=2007-06-30 }} Local Elections ( Round two)- Successful candidates by local authority, gender and No. of votes obtained, al-Jftalak p 23</ref> | unit_pref = dunam | area_footnotes = | area_total_km2 = 185.0 | area_total_dunam = 185032 | elevation_footnotes = | elevation_m = | elevation_min_m = | elevation_max_m = | population_footnotes = <ref name="PrelimCensus2017">{{cite report |date=February 2018 |title=Preliminary Results of the Population, Housing and Establishments Census, 2017 |url=https://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Downloads/book2364-1.pdf |department=Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) |publisher=State of Palestine |pages=64–82 |access-date=2023-10-24}}</ref> | population_total = 3100 | population_as_of = 2017 | population_note = | population_density_km2 = auto | website = | footnotes = }}

'''Al-Jiftlik''' ({{langx|ar|الجفتلك}}) is a Palestinian village in the Jericho Governorate of the State of Palestine, in the West Bank, located 33 kilometers north of Jericho. Al Jiftlik is bordered by the Jordan River to the east. Nearby Palestinian localities include az-Zubaidat to the northeast, Furush Beit Dajan to the northwest, Beit Furik to the west, Aqraba, Majdal Bani Fadil and Duma to the southwest and al-Fasayil to the south.<ref name="ARIJ"/> According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), al-Jiftlik had a population of 3,100 in the 2017 census.<ref name="PrelimCensus2017" />

The village's total area amounts to 185,032 dunams, of which 972 dunams are Palestinian built up areas, 77 are for commercial and industrial transport units, 64,032 are arable lands and 108,606 dunams are open spaces. Israeli settlements, including Masua, Hamra and Argaman and military bases account for 11,293 dunams.<ref name= ARIJ>[http://vprofile.arij.org/jericho/pdfs/vprofile/Al%20Jiftlik_en_FINAL.pdf Al Jiftlik Village Profile]. Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem (ARIJ). 2012.</ref> The remaining land consists of forests and inland water.<ref name= ARIJ/>

==Etymology== The village's name is derived from the Turkish word ''chiflik'', the term for "land tenure" in the late Ottoman Empire,{{dubious |Not so, see that article. |date= February 2026}} which was applied in this as in many other Ottoman locations.<ref name= Eini486/> According to ARIJ, the name comes from a Turkish word meaning either farm, estate, or land owned by the Sultan,<ref>{{cite web |title= Al-Jiftlik Village Profile: Historical Background |publisher= Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem |year= 2025 |page= 5 |url= https://www.arij.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/tubas/profile_en/Jiftlik.pdf |access-date= 4 February 2026}}</ref> and was given due to the agricultural nature of the village.<ref name= ARIJ/>

==History== A notable archaeological site is Tell es-Samadi, and the village center dates back to the Ottoman period.<ref>{{cite web |title= Al-Jiftlik Village Profile: Religious and Archaeological Sites |publisher= Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem |year= 2025 |page= 6 |url= https://www.arij.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/tubas/profile_en/Jiftlik.pdf |access-date= 4 February 2026}}</ref> Far'at ej-Jiftlik, situated ca. 3 km southeast of Jiftlik proper on the right bank of Wadi Far'a, was the site of one of the two large Chalcolithic settlements in the flood plain of that stream, along with Kaziyet er-Ratrut.<ref>{{cite book |last= Bar |first= Shay |chapter= Chapter 3: History of Archaeological Research of the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze I Periods in the Study Area |title= The Dawn of the Bronze Age: The Pattern of Settlement in the Lower Jordan Valley and the Desert Fringes of Samaria during the Chalcolithic Period and Early Bronze Age I |series= Culture and History of the Ancient Near East (Vol. 72) |publisher= BRILL |year= 2013 |page= 35–41 [36] |isbn= 9004265643 |doi= 10.1163/9789004265646_005 |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Z-BeAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA36 |access-date= 4 February 2026}} Also [https://brill.com/display/book/9789004265646/B9789004265646-s005.xml here] at BRILL.</ref>

The majority of the land in al-Jiftlik belonged{{when |date= February 2026}} to the powerful Bedouin al-Masa'id tribe, whose land spanned from Damia in Transjordan, on the east bank of the Jordan River, to the borders of Jericho in the West Bank. Most of its residents are descendants of the al-Masa'id tribe and immigrants from Tammun to the north.<ref name= ARIJ/>

During the Mandate period, there was a Tegart fort known as the Jiftlik Police Post just west of the present village.<ref name="Eini486">{{cite book | author = Roza El-Eini | title = Mandated landscape : British imperial rule in Palestine, 1929-1948 | page = 486 | isbn = 978-0-7146-5426-3 | publisher = Routledge | year = 2006}}</ref>

In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Al-Jiftlik came under Jordanian rule.

Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Al-Jiftlik has been under Israeli occupation. In the aftermath of the war over 800 homes in al-Jiftlik were razed by the Israeli army and its 6,000 inhabitants were ordered to leave. Most of al-Jiftlik's inhabitants, however, returned to the village.<ref>Karmi, Ghada (1999). ''The Palestinian Exodus, 1948-1998''. University of London, Centre of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law. Garnet & Ithaca Press. p.90. {{ISBN|0-86372-244-X}}.</ref>

After the 1995 Accords between the Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the village was designated as part of Area C. This makes it subject to full Israeli military and civil administration.<ref name= ARIJ/> This has allowed the Israelis to commit what Robert Fisk in 2010 called "ethnic cleansing via bureaucracy". According to the head of the village council in Jiftlik, Palestinian requests for building were denied or delayed for years, and anything built without permission was "ruthlessly" torn down by the Israelis.<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/in-the-west-banks-stony-hills-palestine-is-slowly-dying-1883669.html In the West Bank's stony hills, Palestine is slowly dying In the richest of the Occupied lands, Israeli bureaucracy is driving Palestinians out of their homes.] Robert Fisk, The Independent, 30 January 2010</ref>

thumb|Israeli flag painted by settlers on a Palestinian building in Al-Jiftlik, May 2024

In 2005 a village council was established to administer local affairs. Its nine members are appointed by the Palestinian National Authority. The council maintains a permanent headquarters and owns a waste collection vehicle. Among its responsibilities are building water and electricity networks in al-Jiftlik and providing an ambulance for the village.<ref name= ARIJ/>

==Land confiscations by Israel== According to ARIJ, Israel has confiscated land from Al-Jiftlik in order to construct several Israeli settlements: *2,209 dunams were taken for Masua,<ref name= ARIJ17>[http://vprofile.arij.org/jericho/pdfs/vprofile/Al%20Jiftlik_en_FINAL.pdf Al Jiftlik Village Profile] p. 17, ARIJ</ref> *1,464 dunams were taken for Ma'ale Efrayim,<ref name= ARIJ17/> *1,294 dunams were taken for Yafit,<ref name= ARIJ17/> *645 dunams were taken for Argaman,<ref name= ARIJ17/> *514 dunams were taken for Gitit,<ref name= ARIJ17/> *438 dunams were taken for Mekhora,<ref name= ARIJ17/> *176 dunams were taken for Petza'el.<ref name= ARIJ17/>

==Demographics== In the 2007 census al-Jiftlik had a population of 3,546 with exactly 50% being males and the other 50% females. The total number of households was 578 who lived in 692 housing units. The principal clans in al-Jiftlik are the 'Arab al-Masa'id, 'Arab al-Jahalin, 'Arab al-Ayed, al-Ajajrah, Abu Sureis, Abu Dalakh, Abu Dheila, al-Annuz, al-Rutimat and al-Nafei'at. According to the Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem (ARIJ), about 100 families have left al-Jiftlik since the start of the Second Intifada in 2000.<ref name= ARIJ/>

==Economy and education== Like several other villages in the Jordan Valley area, al-Jiftlik is subject to Israeli restrictions on construction and movement, and most often requests for building permits are denied. The village lacks electricity and water infrastructure.<ref>[http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=555337 Aid agencies tread gingerly in Area C] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130417200904/http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=555337 |date=2013-04-17 }}. ''Ma'an News Agency''. 2013-1-13.</ref> It has primary school managed by the UNRWA with 950 students.

==Id'eis== Id'eis is a Palestinian community several kilometres south of Al-Jiftlik, close to the Masua Israeli settlement. In May 2014, there were 23 families in two neighboring compounds made up of 13 families consisting of 75 people in 15 residential structures living in the north-west compound and 10 families consisting of 53 people living in 14 tents in the southern compound. Each compound also has many livestock structures for their flocks of several thousand sheep and goats. The community makes its living from shepherding and settled in the present location in 1982 having left the Hebron area and migrated across the Jordan Valley as they searched for pastureland. On 21 May 2014, the southern compound was demolished by five Israeli Civil Administration bulldozers supported by IDF soldiers and Border Police on the basis that the families did not have building permits.<ref name=b20140529>{{cite web|title=Civil Administration demolishes nearly half the homes in community of Id'eis, the Jordan Valley|url=http://www.btselem.org/planning_and_building/20140529_demolition_in_ideis_community|publisher=B'tselem|date=29 May 2014}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist|2}}

==External links== *[http://www.palestinecrops.ps/articleen.aspx?ano=9 Photo of dates grown at Al-Jiftlik on the Palestine Crops website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304073605/http://www.palestinecrops.ps/articleen.aspx?ano=9 |date=2016-03-04 }} *[http://vprofile.arij.org/jericho/pdfs/factsheet/Al%20Jiftlik_FS_EN.pdf Al Jiftlik Village (Fact Sheet)],(Fact Sheet)], Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem (ARIJ) *[http://vprofile.arij.org/jericho/pdfs/vprofile/Al%20Jiftlik_en_FINAL.pdf Al Jiftlik Village Profile], ARIJ *[http://vprofile.arij.org/jericho/images/english/Al-jiftlik_ap_en.jpg Al Jiftlik aerial photo], ARIJ *[http://vprofile.arij.org/jericho/pdfs/needsfordevelopment/Jiftlik_N_EN.pdf Locality Development Priorities and Needs in Jiftlik], ARIJ *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 15: [http://www.iaa-archives.org.il/zoom/zoom.aspx?folder_id=93&type_id=6&id=8377 IAA], [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Survey_of_Western_Palestine_1880.15.jpg Wikimedia commons]

{{Jericho Governorate}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jiftlik, Al-}} Category:Jericho Governorate Category:Populated places established in 1950 Category:Villages in the West Bank Category:Municipalities of Palestine