Hableh

This page is subject to the extended confirmed restriction related to the Arab-Israeli conflict.Hableh (Arabic: حبله, also transliterated Hable, Habla, Hablah, Hibla, Hiblah) is a Palestinian village located in the Qalqilya Governorate of the State of Palestine, in the northwestern West Bank.

[3] Habla is located just east of the Green Line, about 1-mile (1.6 km) southeast of the Palestinian city of Qalqilya as the crow flies, in the West Bank.

The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33.3% on various products, such as wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues" and a press for olive oil or grape syrup; a total of 3,800 akçe, of which two-thirds went to a waqf (charitable endowment).

[12] Edward Robinson and Eli Smith visited Hableh in the mid-19th century and describe it as being situated along the southern side of a low rocky ridge overlooking a plain on which could be seen the villages of Qalqilya, Kafr Saba, Jaljulia, and Ras al-Ain.

[13] Camping on the ground to the south of the village and north of a maqam on a low rocky hill, Robinson and Smith found themselves surrounded by cisterns dug into the rock.

[16] In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Hableh as a "village of moderate size, evidently an ancient site, surrounded with cisterns and tombs.

[26] After the 1995 accords, about 21.1% of the village land was classified as Area B, the remaining 78.9% as Area C.[27] According to a report in The Jerusalem Times on January 24, 1996, Israeli bulldozers began levelling 1.7 square kilometers (0.66 sq mi) land in Hiblah belonging to its Palestinian residents in order to build an electronic wall that would separate the towns of Tulkarm and Kalkiliya from the Green Line.

[28] The construction of the Israeli West Bank barrier to the north of the village in the first decade of the 21st century changed the life of Habla's inhabitants.

[29] Those with the proper pass permits who wish to access Qalqilya can drive 12 miles (19 km) around the barrier, through multiple checkpoints.

Hableh (Hable) 1942 1:20,000
Hableh (Habla) 1945 1:250,000
Portion of West Bank showing the path of the separation barrier around the enclaves of Qalqilya and Hableh
Palestinians wait in groups of five for the Israeli soldiers to allow them through the "agricultural passage".