Rantis
Municipality type D (Village council)
Arabic transcription(s)
 • Arabicرنتيس
 • LatinRantes (official)
Rantis
Rantis
Rantis is located in State of Palestine
Rantis
Rantis
Location of Rantis within Palestine
Coordinates: 32°01′41″N 35°01′10″E / 32.02806°N 35.01944°E / 32.02806; 35.01944
Palestine grid151/159
StateState of Palestine
GovernorateRamallah and al-Bireh
Government
 • TypeVillage council
Area
 • Total11,046 dunams (11.0 km2 or 4.2 sq mi)
Population
 (2017)[1]
 • Total3,179
 • Density290/km2 (750/sq mi)
Name meaningRentis, personal name[2]

Rantis (Arabic: رنتيس) is a Palestinian town in the West Bank, located in the northwestern Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, 33 kilometers northwest of Ramallah. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, it had a population of 3,179 in 2017.[1] Its population consists primarily of six clans: Danoun, Wahdan, Khallaf, Ballot, Dar Abo Salim, al-Ryahee and Hawashe.[3]

Rantis has a land area 11,046 dunams of which 589 dunams are built-up area.[3] The town's main economic sector is agriculture and 20% of its land area is planted with crops. There are two primary schools and two kindergartens. Other facilities include three clinics, a bus station, a club and two mosques.[3]

Location

Rantis is located 22.2 km northwest of Ramallah. It is bordered by Al Lubban al Gharbi and Abud land to the east, Al Lubban al Gharbi village land to the north, Israel to the west and Shuqba to the south.[4]

Connection to Arimathea of the Gospels

All the four Gospels mention Joseph of Arimathea, the man who placed Christ's body in his own tomb.[5] Conflicting traditions urge Arimathea's location at modern Rantis, 15 miles east of Jaffa.[6] A monastery dedicated to Joseph of Arimathea was erected there.[6] Other suggestions for Arimathea include ar-Ram and al-Bireh-Ramallah, 5 and 8 miles north of Jerusalem, respectively.[6]

Both Eusebius and Jerome identify Arimathea with the birthplace of biblical prophet Samuel.[6] Strong mediaeval traditions supporting this claim celebrated this place as the prophet's original home.[6] In the 4th century, Jerome reported that his friend, Saint Paula, visited the location.[6]

History

Prehistory

In a nearby cave, flint artefacts have been found, possibly produced during the Middle Paleolithic period, occasionally by the Levallois technique.[7]

Iron Age to Byzantine period

The Survey of Western Palestine assumed the village was "ancient", as rock-cut tombs were found south-west of the village.[8]

Archaeological excavation have uncovered sherds from the Iron Age and Persian period.[9]

In 145 BCE, Rentis, then known as Rathamin, was cut off from Samaria and incorporated into Judaea. It served as a toparchy's headquarters before Thamna took its position.[10]

Other archaeological finds include remains of a road and a building from the Roman period.[9] A building, probably dating to the Byzantine period, has also been excavated.[11]

Crusader period

During the Crusader period, it was known as Arimathia, Arimatie, Abarimatie, and Rantis.[12] By 1150, the Premonstratensians were represented in Rentis with a house.[12] In 1159-60, Crusader sources mention a church in the village.[12][13]

In 1187 Rantis was conquered by Saladin, and the Crusaders were never able to return.[12]

Ottoman period

16th century

Rantis was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of Palestine, and in 1596 it appeared in the tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Jabal Qubal of the Liwa of Nablus. It had a population of 20 households and 2 bachelors, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 33.3% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and/or beehives, and a wine- or olive press; a total of 2,500 Akçe.[14]

19th century

In 1838, Edward Robinson noted it as a village, Rentis, in the Jurat Merda district, south of Nablus.[15]

The French explorer Victor Guérin visited the village in 1870, and found that it had 400 inhabitants, and that it was surrounded by olives and tobacco-plantations.[16]

In 1870/71 (1288 AH), an Ottoman census listed the village in the nahiya (sub-district) of Jamma'in al-Awwal, subordinate to Nablus.[17]

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Rantis as a village, principally made of adobe, on a slope, surrounded by open ground and a few olive trees. Water was supplied by cisterns. The SWP assumed the village was "ancient", as rock-cut tombs were found there.[18]

British Mandate

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Rantis had a population of 824 inhabitants, all Muslims,[19] increasing in the 1931 census to 954, still all Muslims, in a total of 213 houses.[20]

In the 1945 statistics, the population was of 1,280, all Muslims,[21] while the total land area was 30,933 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[22] Of this, 1,299 were allocated for plantations and irrigable land, 7,341 for cereals,[23] while 30 dunams were classified as built-up (urban) areas.[24]

Jordanian period (1948-1967)

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

1953 Israeli raid

A report by Major General Vagn Bennike, Chief of Staff of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization, to the United Nations Security Council read:

On 28–29 January 1953 Israeli military forces estimated at 120 to 150 men, using 2-inch mortars, 3-inch mortars, P.I.A.T. (projectors, infantry, anti-tank) weapons, bangalore torpedoes (long metal tubes containing an explosive charge), machine-guns, grenades and small arms, crossed the demarcation line and attacked the Arab villages of Falameh [Falāma, Falamya] and Rantis. At Falameh the mukhtar was killed, seven other villagers were wounded, and three houses were demolished. The attack lasted four and a half hours. Israel was condemned for this act by the Mixed Armistice Commission.[25][26]

1961 population numbers

In 1961, the population of Rantis was 1,539.[27]

Post-1967

After the Six-Day War in 1967, Rantis has been under Israeli occupation. The population in the 1967 census conducted by the Israeli authorities was 897, 27 of whom originated from Israeli territory.[28]

After the 1995 accords, about 12% of the village land was classified as Area B, while the remainder 88% was classified as Area C. According to ARIJ, Israel has confiscated village land to be used for bypass roads for Israeli settlements. The Israeli West Bank barrier will extend for 4 km on Rantis village land, and leave 1,815 dunams (16.6%) of the village land behind the barrier.[29]

References

  1. 1 2 Preliminary Results of the Population, Housing and Establishments Census, 2017 (PDF). Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) (Report). State of Palestine. February 2018. pp. 64–82. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
  2. ↑ Palmer, 1881, p. 241
  3. 1 2 3 The Segregation Wall threatens the practice of territorial expansion in Rantis village Archived 2016-04-14 at the Wayback Machine Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem. 2004-06-26.
  4. ↑ Rantis Village Profile, ARIJ, p. 4
  5. ↑ Matthew 27:57; Mark 15:43; Luke 23:50–51; John 19:38.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Armathaim, also Arimathea - (Ranthis). Studium Biblicum Franciscanum - Jerusalem.
  7. ↑ Lupu et al, 2009, Rantis Cave
  8. ↑ Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 367
  9. 1 2 Elisha, 2011, Rantis (Northwest)
  10. ↑ Avi-Yonah, Michael (1976). "Gazetteer of Roman Palestine". Qedem. 5: 31. ISSN 0333-5844. JSTOR 43587090.
  11. ↑ Elisha, 2013, Rantis, Spot Height 211
  12. 1 2 3 4 Pringle, 1998, pp. 199-200
  13. ↑ de Roziére, 1849, pp. 131-133; pp. 133-135. Cited in Röhricht, 1893, RHH, pp. 94-95, Nos 358, 360
  14. ↑ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 136
  15. ↑ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 126
  16. ↑ Guérin, 1875, p. 113
  17. ↑ Grossman, David (2004). Arab Demography and Early Jewish Settlement in Palestine. Jerusalem: Magnes Press. p. 252.
  18. ↑ Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, pp. 286-287
  19. ↑ Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramleh, p. 22
  20. ↑ Mills, 1932, p. 22.
  21. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 30
  22. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 68
  23. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 117
  24. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 167
  25. ↑ UNSC official records, Report of Major General Vagn Bennike to 630th Meeting held on 27 October 1953 S/PV.630
  26. ↑ Attacks on West Bank village Qibya, Gaza Bureij camp – UNTSO report (Bennike), SecCo debate, SecGen statement – Verbatim record
  27. ↑ Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 24
  28. ↑ Perlmann, Joel (November 2011 – February 2012). "The 1967 Census of the West Bank and Gaza Strip: A Digitized Version" (PDF). Levy Economics Institute. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
  29. ↑ Rantis Village Profile, ARIJ, pp. 16-17

Bibliography

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