Place Name
Jenin Region (جنين)Place Description
The historic Jenin region of Palestine extended across the northern highlands and the fertile plain of Jezreel Valley (Marj Ibn Amir), which the city overlooks. Jenin developed as an important agricultural and commercial center because of its position at the intersection of routes connecting the central highlands with Haifa, Nazareth, Acre, and the Jordan Valley, while the surrounding plain provided some of the most productive agricultural land in northern Palestine.
The region's agricultural landscape was dominated by grain cultivation, with wheat, barley, goats, beehives, olives, vegetables, fruit, and irrigated and plantation crops cultivated in areas supplied by springs and other sources of water; PalQuest records extensive cereal cultivation throughout the Jenin subdistrict, including the large agricultural holdings of villages along Marj Ibn Amir. According to a census conducted in 1922 by the British Mandate authorities, Jenin had a population of 2,637 (2,307 Muslims, 212 Hindus, 108 Christians, seven Jews, and three Sikhs).
The Jenin refugee camp was founded in 1953 by Jordan to house displaced Palestinians who fled or were expelled during the 1948 War. In 2014 the camp had a population of 16,000. Jenin came under Israeli occupation in 1967, and was put under the administration of the Palestinian National Authority as Area A of the West Bank, a Palestinian enclave, in 1995.Also Known As
جنينPlace Type
Historical RegionUpdated By
Wafa Ghnaim