Hajjah, Palestine
Hajjah | |
|---|---|
| Arabic transcription(s) | |
| • Arabic | حجة |
| • Latin | Hajjah (official) Haja (unofficial) |
Hajjah Location of Hajjah within Palestine | |
| Coordinates: 32°12′17″N 35°07′50″E / 32.20472°N 35.13056°E | |
| Palestine grid | 162/179 |
| State | State of Palestine |
| Governorate | Qalqilya |
| Government | |
| • Type | Village council |
| Elevation | 409 m (1,342 ft) |
| Population (2017) | |
• Total | 2,659 |
| Name meaning | Kuryet Hajja, The town of Hajja, from personal name, or "Pathway" |
Hajjah (Arabic: حجة) is a Palestinian village in the northern West Bank, located eighteen kilometers west of Nablus in the Qalqilya Governorate of the State of Palestine. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 2,659 inhabitants in 2017.
Hajjah features remains from the Israelite, Byzantine, and Early Muslim periods. There are claims it is likely to have hosted inhabitants from the Tribe of Menashe. In the Roman and Byzantine eras, it has been identified as Kfar Hagai or Kiryat Hagga, a Samaritan village, with mentions in ancient inscriptions and Samaritan sources. The village was inhabited by Samaritans through the Byzantine and Early Islamic periods, evident from the discovery of Mikvehs and stone menorahs. Under Mamluk rule, a mosque was constructed.
The village's en-Naby Rabbah shrine, atop a tell, is believed to be the tomb of a saint, which has been suggested by one historian to be Baba Rabba, a 4th-century Samaritan leader, serving as a guardian of crops. This site was declared a nature reserve in 1986.