Taffuh (lit. fragrance) is a Palestinian town located eight kilometers west of Hebron.The town is in the Hebron Governorate in the southern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 15,800 in 2017.

History

Biblical connection

The city of Beth-tappuah, literally House of Apple [tree], cited in the Book of Joshua, is often located in the hill country of the Tribe of Judah, 5 km west northwest of Hebron. Some experts, but not all, identify it with the archaeological site standing not far from the modern Palestinian village.

Archaeology

Archaeological finds in the vicinity of the hill site include remains of an ancient road, a well to the west, cisterns, and rock-cuttings. The PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) noted: "Evidently an ancient site; there are caves here, with trenches leading down to them, as at Khurbet 'Aziz, and the rock is quarried. An ancient road leads past the village."

Ottoman period

In the Ottoman census of the 1500s, Taffuh was located in the nahiya of Halil. While Taffuh was included in lists from the early part of the 16th century, there is no evidence of settlement in the second half of the 16th century. However, it was resettled at a later period. In 1838, Edward Robinson noted Teffuh as a Muslim village, located north of el-Khulil, and west of the road from Jerusalem. Robinson further described it as "an old village [..] it contains a good number of inhabitants, and lies in the midst of olive groves and vineyards, with marks of industry and thrift on every side. Indeed many of the former terraces along the hill sides are still in use [..] Several portions of walls, apparently those of an old fortress, are visible among the houses..." In 1863, Victor Guérin visited and found the village to have 400 inhabitants. He also noted that several houses seemed ancient. An Ottoman village list of about 1870 counted 54 houses and a population of 161, though the population count included men. In 1883, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Taffuh as "A village of ancient appearance, standing high at the edge of a ridge ; on the north are the steep slopes of Wady Kedir, in which are olives belonging to the place. An ancient main-road passes through the village, and runs along flat ground to the west for a little way, then descends the ridge. There is a well to the west, with cisterns, caves, and rock-cuttings. The village has vineyards round it, and good springs in the valley to the west."

British Mandate

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Taffuh had a population of 461 inhabitants, all Muslims, increasing in the 1931 census to 580, all Muslim, in 124 inhabited houses. In the 1945 statistics the population of Taffuh was 780, all Muslims, who owned 12,103 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey. 1,073 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 3,543 for cereals, while 31 dunams were built-up (urban) land.

1948-1967

In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Taffuh came under Jordanian rule. The Jordanian census of 1961 found 1,282 inhabitants in Taffuh.

1967-present

Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Taffuh has been under Israeli occupation.

Demography

According to the geographer David Grossman, Taffuh was possibly settled by refugees from Bayt Jibrin (or nearby Jamrura) as a result of local conflicts. It had lands near Jamrura-Sanbira, but those were later sold. Ben-Zvi noted that the inhabitants were said to have Christian origins.

Footnotes