| al-Burj | |
| Translit Lang1: | Arabic |
| Translit Lang1 Type: | Arabic |
| Translit Lang1 Info: | البرج |
| Type: | Municipality type D (Village council) |
| Pushpin Map: | Palestine |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of al-Burj within Palestine |
| Coordinates: | 31.4325°N 34.9233°W |
| Grid Name: | Palestine grid |
| Grid Position: | 141/094 |
| Subdivision Type: | State |
| Subdivision Type1: | Governorate |
| Subdivision Name1: | Hebron |
| Established Title: | Founded |
| Government Type: | Village council |
| Unit Pref: | dunam |
| Population Footnotes: | [1] |
| Population Total: | 3205 |
| Population As Of: | 2017 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Blank Name Sec1: | Name meaning |
| Blank Info Sec1: | Burj el Beiyârah, the tower of the wells[2] |
Al-Burj (Arabic: البرج) is a Palestinian village located 20km (10miles) southwest of Hebron, in the Hebron Governorate of State of Palestine, in the southern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the village had a population of 3,205 in 2017. The primary health care facilities for the village are designated by the Ministry of Health as level 2.[3] Al-Burj is the birth place of Tareq Talahma, Acting Director of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Ceramics from the Byzantine era have been found here.[4]
In 1838, Edward Robinson noted el-Burj as a place "in ruins or deserted," part of the area between the mountains and Gaza, but subject to the government of el-Khulil.[5] Robinson further noted: "The ruins here consists of the remains of a square fortress, about two hundred feet on a side, situated directly upon the surface the projecting hill [..] On the eastern and southern sides a trench has been hewn out in the rock, which sees to have extended quite around the fortress. The walls are mostly broken down [..] the general appearance of the ruin is decidedly that of a Saracenic structure; and I am disposed to regard it as one of the line of strong Saracenic or Turkish fortresses, which appears once to have been drawn along the southern frontier of Palestine. Of these we had now listed four, viz. at Kurmul, Semua, Dhoheriyeh, and this at el-Burj".[6]
In 1863 Victor Guérin called the place Khirbet el-Bordj and noted a maqam, shaped like a tower and dedicated to a Sheikh Mahmoud. He also noted "several caves, some of which are used today as refuge for the shepherds, when they come to graze their herds on this mountain."[7]
In 1883, the PEF's Survey of Palestine described the place, which they called Burj el Beiyarah: "Remains of a fort 200 feet side, with a fosse on the east and south, hewn in rock. Foundations only remain of small masonry, with the joints packed with smaller stones. Round it are caves in the rocks."[8]
At the time of the 1931 census of Palestine the population of al Burj was counted under Dura.[9]
In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, al-Burj came under Jordanian rule.
On 25 February 1953, five Arab shepherds were killed and mutilated by Israel in the so called The Har-Zion Affair at al-Burj, including a 16-year-old.[10]
In 1961, the population of Burj was 712.[11]
After the Six-Day War in 1967, al-Burj has been under Israeli occupation.
Arab Infiltration, Israeli Retaliation, and the Countdown to the Suez War
. 0-19-827850-0. Clarendon Press. Oxford .
