Tulkarem
Other transcription(s)
• Arabic	طولكرم
• Also spelled	Tulkarem (official) Tul Qarem (unofficial)
• Hebrew	טול כרם
Official logo of Tulkarem Municipal Seal of Tulkarem
Tulkarem Location of Tulkarem within the Palestinian territories
Coordinates: 32°18′41.50″N 35°01′37.34″E / 32.311528°N 35.0270389°E / 32.311528; 35.0270389Coordinates: 32°18′41.50″N 35°01′37.34″E / 32.311528°N 35.0270389°E / 32.311528; 35.0270389
Governorate	Tulkarm
Founded	3rd Century
Government
• Type	City
• Head of Municipality	Mahmoud al-Jallad
Area
• Jurisdiction	28,793 dunams (28.8 km2 or 11.1 sq mi)
Population (2007)
• Jurisdiction	61,941
	(includes refugee camp)
Name meaning	High mountain vineyards
Website	www.mtulkarm.com

Al-Adawiah High School

Paris Street, 2007.

Tulkarem or Tulkarm (Arabic: طولكرم‎, Ṭūlkarm; Hebrew: טול כרם‎) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank. It is located in the northern Samarian mountain range in the Tulkarm Governorate. The Israeli cities of Netanya and Haifa are to the west, the Palestinian Nablus and Jenin to the east. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, in 2007 Tulkarm had a population 0f 51,300 while its adjacent refugee camp had a population of 10,641.^[1]

Etymology[link]

"Tulkarem" means "the bountiful mountain." The Arabic name is derived from the Aramaic words "Toor Karma," meaning "mount of vineyards."

History[link]

Tulkarm was founded by the Mamluks in the 13th century.^[2] It was established as a waqf to support al-Jawhariyya Madrasa, an Islamic religious school. The elite families of Tulkarm were the administrators of this trust, which granted them higher social and economic status. The population was increased through intermarriage with families fleeing clan violence and family feuds.^[3]

In 1596, Tulkarm appeared in Ottoman tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Qaqun of the Liwa of Nablus. The largest village in the nahiya,^[4] Tulkarm had a population of 176 Muslim households (roughly 968 persons) and paid taxes on wheat, barley, summer crops, olives, goats, beehives and a press for olives or grapes.^[5]

Tulkarm gained more importance when the Ottomans—who ruled the area since 1517—granted the small town the status of a township and gained its own caza in 1886, giving it precedence over the nearby villages, during this time Qalqilya was also part of the district of Tulkarm. In addition, Tulkarm gained an Ottoman governor, bringing the residents who numbered only a few thousand and were mostly fellahin, closer to the government. In 1908, the Ottomans turned Tulkarm into a major rail junction on the Hejaz railway line running up from Egypt and southern Palestine to Haifa and Akka in the northwest, Jerusalem, Nablus and Ramallah to the south, Lebanon to the north, and Syria and Transjordan to the east.^[2] The local Burqawi family controlled the area around the city in the 19th century.^[6] The Ottoman Army used Tulkarm as a one of their main bases during the World War I Sinai and Palestine campaign, but in 1918, the city was captured by British forces.^[2]

At the time of the 1931 census, Tulkarm had 804 occupied houses and a population of 4540 Muslims, 1555 Christians, 300 Jews, 100 Samaritans, and 75 Druze. There is still at least one operational church in Tulkarm and it is one of the oldest churches in the world.^{[citation needed]} The census also listed "Tul Karm Suburbs" as having 516 Muslims, 15 Jews and 10 Christians.^[7]

Israeli military administration of Tulkarem ended in 2005, when control of the city was handed over to the Palestinian Authority. ^[8]

Geography[link]

The city is situated on the western edge of northern West bank, in the foothills of the Samarian mountains about 15 kilometers (9.3 mi) west of Nablus and Jenin and 15 kilometers (9.3 mi) east of the Israeli coastal town of Netanya. It is bordered by the 1948 cease-fire line, with the Centre and Haifa Districts in the west, and Qalqiliya and Ramallah Districts to the south. Its central location between a plain and a mountain has made it commercially and strategically significant and has had a great effect on its growth. In the past, Tulkarem was a caravan station and a trading center for products from the city's surrounding villages and farms, as well as a point from which armies crossed to Egypt and the Levant (al-Sham).

Tulkarem is at the crossroads of three historically important arteries: A road which runs north from the Latrun area along the edge of the plain to Mount Carmel, Mount Tabor, Mount Gilboa, Nazareth and the Galilee and the Golan Heights, a road which winds northward along the outer tier of hills from the Ajalon valley to the Jezreel Valley, and a road that rises from the Mediterranean Sea at modern-day Netanya east to Nablus. In the past it was a junction of the coastal railroad from north of Haifa to Cairo and a branch of the narrow gauge Hejaz railway to Damascus.

Tulkarem was built on the foothills of the Samarian mountain range over a higher area than that surrounding it. The land which was formed as a result of the new fourth epoch consists mostly of creeping sands from the west to the east. The mountainous valleys carry quantities of alluvium and gravel to Tulkarem's lands in seasons of heavy rain and floods, thus creating fertile soil. In addition, an aquifer feeds numerous wells and springs in the area.

Agriculture[link]

Tulkarem's arable land allows the city inhabitants to produce citrus fruits, melons, olives, olive oil, tomatoes, potatoes, wheat, sesame, peanut, eggplant, peppers, green beans, guava, and other products.

Climate[link]

The climate of Tulkarm is Mediterranean and subtropical as the area surrounding it, with rainfall limited to the winter. The average temperature in the winter ranges from 8 to 16 °C (46 to 61 °F), while the average temperature in the summer ranges from 17 to 30 °C (63 to 86 °F). Tulkarem is distinguished by the moderating effect the sea breeze has on its climate because of its location on the Samarian mountains.. The average temperature doesn’t exceed 27 °C (81 °F) in August, while February's average temperature doesn’t fall below 13.5 °C (56 °F). Humidity is moderate in summer, about 40-70%, though it rises in winter to between 70-85%. Tulkarem receives in excess of 550 millimeters (22 in) of rain yearly, which is dispersed and intermittent, characteristic of the Mediterranean Basin.

The rainy season starts in October and continues through May. Between December and February, almost 70% of annual rainfall occurs, while 20% of annual rainfall occurs in October and November. Rain in June and September is rare and comes to negligible amounts. July and August have no rain at all, except for one rainfall of 1.5 millimeters (0.059 in) on July 10, 1995 in Tulkarem City (Tulkarm Agricultural Department). The mean annual rainfall in the city of Tulkarem is 642 millimeters (25.3 in) for the period from 1952 to 1995 (Tulkarem Agricultural Department).

Education[link]

There are four high schools in Tulkarm, two for girls (Al'adawiyya and Jamal Abd-Al-Naser) and two for boys (Alfadeleyya and Ihsan Samarah). Khodori Institute is a college in Tulkarem established during the British Mandate by an endowment from the Iraqi-born Jewish philanthropist J.S. Kadoorie. Other institutions of higher learning include Al-Quds Open University and two campuses of An-Najah National University.

Culture[link]

The traditional costumes of women from Tulkarem were plain, dark-colored gowns with or without embroidery as most rural women from the north of Palestine.^[10] Today, embroidery is the main source of income for the women of the city.^{[citation needed]}The most popular embroidered images are maps of historic Palestine. The Palestinian dish musakhan is popular in the city. Tulkarm shares many of its cultural features with neighboring Haifa, Jenin, Nablus, Qalqilia, and Jaffa^[2]A Tulkarm amusement park called Mega Land attracts tens of thousands of visitors on Muslim holidays. ^[11]

Sports[link]

Tulkarem has 2 semi-professional soccer teams; Thaqafi Tulkarem and Markez Shabab Tulkarem. Both are in the Palestinian League Division One.

Notable residents[link]

• Ekrem Akurgal, Turkish archaeologist born in 1911 in Tulkarem
• Khaled Abu Toameh, Palestinian Israeli-Arab Muslim journalist
• Shakeeb Dallal
• Hasan Karmi

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Doumani, Beshara (1995). Rediscovering Palestine, Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900. University of California Press. http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=ft896nb5pc&chunk.id=s2.1.3&toc.depth=1&toc.id=s1.1.6&brand=eschol 

External links[link]

• Al-Salim, Farid. Tulkarm Landed Property and Elite Conflict in Ottoman Tulkarm Jerusalem Quarterly.

v t e Tulkarm Governorate Cities Tulkarm Municipalities Anabta Attil Bal'a Baqa ash-Sharqiyya Beit Lid Deir al-Ghusun Dhinnaba 'Illar Kafr al-Labad Qaffin Zeita Villages Far'un Iktaba Izbat Shufa Al Jarushiya Kafr Abbush Kafr Jammal Kafr Rumman Kafr Sur Kafr Zibad Khureish Kur an-Nazla al-Gharbiya an-Nazla ash-Sharqiya an-Nazla al-Wusta Nazlat Abu Nar Nazlat 'Isa Raml Zeita Ramin al-Ras Saffarin Seida Sir Shufa Refugee camps Nur Shams Tulkarm camp

v t e Cities in Palestinian National Authority areas West Bank Abu Dis Arraba Bani Na'im Beit Sahour Beit Jala Beit Ummar Beitunia Bethlehem al-Bireh ad-Dhahiriya Dura al-Eizariya Halhul Hebron Idhna Jenin Jericho Nablus Qabatiya Qalqilyah al-Ram Ramallah Sa'ir Salfit as-Samu Tarqumiya Tubas Tulkarm Ya'bad al-Yamun Yatta *Gaza Strip Abasan al-Kabera Bani Suheila Beit Hanoun Beit Lahia Deir al-Balah Gaza Jabalia Khan Yunis Rafah az-Zawayda *Since June 2007, the Gaza Strip has been under de facto Hamas governance.