Qalqilya - Arab-Israeli Conflict

Arab-Israeli Conflict

In 1948, refugees from the Arab villages of Kafr Saba and Abu Kishek settled in Qalqilya and received assistance from UNRWA. In the 1949 Armistice Agreements between Israel and Jordan, the town was included in the Jordanian-occupied area.

On the night of 10 October 1956 the Israeli army launched a raid against Qalqilya police station. The attack was ordered by Moshe Dayan and involved several thousand soldiers. During the fighting a paratroop company was surrounded by Jordanian troops and the survivors only escaped under close air-cover from four Israeli Air Force aircraft. The Israelis suffered 18 killed and 68 wounded; between seventy and ninety Jordanians were killed.

After the conquest of Qalqilya in the Six Day War, the inhabitants were evicted and many buildings were razed. In his memoirs, Moshe Dayan described the destruction as a "punishment" that was designed to chase the inhabitants away. The villagers were eventually allowed to return and the reconstruction of damaged houses was financed by the military authorities. In September 1967, a census found 8,922 persons, of whom 1,837 were originally from Israeli territory.

In 2003, the Israeli West Bank barrier was built, encircling the town and separating it from agricultural lands on the other side of the wall.

In July 2006, the body of Daniel Yaakobi (59), an Israeli doctor from Yakir, was found burnt in the trunk of his car near Qalqilya. According to police, he was apparently kidnapped and murdered by Palestinians.

In March 2008, Israel captured Omar Jabar, the Hamas bomber who masterminded the 2002 Passover massacre in Netanya, an attack in which 30 Israelis were killed and 143 were wounded while celebrating the Passover seder.