Qarawat Bani Hassan - History

History

Amr ibn al-A'as, a prominent Arab commander of the Rashidun army, was said to have been injured in the village. According to local tradition, a tree was planted on the spot where his blood was spilled. The story was written up in the village history in the year 1919. In 1225 Arab geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi noted that Qarawat Bani Hassan was "a village in the District of Nablus."

In 1596, Qarawat Bani Hasan appeared in Ottoman tax registers as being in the nahiya of Jabal Qubal in the liwa of Nablus. It had a population of 13 households and 3 bachelors, all Muslim. The villagers paid taxes on wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and beehives.

French explorer Victor Guérin visited the village in 1870, and estimated it as having about 150 inhabitants. He described the town as being in decline, but with great remains of former better times. When he was visiting, a squad of bashi-bazouks were rounding up 35 villagers, and taking them to Nablus as they had not paid their taxes. In the 1881 "Survey of Western Palestine", the village (called Kurawa Ibn Hasan) was described as:

partly ruinous, but evidently at one time a place of great importance, with ancient tombs, one of great beauty, and rude stone towers. Its ancient name is given by the natives as Sham et Tawil. The little mosque of Sheikh 'Aly el 'Amanat stands apparendy over the apse of a church. The supply of water is from wells and cisterns.

In a census conducted in 1922 by the British Mandate authorities, Qarawa had an entirely Muslim population of 313, while in the 1931 census, Qarawa had 89 occupied houses and population of 352, still all Muslim. In 1945 the population was 450 while the total land area was 9,685 dunams, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 105 were allocated for plantations and irrigable land, 2,820 for cereals, while 30 dunams were classified as built-up areas.