Under the Umayyads and Abbasids, Rafah was the southernmost border of Jund Filastin ("District of Palestine"). Rafah was one of the towns captured by the Rashidun army under general 'Amr ibn al-'As in 635 CE, and subsequently was an important trading city during the Early Muslim period. It was represented at the Council of Ephesus 431 CE by Bishop Romanus, but today remains a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church but a small Greek Orthodox presence exists. Byzantine period ĭuring the Byzantine period, it was a diocese, and Byzantine ceramics and coins have been found there. Rafah is mentioned in Strabo (16, 2, 31), the Antonine Itinerary, and is depicted on the Map of Madaba. The town was conquered by Alexander Yannai and held by the Hasmoneans until it was rebuilt in the time of Pompey and Gabinius the latter seems to have done the actual work of restoration for the era of the town dates from 57 BCE. It is said to be one of the largest battles ever fought in the Levant, with over a hundred thousand soldiers and hundreds of elephants. In 217 BCE the Battle of Raphia was fought between the victorious Ptolemy IV and Antiochus III. In 720 BCE it was the site of the Assyrian king Sargon II's victory over the Egyptians. It was first recorded in an inscription of Egyptian Pharaoh Seti I, from 1303 BCE as Rph, and as the first stop on Pharaoh Shoshenq I's campaign to the Levant in 925 BCE. Rafah has a history stretching back thousands of years. Rafah is at the bottom of the map Bronze Age Raphia Their marriage took place in 193 BC in Raphia History Archaeology Īntiochus III willing to make peace with Ptolemy V, had his daughter Cleopatra I marry Ptolemy V. In the 2006 PCBS estimate, Rafah city had a population of 71,003, Rafah camp and Tall as-Sultan form separate localities for census purposes, having populations of 59,983 and 24,418, respectively. In the 1997 census, Rafah's (together with Rafah camp) gender distribution was 50.5% male and 49.5% female. Refugees made up 80.3% of the entire population. In the 1997 Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) census, Rafah and its adjacent camp had a combined population of 91,181, Tall as-Sultan was listed with a further 17,141. In 1982, the total population was approximately 10,800. In 1922, Rafah's population was 599, which increased to 2,220 in 1945. Rafah became one of the three border points between Egypt and Israel. Families were separated, property was divided and many houses and orchards were cut across and destroyed by the new boundary, bulldozed, allegedly for security reasons. Rafah was divided into an Egyptian and a Palestinian part, splitting up families, separated by barbed-wire barriers. In the Peace Treaty, the re-created Gaza–Egypt border was drawn across the city of Rafah. In 1979, Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty that returned the Sinai, which borders the Gaza Strip, to Egyptian control. In the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel conquered the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip from Egypt and all of the city now was under Israeli occupation. Rafah could grow without any consideration being taken of the old 1906 international boundary. During the Second World War it became an important British base.įollowing the Armistice Agreement of 24 February 1949, Rafah was located in Egypt-occupied Gaza and consequently, a Gaza–Egypt border did no longer exist. From the mid-1930s the British enhanced the border control and Rafah evolved as a small boundary town which functioned as a trade and services centre for the semi-settled Beduin population. After World War I Palestine was also under British control, but the Egypt-Palestine Boundary was maintained to control movement of the local Bedouin. The Ottoman–British agreement of 1 October 1906 established a boundary between Ottoman ruled Palestine and British ruled Egypt, from Taba to Rafah. The transliteration of the Hebrew name, "Rafiah", is used in modern English alongside "Rafah" Development Over the ages it has been known as Rpwḥw by the ancient Egyptians, □□□ Rapiḫi or □□□ Rapiḫu by the Assyrians, Ῥαφία Rhaphía by the Greeks, "Raphia" by Romans, רפיח "Rafiaḥ" by the Israelites, "Rafh" by the Arab Caliphate.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |