Cities of Palestine (Areeha)

Areeha

Areeha

Areeha is an old Canaanite city. Archaeologists consider Areeha one of the oldest cities in Palestine, if not the oldest city ever. Its history returns to the stone age before 7 thousand years ago.

The origin of the name Areeha: Areeha means the moon for Canaanites.

Areeha was thrived in the Roman era, which is shown in the ruins of the courtyards that were build. However, Areeha’s popularity decreased, and it stayed in a size of a village or less until 1908.

Areeha is considered as the eastern gate of Palestine, it’s connected to the eastern bank in roads, it’s also connected to the Jerusalem-Oman road. It’s located to the north of Jerusalem, 38 km far from it, and 276 meters beneath sea level.

In 1922 the city’s population was about 1039 people, it increased to 2840 people in 1945, in 1965 they increased to 75000 person, but in June 1967 they decreased because of immigration to 5300 person.

Areeha’s lands are 137500 Donm. On its lands are three refugee camps

It’s famous for it’s tourism location, the Dead Sea, and the Hesham castle, which is built by Hesham Bin Abd Al-malek are the most famous areas in Areeha.

The Israeli settlement process started in 1967, Israel authorities are planning to make the whole Jordan valley with the Dead Sea until Tabariah one settlement without any existence of Arabs. There are now 32 settlement in Areeha.