18 Facts About Jenin

Jenin is a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank.

In 2007, Jenin had a population of approximately 40,000 people, whilst the Jenin refugee camp had a population of 10,000.

Jenin is under the administration of the Palestinian National Authority.

Jenin is commonly identified with the biblical city of Ein-Ganim, from Hebrew:, meaning "the spring of gardens" or “the spring of Ganim”, probably referring to the many springs located nearby.

Jenin has been identified as the place "Gina" mentioned in the Amarna letters from the 14th century BCE.

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Shortly before the Battle of Hattin in 1187, Jenin was captured by the Ayyubid sultan Saladin, who destroyed the nearby fort, Castellum Beleismum.

Jenin noted that it contained the mausoleum of Dihyah al-Kalbi, a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

The official response was that the caravanserai be turned into a fortress; the fortress became ruined at some later point and 19th-century residents of Jenin used to claim that certain large rocks strewn in the village were the remnants of the 16th-century fortress.

In 1624 the most prominent Turabay chief and sanjak-bey of Lajjun, Ahmad ibn Turabay, drove out the Ma'nid troops from Jenin and established his personal residence in the town.

From 1936, Jenin became a center of rebellion against the British Mandatory authorities.

Jenin was used by Fawzi al-Qawuqji's Arab Liberation Army as a base.

Jenin has been under Israeli occupation since the Six-Day War, in 1967.

Jenin is situated at the foot of the rugged northernmost hills of the West Bank, and along the southern edge of the Jezreel Valley, which the city overlooks.

Immediately southwest of Jenin is the Sahl Arraba plain, while further south is the Marj Sanur valley.

Jenin is 42 kilometers north of Nablus, 18 kilometers to the south of Afula, and 51 kilometers southeast of Haifa.

Jenin municipality was established in 1886 under the Ottoman rule with no more than 80 voters and elections were made every 4 years until 1982 when the Israeli government took control over the municipality until 1995.

Jenin was one of several Palestinian cities where Hamas showed a dramatic growth in electoral support.

Strings of Freedom is an orchestra in Jenin founded by an Arab citizen of Israel, Wafaa Younis, who travels form her home in central Israel to teach music to the local youth.