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Palestine Atlas

Tubas

Basic Information

Type
City
Governorate
Tubas
Region
West Bank - Northern

Overview

Tubas (Arabic: طوباس) is a Palestinian city in the northeastern West Bank, serving as the capital of Tubas Governorate and the gateway to the northern Jordan Valley. Located on the eastern slopes of the Samarian hills overlooking the Jordan Valley, Tubas has historically been a center of agriculture, livestock, and trade between the highlands and the valley. The city and its surrounding villages — Tammun, Aqabah, Bardala, Ein al-Beida — form the primary agricultural and pastoral zone of the northern Jordan Valley. Since the Israeli occupation began in 1967, Tubas has faced severe land confiscation for Israeli military training zones, settlements, and nature reserves that serve as pretexts for excluding Palestinians from their land. The Israeli military has declared large areas of Tubas Governorate as 'firing zones' and 'closed military areas,' making them inaccessible to Palestinian farmers and herders. The settlements of Mehola (1968), Shadmot Mehola (1979), and Rotem (1979) were established in the Jordan Valley on confiscated Tubas-area land, further reducing the area available for Palestinian use. The Tayasir checkpoint controls all movement between Tubas and the Jordan Valley, severely restricting farmers' access to their lands and the valley's markets.

Historical Significance

Gateway to the northern Jordan Valley; historic center of agriculture, livestock, and highland-valley trade; strategically important crossroads between the West Bank hills and the Jordan Valley.

Sources and record limitations

Source detail varies by record. Some entries include document and page references; others supply source names only. Check the cited material and the record's limitations before relying on a specific claim.

  • PCBS (Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics)
  • ARIJ (Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem)
  • UN OCHA
  • PASSIA
  • B'Tselem
  • Palestinian municipal records

Biblical Thebez. Largest municipal area among the listed towns (295.1 sq km).