Ein Naqquba

Ein Naqquba is situated west of Jerusalem.[1] A 2022 Ynet report identifies it as a village within the jurisdiction of the Mateh Yehuda Regional Council.[2] The Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research lists Ein Naqquba among localities in the Jerusalem metropolitan area in tables covering both 2018 and 2022.[3][4]

The tables organize metropolitan localities by ring, section, and locality type and exclude employment centers and institutional localities.[3][4]

A Ynetnews account of Ein Naqquba's history reports that Bayt Naqquba was captured by Palmach and Haganah forces during Operation Nachshon in 1948.[1] According to the account, some residents, including the grandfather of Ein Naqquba resident Murad Awadallah, fled to Jordan, while others were relocated to Sataf and later settled on the outskirts of Abu Ghosh.[1]

Awadallah said that in 1962 the state gave Bayt Naqquba residents alternative land at the site of present-day Ein Naqquba, which was already inhabited.[1] He described permission to establish another village near Highway 1 as unusual, and the article reports that Ein Naqquba was established there.[1]

Awadallah also recalled that after the Six-Day War in 1967, the state sent two trucks to Amman to bring back residents who had fled to Jordan, including his grandfather.[1] The former site of Bayt Naqquba is now occupied by Moshav Beit Nekofa.[1]

In the Jerusalem Institute's 2022 metropolitan table, Ein Naqquba appears in the category for urban localities with 2,000 to 4,999 residents.[3] The classification places the village in the metropolitan area's outer ring, western section.[3]

Ein Naqquba resident Murad Awadallah has been active in Arabic-language Holocaust education and cultural outreach. A Ynetnews profile describes him as a lawyer fluent in five languages who worked with the Foreign Ministry and taught Arabic and Islamic culture before joining Yad Vashem in 2018 as coordinator for Arabic-speaking audiences.[1] In that role, he worked on guides, educational content, and Arabic-language adaptations.[1]

The profile also describes Awadallah's documentary Besa — A Word of Honor, which brought Arab and Jewish teenagers—including students from Ein Naqquba—together to learn about Muslims who rescued Jews in Albania during the Holocaust.[1] Awadallah said the project was intended to make Holocaust memory more accessible to Arab society and encourage recognition of shared experiences and responsibilities.[1] The profile further described him as overseeing Arabic-language tours at the Israel Museum after leaving Yad Vashem in 2023.[1]

The former site of Bayt Naqquba, now Moshav Beit Nekofa, is a nearby historical location connected to families in Ein Naqquba.[1] Awadallah described taking his children to see the area and the house where their grandparents had been born, presenting the site as a place for remembering the past while continuing life in the present.[1]

On the night of November 25, 2022, two vehicles in Ein Naqquba and three in neighboring Abu Ghosh were set alight in residential areas.[2] Police found graffiti at the scenes bearing messages translated as "Enough with terror attacks, expel Arabs" and "The people of Israel live."[2] The investigation raised suspicion of deliberate arson with a nationalistic motive and a possible "price tag" attack.[2] No injuries were reported, though the vehicles sustained heavy damage and some burned completely.[2] The Mateh Yehuda Regional Council condemned the events and said it stood with village residents.[2]

Abu Ghosh resident Mohammed Jaber, whose vehicle was burned, told Ynet that he had checked security cameras until 3 a.m. and was later alerted by his brother to a fire near a warehouse; he said the graffiti then indicated a likely motive.[2]

A separate incident documented in a U.S. Department of State religious freedom report occurred on March 12, 2021, when Jewish individuals set cars on fire in Ein Naqquba and spray-painted a Star of David with the words "enough with intermarriage."[7] The report attributed to Tag Meir the claim that assailants also poured gasoline on two families' homes, including near rooms occupied by children aged six and seven, and tried to set a home on fire.[7] Tag Meir said that "only a miracle" prevented a disaster similar to the 2015 Duma arson attack, and the Israel National Police opened an investigation that day.[7]

On December 29, 2022, FDD's Long War Journal identified Hamed Othman, described as 23 years old, as a resident of Ein Naqquba.[5] Citing Israeli media, it reported that he had allegedly planned to use an explosive belt against IDF soldiers at a transport station in Jerusalem and that Israeli authorities expected his indictment in the coming days.[5] The available source does not document the outcome of the case.

During the Jerusalem Hills wildfire in August 2021, residents of Ein Naqquba were evacuated alongside residents of Ein Rafa, Tzova, and Givat Ye'arim.[6] The road descending from Ein Naqquba and Ein Rafa toward Highway 1 was closed to traffic.[6] Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai said there was no immediate danger to the communities at that moment, while cautioning that conditions could change.[8] He directed officers to monitor the area with drones to prevent looting and verify that no residents remained in communities surrounded by the fire.[8]