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Abu Dis or Abu Deis (أبو ديس) is a Palestinian village in the Jerusalem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority bordering Jerusalem. Since the 1995 Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Abu Dis has been part of "Area B", under joint Israeli and Palestinian control. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) census, Abu Dis had a population of 12,604 in 2016.

History
Abu Dis is situated on an ancient site, surrounded by deep valleys. Ruins have been found of ancient buildings, cisterns, grape presses and caves, one with a columbarium. Ceramics from Late Roman and Byzantine period has also been found.

The French explorer Victor Guérin thought Abu Dis was identical with ancient Bahurim, but this identification is not accepted today.

Ottoman era
Abu Dis was one of the most populous villages in the Sanjak of Jerusalem during the 16th century, with a population of several hundred. Wheat and barley formed the bulk of cash crops, but were supplemented by grapes, olives, fruit trees, beans, and products from goats and bees. Descendants of Saladin lived in the village and were entrusted one-third of the grain revenue by the Ottoman Empire. The adult males of the village paid a combined 6,250 akçe in annual taxes, a much more lower figure than other villages of the same size in the sanjak such as Beit Jala, Ein Karim, and Deir Dibwan. This could indicate that Abu Dis was less prosperous, alternatively it could be because it had fewer non-Muslims. In October 1553, Shaykh Sa'd al-Din al-Sharafi al-Maliki was appointed as the administrator of the waqf of the village, but was replaced in 1554 by Muhammad al-Fakhuri at the request of three prominent villagers who complained to the qadi of Jerusalem. He remained in this position until 1563. In 1596 Abu Dis appeared in Ottoman tax registers   as being in the Nahiya of Quds of the Liwa of  Quds. It had a population of 80 Muslim households, and paid taxes on wheat, barley, olive trees, vineyards, fruit trees, goats and/or bee hives.

In 1838 Abu Dis  was noted as a Muslim village, part of el-Wadiyeh area, located east of Jerusalem.

When Guérin visited the village in 1870 he noted a house larger and higher than the others, which was that of the local sheikh. An official Ottoman village list from about the same year showed that Abu Dis had 52 houses and a population of 326, though the population count included only men.

By the old village mosque, known locally as Maqam Salah ad-Din, there is a grave with a slab of marble, with a poem written in "elegant naskhi script", dated to 1878.

In 1883, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine described it as a "village of moderate size in a conspicuous position on a bare flat ridge, with deep valleys round it. The water-supply is from cisterns. Rock-cut tombs exists to the west.

In the late 19th century, the Sheikh of Abu Dis, Rasheed Erekat, promised to guarantee the safety of European tourists and pilgrims on the journey down to Jericho and the River Jordan. According to a 19th-century traveler, the "only way of accomplishing the journey to the Jordan ...(is) by paying the statutory tribute-money to the Sheikh of Abu Dees. This man has the privilege of extracting some sixteen shillings from each traveller who goes down to Jericho...He will send a man, possibly his own son along with you... arrayed in gorgeous apparel, and armed with sword and revolver."

In 1896 the population of Abu Dis was estimated to be about 600 persons.

British Mandate era
In a census conducted in 1922 by the British Mandate authorities, Abu Diz had a population of 1,029, all Muslims, increasing in the 1931 census to a population of 1,297, still all Muslims, in 272 houses.

In 1945, Abu Dis had a population of 1,940 Muslims, with 27,896 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 4,981 dunams were used for cereals, while 158 dunams were built-up land.

Between 1922 and 1947, the population of Abu Dis increased by 110%. The town suffered extensive damage in the 1927 Jericho earthquake. All the homes were damaged and every cistern was cracked. Since Abu Dis depended on rain-water cisterns for its water supply, this caused great hardship. al-Eizariya (Bethany), half a mile away, suffered little damage.

1948-1967
According to the UN General Assembly Resolution 194 in 1948, Abu Dis was to be the most Eastern part of the corpus separatum Jerusalem area. However, in the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Abu Dis came under Jordanian rule.

1967-Today
Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Abu Dis  has been under Israeli occupation. In the 1967 census it had a population of 2,640. Since the signing of the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (also known as Oslo 2) in 1995, Abu Dis has been part of Area B, which is under the civil jurisdiction of the Palestinian National Authority but subject to Israeli security control.

Most of the Palestinian Authority's offices responsible for Jerusalem affairs are located in the town. In 2000, the construction of a Parliament Building to possibly house the Palestinian Legislative Council was started in Abu Dis, but the project was never finished. Israel has suggested to predestine the location as a substitute for East Jerusalem, the Palestinians' claimed capital. The separation barrier Israel built in Abu Dis runs just few meters from the location.

Population
Of Abu Dis's

Economy
Abu Dis's work force is primarily divided between three economic sectors. 80% of the labor force work as government or private employees, 19% are in the service sector, and 1% work in or for the Israeli government or private Israeli employers. According to 2015 labor statistics of the Jerusalem governorate, 86.1% of Abu Dis's population over the age of 15 are employed, with 87.7% of males and 86.1% of females being employed.

In 2011 Abu Dis housed three factories, one producing brick, another concrete, and the third manufacturing cigarettes. Additionally, Abu Dis had 119 food/grocery stores and 40 trade/service shops.

Around 48% of Abu Dis's territory consists of arable land, and so the village has a significant agricultural sector. Olive trees comprise the vast majority of Abu Dis's commercial agriculture as 530 of the existing 544 fruit trees are olive trees. Sheep are the most commonly available livestock, though Abu Dis's farming community also has cows and goats.

Education
Schools in Abu Dis include Amal Nursery, Abu Dis Elementary School, New Generation Primary School, Special Needs School, Abu Dis Girls Secondary School, Abu Dis Boys Secondary School, UNRWA Mixed School and Arab Institute. Abu Dis is also home to Al-Quds University.

Transportation
Travel within and around Abu Dis is largely conducted through the public taxi service and unlicensed cars. There are 33 kilometers of road in Abu Dis. Ten kilometers of main roads are paved and in good condition while three kilometers are in poor condition. Of the 20 kilometers of "secondary roads," 5 are paved in good condition, 5 are paved in poor condition, and 10 are unpaved.

West Bank barrier and land disputes
On January 13, 2004, Israel began constructing the Israeli West Bank Barrier, a 20 foot-high concrete wall running through the West Bank. The route of the barrier between Abu Dis and Jerusalem lies East of the Green line, the internationally recognized Israeli border as established by 1949 ceasefire accords.

Upon completion, the wall will border Abu Dis from the north, west, and east. The northern segment of the wall will fragment the northern and southern hemispheres of the West Bank. The eastern portion of the wall is set to separate Abu Dis's core, urban environment from its rural territories, detaching over 6,000 dunums of arable land from the city's total land area of 28,332 dunums. Currently, the western wall divides Abu Dis and Jerusalem. Because Palestinian men below the age of 55 and women under 50 now require a permit for entry into Jerusalem, the wall has reduced Palestinian access to medical care, schools, and employment opportunities unavailable in Abu Dis and the surrounding villages.

The United Nations humanitarian affairs office charged that the barrier would severely disrupt access to schools, hospitals, and work throughout the West Bank. Israel says that the route of the barrier is determined a security measure, not a political tool.

As a result of the western wall the Cliff Hotel owned by the Ayyad family of Abu Dis has been the focus of a legal dispute in the Israeli courts. The owners sued to halt expropriation of the hotel, built in the mid-1950s. The case involves the application of the Absentee Property Law, which allows the State of Israel to expropriate property within its territory when the owner lives in a country that Israel regards as an enemy. A High Court ruling in February 2010 was still unable to decide whether the law applies to property in East Jerusalem belonging to residents of the Palestinian territories. The government of Norway has supported the Ayyad family. A book about the struggle of the hotel-owner Ali Ayyad and his Norwegian-born wife was published in Norway in 2012.

Establishment and Management
The Abu Dis Waste Disposal Site is a landfill opened in 1981 when the Israeli military confiscated territory from Abu Dis for the landfill's creation. In 1998, the Ma'ale Adumim Company became responsible for site management. The company is under the jurisdiction of Ma'ale Adumim, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. The company has been accused of mismanagement, with critics citing the site's illegal burning of wastes, insufficient barricades to entry, and insufficient, improperly maintained infrastructure.

The Jahalin Bedouin, who previously lived in the territory now occupied by Ma'ale Adumim have been resettled within 300 meters of the Abu Dis waste disposal site, which has led to international concerns for the safety of the Jahalin.

In 2003, the Israeli government announced its intent to close the landfill, however it was subsequently expanded, and did not officially close until 2014 due to overfilling.

Legal dispute
Controversy surrounded the landfill's establishment as critics argued the expropriation of Abu Dis's land violated International humanitarian law and the Oslo Accords by constituting an unwarranted seizure of an occupied peoples' private property; however the Israeli Supreme Court has argued that because the waste disposal site benefits Palestinians, the land seizure is admissible on account of legal precedent. The Israeli response has spurred further debate, as Palestinians claim that the waste site was designed for the dual purpose of depleting Palestinian territory and disposing Israeli waste, and, therefore, the confiscation of Palestinian did not constitute a measure taken for the good of the occupied peoples. Additionally, Palestinian's accuse Israel of restricting access to the disposal site, directly during periods of escalating tensions and indirectly through the instatement of high levies to use the site. Legality concerns have also been raised with regard to the environmental damage caused by the site.

Environmental impact
Until 2011, the site received about half of the 1,400 tons of garbage produced every day in the Jerusalem District. An estimated 90% of the waste came from Jerusalem while Israeli settlements contributed 4% of waste and Palestinian communities contributed 6%. Due to improper infrastructure and overfilling, the waste disposal site has caused pollution in Abu Dis, which has led the United Nations General Assembly to call upon Israel to "cease all actions harming the environment, including the dumping of all kinds of waste materials in the Occupied Palestinian Territory." Environmental externalities include a pervading stench in the surrounding areas, the emission of toxic gases when waste is burned, water pollution, the attraction of stray dogs which have been known to attack villagers' goats.

Twin cities

 * 🇬🇧 Camden, a borough of London in the United Kingdom. Since 2005, many Camden residents have visited Abu Dis and many Abu Dis residents have visited Camden. The visits concentrate on children, women and schools. The twinning activities are supported by the Camden Abu Dis Friendship Association (CADFA), a UK registered charity.
 * 🇫🇷 Reze

In cinema
Some scenes from the film Omar were shot in Abu-dis, such as the first scene when Omar climbs the Israeli West Bank barrier to visit his lover.

Notable residents

 * Kamel Arekat
 * Saeb Erekat
 * Ahmed Qurei