Network Most Beautiful Villages of Palestine

www.mbvp.org.ps – [email protected] – 00970599073851 Brochure published by ”The Palestinian Bible Society” “ Nazih Khalil Charity Foundation “

Network Most Beautiful Villages of Palestine

MBVPalestine “ MBVP “

Introduction

Palestine is the holy land , is land of the three religious heavenly messages emitted to the whole world , in our villages as in all Palestine , you see a style of unity & solidarity between all sects , you see history within the ancient buildings & monuments , you see all people of Mediterranean on a friendly faces of the Palestinians , you see beauty of nature and sunny region , you see fresh and natural products & foods , you see a society loves freedom , seeks peace , dialogue , culture exchange & cooperation between peoples and receives & hosts visitors . By these facts , truths and values : you see Palestine , you see network “ most beautiful villages of Palestine – MBVPalestine “ . MBVP is a network licensed by Palestinian ministry of interior / Charity association section as the official representative of Palestine state to the regional and international counterpart networks and other related organizations and institutions . Members are local authorities ( municipalities & rural councils ) and stakeholders , today there are 11 municipalities & rural councils and 3 stakeholders ,two are working in socio-economic development and the other are from department of life science in Al-Quds university and scientific forum for preserving nature in Palestine ECOPAL ( forum from the main 3 universities in Palestine : Al Najah , Arab American University , Al Quds ) are applying to join MBVP .

Ministry of Tourism and Antiques MTA are the involved ministry to work and cooperate with us , MBVP have special concern and support from prime minister office and ministry of local government MoLG ( as most members of MBVP are local authorities ) . According to “ law of procedure “ of MBVP any local authority with maximum population 15000 persons and compile with terms and condition can join , also stakeholders working in tourism sector and society development and preserving heritage and nature can join .

MBVP are founding member of the international conference of networks of most beautiful villages of Mediterranean basin MBVMB www.borghimediterraneo.com in Cestirneno – Pulia/lItaly also MBVP are observer member in the international federation of most beautiful villages of the world IFMBVW http://www.lpbvt.org/

Back ground

In October 2013 three cities from Palestine : Beit Sahour , and Battteer participated in the regional conference held in Cisternino / Apulia – south Italy under the name” most beautiful villages of Mediterranean Basin MBVMB “ representatives from 17 countries and organizations met and have established the “ Conference of MBVMB www.borghimediterraneo.com “ , one of recommendations is asking participants of villages to form their national networks , Palestine is one of those , this recommendation is ensured in the meeting held in Heraklion city in Crete /Greece , Palestine participated in this meeting by mayor of Zababdeh( June 2014 mayor Mutie Diebes ) and accordingly the three Palestinian municipalities started work to form Palestine national network under patron of ministry of tourism & antique MTA and ministry of local government MoLG who announced in media to local authorities to apply for joining this network according to terms and conditions dependent in the different national networks of different countries , taking in consideration the local specialty conditions , in September 2014 Palestinian minister of tourism and antique Mrs. Rola ma‟ayia announced establishing Palestine national network MBVPalestine from 7 municipalities of villages & cities ( Beit Sahour , Zababdeh , Battir , Deir Istiya , Beit Leid , Berqueen , Sabastiya ) in same month September 2014 mayor of Zababdeh ( Mutie Diebes ) participated in the conference of international federation of most beautiful villages of the world “ IFMBVW http://www.lpbvt.org/ held in Lovere /Milan/Italy ((presidents of most beautiful villages of :- Italy , France , Japan , Belgium ( Wallonia ) , Romania , Russa , Spain , Germany ( Saxony) , Japan , Palestine ) in this conference Palestine and Spain are chosen as observer members looking forward to be a complete member) , so those 7 members of the chosen villages & towns formed founding committee and started process of registering this national network according to Palestinian law of charity associations and social corporations , on mid of May 2015 MBVPalestine is registered officially and licensed . Any village or stakeholder in Palestine who compile with terms and conditions ( Rules of Procedure ) can apply and join . First Board of directors is formed from mayors of the 7 towns & villages ( Beit Sahour , Battir, Zababdeh , Sabastiya , Berqueen , Deir Istiya , Beit Leid ) and they elected Mr. Mutie Diebes from Zababdeh municipality to be president/chief of the board of MBVPalestine , main office is in Zababdeh . other branches will be opened later in middle and south . New 5 villages have joined on July 2016 ( Bir Zeit, Turmosaya , Asira Al Shamaliya , Faqua‟a , Jalameh and a stakeholder association “ Green Land for Development & community Services GLDCS “ in 2017 two villages are joined Beit Jala and Anabta , also one stakeholder is joined “ Arab Charitable society “ many villages are looking to join . After last elections of local authorities on may 2017 new mayors came , four members are withdrawn (Bir Zeit, Turmosaya, Jalameh , Beit Leid ) and other new members joined ( Beit Khahel , life science department – science & technology faculty/ Al-Quds university ) .

Objectives

The license granted to MBVPalestine include also objectives & vision of MBVP which include also those are dependent in other national networks of MBVMB and IFMBVW , following are objectives of MBVP :-

1) MBVP can join IFMBVW and MBVMB and other similar and related local , regional and international organizations as MBVP is the representative of national network of , by this joining and relations MBVP can : # Exchange : experience , culture , heritage , tourists , youth and people .

# Participate in different conferences , meetings , workshops and seminars of MBVMB , IFMBVW and other local , regional and international : societies , networks , organizations , associations and institutions for the benefits of members of MBVP and in general for Palestine .

# Implement joined activities , programs , activities and projects .

2) The involved ministry according to our license is Ministry of Tourism and Antiques MTA and because main members of MBVP are local authorities ( municipalities and rural councils ) so Ministry of Local Government MoLG is partially involved . Accordingly one of the objectives is to work and cooperate with MTA especially in programs for internal tourism between villages of Palestine and in programs of attracting tourists and visitors from outside countries to Palestine especially to country part ( villages ) and cooperation in innovating of old historical buildings and old centers of villages to use it for hosting and receiving tourists , also implementing digital maps and data base about tourism tracks and villages . 3) The other members of MBVP are stakeholders who are working in sectors of tourism ( operators , agencies , folk bands , preserving heritage , handicraft & traditional products ( souvenirs , olive wood carving , glass , ceramic , national clothes , embroidery , packet :wild herbs – olive oil soap – organic dried foods , university departments working in preserving nature and wild life ,etc… ) and in socio-economic development and women & youth development . 4) Building relations and mutual programs & cooperation with international associations and organizations and networks for establishing a platform ( web site ) through main desk ( i.e in Europe ) and local desks in participating countries to exchange :- culture , information , news , tourists ,– people , youth etc ….. 5) Environment saving and Preserving heritage of : old buildings , culture , music & dancing folk , nature - wild plants-flowers –spices , traditional products & handicrafts . Vision

MBVP believe in : - dialogue between peoples of the world and other partners , freedom , self determination & liberation , encourage tourists exchange and attraction on local , regional and international level , fight extreme and terrorism and work together on peace issues . Top priority of MBVP is developing tourism‟s infrastructure of members specially in the old centers of the cities and villages , encourage private sector and stakeholders to be involved and participate , extend cooperation and work to other national and international societies and NGO‟s to provide funds and support to improve economic and social situation of members . In general we are looking to work with MBVMB and IFMBVW and other organizations and institutions to initiate and activate a process of attracting tourists and visitors to come to Palestine , our country is beautiful and people are hospitable , we expect that tourism will be one of the main income to Palestine , it is an economic value , wealth and jobs which will develop our country and strongly contribute in spreading culture of dealing and receiving foreign people and exchange culture , experience and thoughts and accordingly will lead to generalize peace concept and cooperation between peoples .

Develop country part ( villages ) of Palestine especially villages members of MBVP and innovate old centers of villages .

Battir Municipality www.battir.org

Battir is an ancient town dating back to the Canaanite era , which was inherited by several civilizations such as the Canaanites, Giants, Romans, Greece and the Islamic state , some of monuments from those days still exist . Name Battir came from the Canaanite word “ Bet Tyara “ which means “ home of the bird” due to the large number of various types of birds used to live in this place with fertilize soil and rich with freshwater springs , other explanation to the word is the Canaanite word ( Batir ) which means “ sharp “ due to sharp slope of the mountains in the place on which the village was built as in those days it was very difficult to reach the village except from 3 narrow paths to make the place difficult to reach by foreign invaders . Battir is 9 km a way to the west of city and 8 Km south of Jerusalem , the total area of Battir is 1200 Hectare , part of this area ( 3 Hectare ) lies in parallel of the rail way between Java and Jerusalem within the occupied territories since 1948( ) which was planted by Battir farmers with olive , grapes , almonds and vegetables and according to Rodos agreement signed in 1949 it is allowed for those farmers to enter this area to farm their land , Battir is part of , population of Battir is 6000 persons dated on 2018 . Today Battir is a famous town in flowing springs up to date since the Roman era which is used to irrigate farms which are terraces designed by Roman on the slopes of the mountains start from south and end on the valley in the north , irrigating system of canals were built by Romans to distribute water to each farm in a fair way

, these terraces and valley are famous in all types of vegetables especially eggplants which becomes famous in all due to it is special delicious taste and color , also they plant trees of ; olive, almonds , grapes , apricot and peaches. Municipal council of Battir consist of 11 elected councilors including mayor , there are women charity association , agriculture association , public library and of course schools , Battir is founding member in “ network most beautiful villages of Palestine MBVP “ , it is one of the beautiful natural touristic places in Palestine with water springs and terraces to which municipality of Battir and ministry of tourism & antiques were enabled on 2014 to join Battir to the list of preserved culture places by Unisco , former mayor Akram Mustafa who have good relations with many European institutions played a big effort in this issue , every year hundreds of tourists and visitors visit Battir and participate in the weekly marsh walk in the touristic path from Battir to Jerusalem through mountains , municipality have established public garden in the northern part of Battir opened for people of Battir and visitors , a private park is established also with swimming pools on the south west side of Battir looking to the beautiful landscape of slopes and valley in this area .Part of the old center of Battir was rehabilitated by paving streets and renovating some old buildings ( OKKAD ) , two buildings are used as guest house with 12 beds and restaurant , also by help of donors two old houses are renovated and are used as environment centre for preserving nature and environment in Battir . municipality work on attracting tourists from out side countries and visitors from other areas in Palestine by cooperation with European institutions and ministry of tourism & antiques MTA , Battir have signed twinning agreement with Narni town in Toscani region – Italy . Battir also is member in the regional service council for tourism in Bethlehem governorate. Beit Jala Municipality http://beitjala-city.org/index.php/en/

Beit Jala and in general Bethlehem area is one of the oldest regions where mankind lived sine stone age , Canaanite were first people settled in Beit Jala , Beit Jala is Aramaic word means “ carpet of grass “ in the 4th and 3rd centuries Beit jala was center of Christians and monks who lived there because the place is very close to Jerusalem , one of those famous monks is Saint Nickolos who lived in a cave and was teaching people , later on a big church is built over this cave which still exist up to this time , it is one of the famous Christian places in Palestine , there is another famous church “Church of the Annunciation “ was built in the Othman period . Beit Jala is at 2 km to the west of church of Nativity, and 7km south west Jerusalem , it is the second city in Bethlehem governorate , Beit Jala is on high mountains up to 920 m over sea level , Beit jala is famous in olive , aprricot , grapes and mulberry trees . olive oil of Beit Jala is distinctive in Bethlehem & governorates , near to Beit Jala there are villages of Al Khader , Battir , Al Doha , on part of it is land ,occupation have established Jeilo settlement , population of Beit Jala 15000 , majority are Christian . There are many important institutions in Beit Jala such as the Seminary which belong to Catholic church which in addition to school curricula it teaches theology, languages, philosophy and topics needed to graduate Catholic priests , this institute is part of Krimizan convent which is built on the top slopes of northern mountain of Beit Jala and it belong to the Catholic church , this mountain is famous in planting grapes since hundreds of years , where a very famous factory for producing

wine , they used to export it to many outside countries especially to Europe . There are 465 economic facilities in different sectors : trade , industry , tourism , services and banks , one of the famous industry is clothes fabric , medicines , wine , wax and handicraft products such as carving olive wood , embroidery , stone carving and other conventional products . Beit Jala famous in education sector , there are many schools in all levels belong to Catholic and Protestant churches and Seminary . Municipality of Beit Jala is one of the oldest in Palestine , first municipal council was in 1912 , there are 13 councilors including mayor , municipality of Beit Jala offer good services and work in developing many projects , where tourism is one important project they are working on it , for this purpose they have signed 10 twinning agreements with municipalities in many countries : Aubervilliers /France , Mar-Santa Maria Del /Al Peru , Reggio Emilia /Italy , Varazze/Savona region/Italy ,la Calera / Chile , Trento governorate, friendship with Grenoble/France , Jena/Germany , Bergish Gladbach/Germany , friendship with Valfabbrica/Italy . Beit Sahour Municipalityhttp://www.beitsahourmunicipality.com

Beit Sahour city is an ancient place as all places in Bethlehem area , name of Beit Sahour is a Canaanite means “ place of a wake guard in night “ this name is related to the sheep shepherds who were guarding their cattle in the Roman age when Jesus Christ borned in a cave near to them in Bethlehem , the cave over which the current nativity church is built , today the place of shepherds is called “ Shepherds Field “ , there are Roman monuments in this place and two churches, many tourists and visitors come to this place every year , in the crusaders time Beit Sahour was known as “ BeetaHoor “ the Christian pilgrims called it the town of shepherds . One ancient place also in the city centre of Beit Sahour near Al Shaeb marketing yard is “ water spring of Saint the Virgin Mary “ the place where St. Mary was thirsty in her escaping travel with Saint. Josef and the born Jesus to Egypt , when a miracle was occurred in water exploded out from ground to provide drink for St. Virgin Mary , up to this date this water spring still spilling , not far a way from Beit Sahour 2 km to the east is town Obeidiya where a convent and church were built by Saint Obaid on the place were the Maji stay one night in their way home to Persia escaping away from the Roman governor Herod who was waiting the Magi to tell him about the place where Jesus was borned in , Herod declared he is welling to visit Jesus the new prophet actually to kill him , a few km to the east of Al Obaidiya is convent of Saint Saba , one of important places for Christians where built on high mountain on the rocky edge overlooking to the deep valley where the all place overlook to the Jordanian valley , to the east south on the way between Beit Sahour and Al Ta”amira there is Herod mountain with castle on top of it at 850 m over sea level from Roman days built by king Herod for his wife , Old city of Beit Sahour is a famous centre by old buildings and streets still inhabited , municipality of Beit Sahour have started a plan of rehabilitation & innovating for these old buildings ( called OKKAD ) and paving streets by a stone bricks ,many of these renovated places are used to host tourists and visitors others are used as restaurants and for tourism services . Beit sahoiur at one km east of Nativity Church in Bethlehem , majority of population in Beit Sahour are Christians ,others are Muslim total are 17000 persons , the two cities are linked together in the west side of Beit Sahour as one city , Beit sahour is the third city in Bethlehem governorate after Bethlehem & Beit Jala cities , Beit Sahour lies on hills up to 700m over sea level , Beit Sahour is famous in planting wild cucumber which has special taste and shape and become very famous in Palestine and took the name of “ Faqoos Sahori “ , every year municipality of Beit sahour at season of this cucumber celebrate festival of cucumber , at the east of city there is Ish Al Gurab area which is rehabilitated and planted with trees and flowers by municipality , it became a wide public park and games city , they also built an open theatre where festivals are performed . Beit Sahour is famous in many industries and handicraft products such as carton , electricity electric distributing boards , different types of souvenirs : seashells , olive wood carving , crucifixes , rosaries , ornaments and jewelry , embroideries and national women clothes . Beit sahour is touristic place there are many hotels , restaurants offering public foods and salads , public sweets restaurants There are many folk bands & scout teams mixed boys and girls who usually active in Christmas & Easter seasons and national and public occasions , most famous band is “ Baqoon Folk Band “ , there are 3 women associations and youth clubs , municipality have established playground and yards for different types of sports , there are many associations and societies in fields of culture , tourism and saving wild life , many famous writers in writing story, drama, novel and poetry , Beit Sahour is a founding member of MBVP . Beit Sahour is the Palestinian city where people during the refused to pay taxes to the occupation despite confiscating the contents of their houses and shops, was followed by a global protest movement that forced the occupation to cancel this act and stop it , Beit Sahour always active in national occasions , on the other hand Municipality of Beit Sahour ( 13 councilors including mayor ) have a twining agreements with municipalities in : Spain , Italy , Lithuania , Romania Beit Sahour municipality implemented many projects including renovating old centre streets and building , some of these buildings (OKKAD) are used as quest houses & restaurants and for touristic services , they also renovated the wide yard in the old center which is called public market “ Sooq Al Shaeib “ , the total budget of municipality in the period 2012-2017 was 30 million $ from own budgets and outside funds . Deir Istiya Municipality (facebook)

Deir Istiya return back to the Roman era , there is old Roman village buried under the old centre of the village , old centre was built in the Mamluk era before 600 years and continued building in the Othman era before 400 years , one of the most famous building is Abo Hejli palace , streets and roads in the old centre are narrow and curved with arcs over it , successive rural and municipal councils have renovated many old buildings and paved many streets by support of ministry of tourism &antiques MTA and ministry of local government MoLG, Deir Istiya actually is one of the important touristic places in the countryside of Palestine , name of Deir Istiya is Aramaic name where Deir means „ house “ and Estiya means “ wall “ so Deir Estiya means „ house of the wall “

Deir Estia is at 7 km north west of city on a high hill of 452 m over sea level , around it there are many villages such as : Zaita , Kufl Haris , Qarawit Bani Hassan , area of Deir Istiya is 36 km² , it is the second biggest area in Palestine after , it is population 4000 persons and 10 thousands outside country , on the northern west direction you see Qana valley area of 10 Hectare , around it many villages ( from north – jeen Safot , Kafr laqef , Azzon – from west – saneria , Kafr Thilth , - from south – Qarawitbani hassan ,- from east – Ammatin , Deir Istiya ) , most the

land in Qana valley belong to farmers from Deir Istiya , it is the largest natural reserve in Palestine , 11 water springs are spilling in the valley and in winter time water from mountains pass to this valley which form a river in the valley , farmers plant the valley with citrus fruits , but farming became weak due to draining of water from the valley and from ground wells by occupation to pump it to the 6 settlements which are built on the top of the surrounding mountains , settlers trying all the time to kick out owners of the valley and steal their land , but owners are struggling them although facing difficulty in farming their land , in summer time thousands of people from all areas of Palestine visit Qana valley , really Qana valley area and Deir Istiya are very beautiful landscape which attracts people to visit it . Deir Istiya is famous in olive trees , it is the first in olive oil production in and the third in Palestine . Municipality of Deir Istiya ( 11 counsilors including mayor ) put a plan to rehabilitate town to become a touristic place on the national and international levels , they have support from MTA and MoLG and international donors to renovate all old places in the old centre , they built hotel to host visitors , also Deir Istiya have joined MBVP , mayor of Deir Istiya is the secretary of the board of directors .

Anabta Municipality www.anabta.org

Anabta like other Palestinian villages is an old village , It dates back to the ancient Semitic migrations, conquered by the Romans and settled in. There are still Roman traces of the day , name Anabta consists of two parts “ Enab “ and “ Ta” , it is Roman name means “ Village of Grapes “ other say that the name is „ Enba “ it is also Roman name means “ Grapes “ , it is clear that name of “ Anabta “ means village or place of grapes , Roman used to make wine from grapes , up to this date there are many winepresses in the rocks of Anabta mountains , around Anabta there are many Roman monuments , in the Islamic age Anabta was supply center of Zahir Baybars army for it is fortified location between mountains , to the west of Anabta lies Al Mintar mountain from which the 1936 revolution was break out ., old center of Anabta was built during Othman era . Anabta is on the main road between city and city at 9 km to the east of Tulkarm on the northern side of “ Wadi Al Sha'eer “ ( Al Shaeer valley ) which starts from mountains of Nablus and continue to the costal plain , some people call it Al Zomar valley , others call it Al Iskandaron river , Ananbta at 200 m over sea level , it is part of , it is area is 2000 Hectare , there are many villages near Anabta : Rameen , Beit Leid , Kafar Allabad , saffarin , Nour Shams refugee camp , to the west of Anabta Almintar mountain and Ektaba village .Bala‟a village in the north , it is population 14 000 persons Anabta is famous in many kinds of vegetables and trees such as irrigated vegetables in green houses , wheat , barley and beans , citrus trees , olive trees and almond trees , modern methods are used for planting and irrigating in Anabta .

There are many associations and institutions in Anabta such as : Branch of Saint George eyes hospital, cooperative agriculture association , kafr Roman association for rural development , environment association , youth council , Anabta culture & sport club , Anabta women charity ( take care about : baby incubator , family care center , sewing training centre ). Anabta municipality is the oldest town municipality in Tulkarm area since 1954 , there are 13 municipal councilors include mayor , they implemented many projects and offer good services , they take care about national folk heritage , every year Anabta celebrate Wadi Al Shaeer festival , Anabta municipality have joined MBVP and they take care about women and youth sectors in Anabta. There is special care in Anabta about education sector since long time , many famous names come out from Anabta who participated in developing society and occupied high positions in and Palestine such as : Poet Abdel Raheem Mahmood ,Dr. Marwan Kamal former president of Philadilphiys university in Jordan . Dr. Rami Al Hamdalla prime minister of Palestine state/ president of Al Najah university , Mr. Al Taeib Abdel Raheem Secretary General of the Presidency of Palestine , Mr. Ibrahim Nasar one of the Palestinian revolution leaders , Mrs. Samiha Ayyoub from Palestine national leadership ,Mr. Mazen Al Qobbaj famous media & theatre man in Jordan , Mr. Mohamad Kamal founder of Jordan television society , Mr. Abdel Salam Cana‟an former minister in Jordan , Mr. Hafez Al Hamdalla former member of the Jordan senate and others. Asira Al-Shamaliya ( Asira ash Shamaliya ) Municipality https://www.facebook.com/asira.municipality

Asira also is an ancient site , some old monuments and pottery sherds are from different ages such as : iron , late Roman , Byzantine , Muslim and medieval , in the crusader occupation estate in 11th century they called it Asine , old center of Asira was built in 15th - 18th centuries during the Ottoman era who called it “Asiret el Hatab” There are different stories about the name of Asira , Asira was famous in olive & grape trees since Roman era, so word “ Asira “ a Roman word which means squeezing olive seeds or grapes fruit which was famous in Roman days to produce olive oil and wine , others said that name of Asira is “ Asir “ also Roman word means “ difficult “ as people who lived in Asira in the past ages were facing difficulty in reaching the village due to roughness of it is territories .Asira ash Shamaliya is located 3.5 km north of Nablus. At 500-700 m over sea level overlooking to all surrounding Areas in a beautiful landscape especially in summer time where the weather is cool , area is 4000 Hectare , population 12000 persons , It is bordered by Talluza, Al Badhan, and 'Azmut to the east, Nablus to the south, Zawata, Ijnisinya, and Nisf Jubeil to the west, and Beit Imrin and Yasid to the north ,Asira is famous in planting olive trees , some trees return back to the late Roman era , more than 1000 Hectare of Asira territories are covered with olive trees , originally people of Asira are farmers depend mainly on olive trees , the olive oil of Asira is famous distinctive quality , today most people of Asira are well educated people from both gender many of them are key persons in Palestine and outside . There are many factories in Asira such as : soap factory depend on olive oil as the raw material, stone cutter , artificial stone factory , advertising material factory and olive presses .

Municipal council of Asira ( 13 councilor including mayor ) take care about renovating of old buildings ( OKKAD ) and streets in the old center of Asira , they established small museum , they support also associations and other institutions who work in field of preserving culture , Azitona band is one of the most famous folk dancing and singing bands in Palestine , there are also Al Baider band for both gender youth , Al Zinar women band for preserve heritage . One important project for youth is the skating playground to enable youth to practice this sport , they have a team who practice this sport with other teams from other countries , this team have mutual visits with and play games with team of Tokyo in Japanese , “Tokyo team “ , there is public park in Asira opened for all people especially families and kids , municipal council depend on own and outside funds to implement the planned projects .

Asira Al-Shamaliya is member in MBVP , and they have plan for developing touristic infrastructure to attract tourist and visitors .

Sabastiya Municipality (facebook)

Sabastiya is an ancient site dates back to the Stone Age and the Bronze Age, it was inhabited by many civilizations and nations : Canaanite , Samaritans ,Hellenistic , Roman , and Byzantine , there are several novels about the name of Sabastiya , the original name of the site was Shomron, the name of the king of Samaria in the site on 900 BC which means the , “ The Guard “ another novel says it is a Greece name from days of Alexander the Great means “ Venerable “ , in the Roman era Emperor Augustus (the founder and first emperor of the Roman Empire) presented the site Shomoron as a gift to King Herod the Great (king of Judea at that time) in 27 BC. He started renovating and improving his new city, and settled 6000 inhabitants in it. Herod, later and in honor of Augustus, changed the city‟s name to „Sebaste‟, Greek name of „Augustus‟. Up to date the site still has the name “ Sabastiya “ . Herod the great dedicated the great temple he built in the city to the emperor , he built also a theatre, stadium and many other public edifices. However, most of his buildings were later rebuilt in the 2nd century AD, under the rule of the Roman Emperor Septimus Severus. In the days of king Herod Antipas , prophet John the Baptist was living in Sabastiya with his parents he was a righteous and holy man , all people in the area hear and believed in his teaching made Herod feared John and protected him , Herod Antipas held the infamous banquet, to celebrate his birthday. And in which Salome danced. [Salome was the daughter of Herodia. The wife of Herod Antipas, who had previously been married to his brother Philip]., when she danced she impressed the king who swore to give her anything she asked for, that`s when she went out and asked her mother what she should ask for, to which Herodia immediately answered: “The head of John the Baptist”. Herodia had resented St. John and wanted to kill him, because he was fiercely opposed to

Herod‟s marriage to his brother‟s wife, but she could not carry out her intentions since it was Herod who feared John,. So she got her golden opportunity when Herod could not retreat after he swore in front of his dinner guests, she got the fulfilment of her demand on a silver platter , Herod put John in prison and later on he beheaded him , early Christians built a church in the place of beheading and called it “ The Church of the Head “ and built church over the tomb and the room where he was prisoner , other churches built near this place which called the Basilica , later on in days of Crusaders they built big church and when Saladin came he converted this church into a and later on in the Ottoman era a mosque is built near the tomb called prophet Yahya mosque which still exist and used “ ( Yahya is the name of John ) . many monuments from Roman and Byzantine ages still exist in Sabastiy such cemetery of the kings , from Mamluk age there is Al kayed palace which was renovated with other old buildings by municipality of Sabastiya to be as guest houses for tourists and visitors . Sabstiya is at 12 km north of Nablus city on a hill 450 m over sea level , surrounded by valley from all directions which give it very beautiful landscape and overlooks the surroundings , Sabastiya is famous in olive trees which some of it from the Roman era , apricot , almonds and citrus trees , it is population 5000 persons , there are women and youth associations , who have many activities and produce antiques and gifts for tourists and visitors , there is famous restaurant and shops of antiques and coffee & soft drinks places , Sabastiya receives every year hundreds of tourists from different countries and many local visitors , municipality by support and finance from many European societies and organizations and by help of ministry of tourism MTA and ministry of local government MoLG have renovated many old buildings and paved streets with stone bricks in the old centre around the monuments and yards , two buildings are used as motel to host tourists , Sabastiya municipality is a member of MBVP . every year municipality of Sabastiya celebrate spring festival which attract many visitors from all regions of Palestine . deputy mayor of Sabastiya is the current cashier of MBVP . Al – Zababdeh Municipality www.alzababdeh.org

Al Zababdeh is an ancient site dates back to Aramaic and Canaanite Ages word Zababdeh is Aramaic word means “ people who are famous in producing butter milk “ it was known that Zababdeh is fertile site which shepherds prefer it at those days to feed their cattle to produce milk rich with fat to produce butter which was valuable at those days . In the Roman era it is believed that Saint Mary the virgin rested in Zababdeh during her journey from Nazareth to Jerusalem to visit her aunt Alizabith , this why the Catholic church is given the name “ Visitation Church . Zababdeh was destroyed during the religious wars in the 7th century , there are mosaic flooring was floors of churches in the Catholic convent site, belong to the 3rd and 5th th Byzantine centuries , Zababdeh remained uninhibited until the end of the 17th century , where a Christian family called Duiabes came from Al Tayiba village in governorate in the beginning of the 18th century with his sheep cattle and settled in a village to the east of of Zababdeh site called Raba and after some short time he moved to Zababdeh by help of the guard of Zababdeh site Ali Al Sharqawi who was appointed in Zababdeh by a feudalism family called Al Jarar who owned Zababdeh and other 14 villages to the east of Sanoor village where they were living , the area were called " Mashareeq Al Jarar " . Zababdeh is built over the ancient buried village. There is old building from the Ottoman era called “ Bobaria which means the headquarter , the governor built Bobaria over old rooms belong to the Roman era , governor used these rooms as a prison. Zababdeh is at 12 km south east city on the main eastern road from Jenin to Nablus city and to Jordan valley , Zababdeh is a junction site to 7 surrounding village , the site is 330 m over sea level , area is 600 Hectare , population 5000 persons , 70% are Christians and the others are . Arab American university lies at 3km north east Zababdh in village Telfeet , Zababdeh become the service centre of the university where thousands of students and some dozens of employees and teacher are staying in Zababdh , The oldest school in is in Zababdeh , it was established in 1873

and now it is also the biggest school from kids garden up to the secondary stage and it is a mixed school boys and girls beside curricula they teach music , folk , foreign languages . The Palestinian Agriculture Relief Center PARC is built in Zababdeh , this centre train and advice farmers and make research beside receive and host supporting groups from Europe , there is motel in PARC with 50 beds , restaurant , halls and class rooms . People of Zababdeh are interested in education , some key persons come out of Zababdeh such as : martyr Dr. Naem Khader Diebes who was PLO and League of Arab States representative to European Union in the 80th of the 19th last century , Bishop of Anglican church in Palestine – Jordan _ Egypt and Cyprus in last 10 years of 19th century Eli Khoury , Asma Khader Diebes minister of Social Affairs and Women and later Spokeswoman for the Jordanian Government Attorney, currently a member of the Jordanian Senate , Kholoud Diebes former Minister of Tourism in the State of Palestine, Mutie Diebes director planning and projects in Palestine telecommunication co. Paltel in the period 1997- 2003 who planed and implemented Palestine national telecommunication network , he is one of the key founders of common services council for solid waste of municipalities of Jenin governorate “ Zahrat Al Finjan “ and Tubas electricity Co TEDCO , founder of network most beautiful villages of Palestine MBVP . In Zababdeh there are many associations and clubs and famous folk band for dancing which play many concerts in many countries “ Zababdeh folk bank “ , There is a twining between Zababdeh municipality and Ixelles municipality in Brussels/Belgium since 15 , also there is friendship agreement between Zababdeh and Bielifeld municipality in Germany , also groups of tourists and visitors come every year to visit Zababdeh especially in Christmas and Easter seasons . There are many women , youth , charity , society development associations and establishments , including the Palestinian bible society in north of Palest . and “ Zababdeh folk band “ who play many concerts in many European countries . Zababdeh is the center of “ world vision society “ in the north of Palestine who work also in development of society . Municipal council of Zababdeh 11 councilors including mayor , they have a plan to build and develop infrastructure including touristic plan . Berqueen ( Burqin ) Municipality www.burqin.ps

Burqin is an ancient site dating back to the Bronze, Iron and Roman Ages. This is what was revealed during excavations carried out by the population. Burqin is at 4 km northwest of the historic Dotan site. Bilama tunnel is ending at Berqueen which starts at the southern entrance of Jenin city . In Burqin the fourth oldest church which was erected over the cave where the ten lepers were reserved according to the old customs to isolate them from the people, a miracle occurred by Jesus who cure those ten lepers when he passed from Burqeen on his way from Nazareth to Jerusalem. There is water spring on the slope to the east of the church where Jesus drank and washed , and the inhabitants of Burqeen still drink from it . Name of Burqeen came from the ten lepers it was called " Barsin " Aramaic word means Lepers , later on it became Burqeen . Every year hundreds of Christian pilgrims visit Berqeen Church , on the surrounding hills of Berqeen there are some places where some former Muslim good Sheikhs were living such as Sheik Saleh and prophet Sabe‟i where people of Berqueen were visiting it in the near past time , these hills in different old ages were used to observe foreigners coming to the village to alert residents in Berqeen. Old center of Berqueen is around the church , there is also the old palace of Jarar family which called ‟Al KHOKHA “ , which is renovated by municipality of Berqeen by funds from USAID , it is used now as guest house and center for women association , meeting hall and motel . Berqueen is at 270 m over sea level and at 4 km to the west of Jenin city , where houses from both are matching in

Wadi Berqueen and Al Jabriyat venues , to the north of Berqueen is Kafr Than village , to the south martyr triangle village and city , on the east side of Berqueen is famous camp of refugees “ “ , Berqeen looks over on a beautiful landscape of Marg Ben Amer plains which spread from Nazareth city to Karmel mountain of Haifa city , by this landscape and Church of lepers Berqueen represent a touristic place in the area . Berqueen area is 4000 Hectare and population is 7000 persons most of them are Muslims and few Christian families , Berqueen area is considered one of the main agriculture areas in Jenin governorate , total agriculture area is 20 Hectare , farms of Berqueen famous in vegetables especially in green houses , wheat and other crops and olive trees . There are some associations in Berqueen such as “charity women association of Berqueen “ who are operating 5 canteens in the schools of Berqueen , youth club , women assemblies work on handicraft products such as : embroideries , domestic soap from olive oil , antiques , national clothes . In the west side of Berqueen there are Kana‟an Fair Trade Co. who packet organic agriculture foods such as Za‟atar ( thyme) , Farika( dried green wheat seeds ) , groats and soap from olive oil and bottling virgin olive oil , they export their products to many countries in the world i.e United states and Japan .They awarded several international awards for their good products , they have a center “ CORE “ to support , advice and train farmers to produce organic products . Municipal council of 11 councilors have a plan to renovate old buildings and streets in the old centre to attract more tourists , Berqueen joined MBVP and mayor of Berqueen is the deputy president of MBVP. Rural council (facebook)

Faqoua‟a is an ancient site dating back to the Canaanite age before 4000 years as old caves show , in mountains of Faqoua'a there are many caves , tombs , rocky squeezers for olive & carob & grapes which it return back to the Roman era , in mountains of Faqoua‟a there are many old cisterns in the rocks around it four ruin with 6 large caves , in the old days big battle occurred in Faqoua‟a between Hebrews leaded by Shawol and Palestinians leaded by Jaloot where Hebrews were defeated , also on Faqoua‟a land occurred the big battle between Muslims leaded by Saladin and Tatars who were defeated and accordingly stopped from continue invading Egypt , also Jesus crossed through Faqoua‟a many times in his way from Nazareth to Jerusalem . name of Faqoua‟a referred to ruin “ Faqaiqia” which is in the site with big pieces of rocks , caves and cactus trees , other say about Faqoua‟a referred to mushroom plants which grow in the site ( Canaanite name is “Foqo‟o”, others said name of Faqoua‟a came from bubbles of water which come out of water spring , bubbles in Canaanite is “ Faqaqei‟I” , Faqoua famous in water springs : Al Jawsaq , Al Modawa‟a , Al Sakhni, Al Asi , Jammaein , Al Fawwar and Al Ayein , name of Faqoua‟a in Hebrew is “ Jalboui‟‟” which means water spring which gives the same name in Canaanite . The most realistic name of Faqoua‟a came from name of village near Karak city in Jordan called “Faqou” which is inhabited by a tribe called Bani Hamida / Al Hamyida who spread to other wide places in Jordan and in site of Faqoua‟a , so first people of faqoua‟a came from this Jordanian village and they named site Faqoua‟a .

Faqoua‟a at 11 km to eastern north of Jenin city , 420m over sea level on the cross borders of 1948 , area of Faqoua‟a is 1200 Hectare and population is 5000 persons , Faqoua‟a considered high mountain site in Jenin governorate which overlook a beautiful landscape to all directions : west side to Marj Ben Amer , Karmel mountain in Haifa , villages : , Kafr Than , Al Yamoon , Seilt Harithiya , Romana, , Moqabila , Al Mazar and to western south : Jenin city , Al Jalameh , Jalboon , , Deir Gazala , Arrana and to the eastern north side to other Jalbo‟I mountains , Besan city at 8 km eastern north , from Faqoua‟a you can see also Saladin castle in Ajlon city in Jordan , Al Sheikh mountain and mountains of Nazareth

Faqoua‟a is agriculture village , famous in cactus trees where cactus of Faqoua‟a is famous with green bigger size sweet fruit and stay long time to the end of the season also Faqoua'a is famous in olive & grape trees . Faqoua‟a is one of the most famous sites in Palestine in wild iris flowers with distinctive colors such as Dark purple dark purple for black , white , purple blue and yellow , iris of Faqoua‟a is chosen to be the wild flower of Palestine , for this initiative and due to the geographical and touristic location of Faqoua‟a , the concerned authorities in the State, such as the Ministry of Tourism, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Ministry of Local Government, show particular interest and support to the village of Faqoua, where they support establishing gardens planted with iris and other flowers and other decorative trees. These gardens are a recreational park for visitors and tourists. Some Institutions interested in maintaining and saving wild and natural life visit Faqoua‟a and have implemented some small projects in this fields , Faqoua‟a rural council are active and put plan for developing Faqoua‟a in all fields specially in preserving nature and tourist attraction , they celebrate every year the spring festival within season of iris flowering , the council also support all associations in the villages , there are active women association and youth club , Faqoua‟a is a member in MBVP .

Beit Kahil Municipality https://www.facebook.com/VillageCouncilbeitkahel

Ancient site dating back to Roman era , old Roman tombs are found in Beit Kahil , some olive trees still from the roman late age ., Beit kahil was built in the 18th century of the Ottoman age, there are more than one opinion about name of Beit Kahil , some said it is the name of the first man who lived in the village his name “ kahil” who built his house in the site , word Beit in Arabic means “ house” , others said that people of this place were famous in producing eyeliner "Kohl" ,which in Arabic “ Kohol and became “ Kahil , others said that name Beit kahel is house of the man who was curing eyes of the people by Kohl ( became Kahel ) . Bei Kahil at 6 km northern west of Hebron city , 322 km from Jerusalem city , on 830 m over sea level , it is area 900 hectare and population 12000 , it is a high site give it a beautiful overlooking landscape to the Palestinian shore on the Mediterranean sea , on the west side of Beit Kahil a natural reserve of wild & forest trees which adds more beautiful landscape , this reserve considered one of the widest reserves in Palestine ( other reserves are : Wadi Qana in Deir Istiya , Al Bathan in Nablus region , Al Qarn in Beit Ommar- Hebron region , Um Al Toot – Jenin region ) , due to these natural landscapes Beit kahil is considered a touristic place which attract may people to visit it in holidays and on week end .Municipal council of Beit kahil ( 13 councilors including mayor ) have established a wide park with swimming pools and amusement places inside this park in a Safa area of Beit Kahil They put a plan to develop infrastructure and for documenting culture heritage of Beit kahil in a digital database , council support women and youth associations and clubs.

Beit Kahil is agriculture area famous in grapes and olive trees . in general is the main supply of grapes to all regions in Palestine , also there are almond trees and vegetables and crops , there are many water springs in Beit Kahil such as Al Fawar spring , also people of Beit Kahil work in trade and industry , some of them posses sheep cattle. Culture and literary activities and education have distinctive care in Beit Kahil , education have top priority , some writers and poets become famous in Beit Kahil like : poet kanaan ( Al Zohoor ) and writer & poet Apriyoush , media man Ahmad Alawni who was a former president of Hebron university , Professor Ziad Abdel Azeez Al Zohoor chief of human science in Al Damam university – Saudi Arabia , he is a big researcher and editor of many scientific papers , also professor Issa Al Jood scientific researcher in Hamad university – Qatar is the owner of a scientific research for protecting internet networks.

The Arab charity society ACS - Stakeholder http://www.hopeschoolbeitjala.com/ https://www.hopesschoolbeitjala.com/

ACS is a stakeholder member in MBVP , it is old nonprofit organization society established in 1962 , to care children of special needs and who are from disintegrated Palestinian families by teaching them in internal school and provide housing for them to restart a new life for them to depend on themselves and later on contribute in society development , this school is the “ Hope school HSCL ” one of the establishments belong to ACS , number of students reach some times 100 students from 7th – 11th stage , ACS are planning to open classes from kids garden to 12th stage , the funds is the main problem facing this plan , HSCL depend on funds from donors to operate the school , they also established poultry farm to use part of produced eggs to feed students and sell the product in the market , produced eggs have good reputation among customers , they are planning to develop this farm , school is built within territory belong to ACS located in Ras Beit Jalay area in Beit Jala city on 800 m over sea level overlooking to the western valley of Beit Jala city giving a beautiful landscape , within the territory of ACS ( 2 Hectare ) there are also restaurant , guest house , the poultry farm , big hall , playgrounds , cafeteria , shop and open garden of trees , there is also a small church , beside teaching curricula study they also teach : music , dancing , sport , acting , cultural & touristic activities and exchange : information, experience and visits with other European schools especially from cities of donors , every year in summer time during holiday , they receive and host many supporting groups from outside by hosting them in the guest house , these programs and activities actually are part of MBVP programs , this is why ACS are member in MBVP.

ACS also have a shop for selling antiques and handicraft products like olive wood carvings , embroideries and souvenirs , which provide another income . ACS have also cooperative relation with the „Palestinian Olive Press Association “ in Beit Jala who have many presses in Bethlehem governorate keeping in mind that olive oil of Beit Jala is the famous brand in Palestine. ACS is one of the associations in Beit jala , Municipality of Beit jala usually include it in the planned programs taking benefit from many twinning relation between Beit Jala city and many other cities in the world , one important project through this relation establishing grassed play ground in the territories of ACS which is one of the main playgrounds in Bethlehem governorate which is used for different youth sporting activities of HSCL and other schools and clubs in the region..

Green land for Development and Society services GLDSC – Stakeholder

GLDSC is a stakeholder member in MBVP , it is a non profit company , it have many contacts and relations with public establishments in Palestine ,main objective of GLDSC is to implement programs and activities within Jenin governorate and other regions in fields of development of society and offer services to women and youth bodies , it is licensed in mid of 2016 and started immediately work in preparing draft documents of projects concerned women and youth and in preserve folk heritage , these documents and Bill of quantities BoQ are for : establishing “ Palestine public folk band PFMB” to MBVP network from youth in villages of members , project for developing canteens of “ Berqueen women Association DCBS “ as Berqueen is a member in MBVP , project for “ women assembly in Zababdeh area for organic products WAZOP “ .

GLDSC applied these 3 projects to the American consulate in Palestine within MEPI program ( Middle east Initiative Program ) at the end of 2017 , these projects were accepted by MEPI program but it were not within the scope of the offered projects , these projects were included in the projects applied by MBVP in the program ENI CBC of the European Union for the period 2014-2020 , it was applied in January 2018 and are listed for study for approval .

During the visit of the president of international federation of most beautiful villages of the world IFMBVW and the president of the international conference of networks of most beautiful villages of Mediterranean countries MBVMB and the accompanied delegation to Palestine at the end of 2014 , the Palestine Security Forces " PSCF"

Title of Project: Developing organic products of Women Assembly in Zababdeh Area WAZAOP Organization Name: “ DOPWAZ “ Network Most Beautiful Villages of Palestine “ MBVP “/ GLDCS Beneficiary : Women Assembly in Zababdeh Area for organic products WAZAOP / Al Nazaha Non- Profit Development Company N.K.F Zababdeh-Jenin Palestine Title of Project: Developing Canteens of Berqueen & Sabastiya schools DCBS DCSS Organization Name: Network Most Beautiful Villages of Palestine “ MBVP “ /GLDCS Beneficiary : Berqueen municipality “ Berqueen Women Charity Centre BWCC Sabastiya municipality “Women Committee Youth Club WCYC” provided a bus with driver and fuel for the delegation to travel between villages of MBVP and to Ramallah , Bethlehem and Jerusalem cities for 6 days , visit cost was covered by the patron help of Palestine president Mahmod Abbas for supporting MBVP , this visit has reflected good reputation on the delegation who have seen Palestine a distinctive country for attracting tourists from the countries of the federation ( France , Italy , Belgium , Germany . Canada , Russia , Japan , Spain , Switzerland ,) after this visit MBVP have been chosen observer member in IFMBVW , GLDSC by their good relation with PSCF helped in this activity .

GLDSC are planning to play big role in the coming program of MBVP to initiate the internal tourism between villages of members of MBVP .

Projects manager of GLDSC Mr. Mutie Diebes is the representative of GLDSC in MBVP and he was elected by members of MBVP as chief of the board of directors for the period 21/7/2017-21/7/2019 .

Department of life science – Science and Technology faculty/ AlQuds university DLSC – Stakeholder https://www.alquds.edu/ar/faculty-of-science-technology-ar/department-of-biology-ar.html

Andalusia Botanic Garden at Al-Quds University

DLSC is a stakeholder member of MBVP , one important field in their programs is preserve nature , wild life , environment and Biodiversity in Palestine , DLSC care in medical and public herbs and spices , they are cooperating with an association work in the same field and packet and bottle touristic products such as herbs organic products of soap , virgin olive oil and organic crops . Staff of DLSC are ready to offer cooperation and consultation with local authorities LA for sustainable development , DLSC priority is to serve LA and Palestinian community through advise and strategic planning especially in rural areas . Goals and objectives of this department are within scope work of MBVP. MBVP by their international relations can provide funds for DLSC and participate them in the partnership projects of MBVP with other international organizations and societies and universities , on the other hand DLSC are doing researches in their scope of work which can be reflected positively on work and plans of the municipalities members of MBVP .

DLSC have established “ Palestine forum for preserving nature in Palestine “ with faculties of science in universities of Al Najah – Nablus and the Arab American university-Jenin which have the same objectives , MBVP are looking to work and cooperate with this forum Objective of this scientific forum is protection of nature in Palestine , it is the first of its kind in Palestine, with the participation of six Palestinian universities, under the leadership of Al Quds University and in cooperation with the Wildlife Society.

The forum aims to increase the environmental awareness of the community, especially students at the university and school level, and to carry out activities that preserve the environment and biodiversity. The Forum will be licensed soon and registered as a civil society , MBVP are looking to join this forum if they wish .