Several archaeological sites around the city date to the
Iron Age II, as well as the
Persian,
Hellenistic,
Roman, early
Muslim and the Middle Ages.
Mamluk Sultanate In 1265 C.E. (663 H.), after
Baybars won the territory from the
Crusaders, the revenues from Umm al-Fahm were given to the
Mamluk ''na'ib al-saltana'' (
viceroy) of
Syria, Jamal al-Din al-Najibi.
Ottoman Empire In 1517 the village was incorporated into the
Ottoman Empire with the rest of Palestine. During the
16th and
17th centuries, Umm al-Fahm belonged to the
Turabay Emirate (1517-1683), which encompassed also the
Jezreel Valley,
Haifa,
Jenin,
Beit She'an Valley, northern
Jabal Nablus,
Bilad al-Ruha/Ramot Menashe, and the northern part of the
Sharon plain. In 1596 Umm al-Fahm appeared in the
tax registers as being in the
Nahiya of Sara of the
Liwa of
Lajjun. It had a population of 24 households, all Muslim, and paid taxes on wheat, barley, summer crops,
olive trees, occasional revenues, goats and/or beehives, and a press for olive oil or grape syrup. Describing the social fabric of the villages, scholars noted thatUmm al-Fahm’s rise to regional ascendancy began with the migration and settlement of the
Hebron Aghbariyya, Mahamid, and Jabarin clans from
Bayt Jibrin during the late 18th –early 19th centuries. This population movement formed part of a significant wave of
migration from Jabal al-Khalil (
Hebron highlands) to the area of
Jenin [...] The Mahajina, came to Umm al-Fahm from [the]
Galilee, completing the village’s fundamental partition into four quarters (hārāt/hamāyil), each with their own headmen,
guesthouses and allotments in the village’s
common land (mushā‘). The Khalīlīs brought with them a new, ‘bunched settlement pattern’, involving a main settlement surrounded by satellite villages, hamlets, and
farms for grazing and
agriculture next to water sources and ancient
ruins. In 1838,
Edward Robinson recorded Umm al-Fahm on his travels, and again in 1852, when he noted that there were 20 to 30 Christian families in the village. The Christian families of Umm al-Fahm owned large tracts of land in Umm al-Fahm as well as watermills at
Lajjun. In 1870/1871 (1288
AH), an Ottoman census listed the village in the
nahiya of Shafa al-Gharby. In 1872,
Charles Tyrwhitt-Drake noted that Umm al-Fahm was "divided into four-quarters, El Jebarin, El Mahamin, El Maj’ahineh, and El Akbar’iyeh, each of which has its own sheikh." In 1883, the
Palestine Exploration Fund's
Survey of Western Palestine described Umm al-Fahm as having around 500 inhabitants, of which some 80 people were Christians. The place was well-built of stone, and the villagers were described as being very rich in cattle, goats and horses. It was the most important place in the area besides
Jenin. The village was divided into four-quarters,
el Jebarin,
el Mahamin,
el Mejahineh, and
el Akbariyeh, each quarter having its own
sheikh. A
maqam for a Sheikh Iskander was noted on a hill above;
Conder and
Kitchener wrote that the village's
Qadi said Sheikh Iskander was a king of the
children of Israel, while others saw it as a maqam dedicated for
Alexander the Great.
British Mandate In the
1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the
British Mandate authorities, Umm al-Fahm had a population of 2,191; 2,183 Muslims and 8 Christians, increasing in the
1931 census to 2443; 2427 Muslim and 16 Christians, in 488 inhabited houses. Umm al-Fahm was the birthplace of Palestinian Arab rebel leader
Yusuf Hamdan. He died there in 1939 during a firefight with British troops. In the
1945 Village Statistics the population was estimated together with other Arab villages from the Wadi Ara region, the first two of which are today part of Umm al-Fahm, namely
Aqqada,
Ein Ibrahim,
Khirbat el Buweishat,
al-Murtafi'a,
Lajjun,
Mu'awiya,
Musheirifa and
Musmus. The total population was 5,490; 5,430 Muslims and 60 Christians, with 77,242
dunams of land, according to the official land and population survey. 4332 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 44,586 dunams for cereals, while 128 dunams were built-up (urban) land. In addition to agriculture, residents practiced
animal husbandry which formed was an important source of income for the town. In 1943, they owned 574 heads of
cattle, 318
sheep over a year old, 2081
goats over a year old, 25
camels, 94
horses, 10
mules, 316
donkeys, 5565
fowls, and 1060
pigeons.
Israel In 1948, there were 4,500 inhabitants, mostly farmers, in the Umm al-Fahm area. After the
1948 Arab–Israeli War, the
Lausanne Conference of 1949 awarded the entire
Little Triangle to Israel, which wanted it for security purposes. On 20 May 1949, the city's leader signed an oath of allegiance to the State of Israel. Following its absorption into Israel, the town's population grew rapidly
(see box). By 1960, Umm al-Fahm was given
local council status by the Israeli government. Between 1965 and 1985, it was governed by elected councils. In 1985, Umm al-Fahm was granted official
city status. In October 2010, a group of 30 right-wing activists led by supporters of the banned
Kach movement clashed with protesters in Umm al-Fahm. Many policemen and protesters were injured in the fray. ==Local government==