Umm Kalkha was established during the British Mandate era by the
Nashashibi family. Its workers, settling in an area of orchards, came mostly from places near modern
Rehovot, including
Zarnuqa and
al-Qubayba.[6]
Ottoman period
In 1838, Um Kelkha was noted as a place "in ruins or deserted."[7]
In the
1945 statistics the population was 60, all Muslims,[2] while the total land area was 1,405
dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[3] Of this, 21
dunums of land were used for citrus and bananas, 93 dunums were plantations or irrigated land, 1,119 were for cereals, [11] while a total of 63 dunams were classified as non-cultivable areas.[12]
1948, aftermath
The Israeli settlement of
Yesodot was established on Umm Khalkha land.[4][5]
^Grossman, D. (1986). "Oscillations in the Rural Settlement of Samaria and Judaea in the Ottoman Period". in Shomron studies. Dar, S., Safrai, S., (eds). Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House. p. 379
^Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p.
119