Ajjul is a Palestinian village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the northern West Bank, located north of Ramallah. There are two archaeological sites or khirbets to the east of the village. One of the khirbets is dedicated to a former resident of Ajjul, Sheikh Abdul. Ajjul is governed by a village council of three members.
Ajjul is a village on an ancient site. Potsherds from the Iron Age, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman/Byzantine, Crusader/Ayyubid, Mamluk and early Ottoman period have also been found. Rock-cut tombs have been found, and ancient architectural fragments have been reused in a mosque.
The village was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of Palestine, and in 1596 it appeared in the tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Quds of the Liwa of Quds. It had a population of 79 households, all Muslim. They paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on agricultural products, which included wheat, barley, summer crops, vineyards and fruit trees, olives, goats and/or beehives; a total of 8,745 akçe. Half of the revenue went to a Waqf. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Ajjul was controlled by the Bani Zeid tribe. In 1838 it was noted as a Muslim village in the Beni Zeidadministrative region. In 1870 Victor Guérin passed by the village, which he called A'djoul, and estimated it to have about 300 inhabitants. Around Ajjul he found gigantic fig and carob-trees, besides pomegranates, mulberry and apricot-trees. An official Ottoman village list from about the same year showed that Ajjul had 79 houses and a population of 250, though the population count included men, only. In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Ajul as "A village of moderate size, with a well. It is on high ground, with olives round it, and ancient tombs. An ancient road leads towards it on the south." In 1896 the population of 'Adschul was estimated to be about 468 persons.
British Mandate
In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Ajjul had a population of 202, all Muslim. By the time of the 1931 census, Ajjul had 79 occupied houses and a population of 292, still all Muslim. In the 1945 statistics, the population was 350 Muslims, and the total land area was 6,639 dunams, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 3,507 were allocated for plantations and irrigable land, 863 for cereals, while 14 dunams were classified as built-up areas.
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Ajjul had a population of 1,450 inhabitants in mid-year 2006. In a 1997 PCBS census, only 4.2% of Ajjul's population — which was 1,026 — were Palestinian refugees. The largest age group in the village were infants to 14-year olds, making up 44.2% of the population. About 25.3% of the population is between the ages of 15 and 29, 24.2% between 30 and 64 and residents 65 or older represent 6.3% of the population. There were slightly more males than females in Ajjul's gender make-up. In the 2007 PCBS census, the figures of 'Ajjul's population showed a smaller population of 1,237 people, of which 601 were males and 636 were females.
Infrastructure
Ajjul contains a clinic that is primarily involved in blood testing. Most of the residents receive medical help from the Palestinian Red Crescent stationed in nearby Sinjil. The nearest hospital is in Ramallah. Two mosques are located in Ajjul: a modern one and an older renovated one. There is a mixed-gender secondary school in the village, in which 400 students are enrolled. Students attend science and literature classes at the Prince Hassan School in Bir Zeit. Ajjul has about 50 college and university students. There is no postal service in the village.
