Beitin

Template:Infobox Palestinian Authority muni Beitin (Template:Lang-ar, Beitîn) is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the central West Bank, located Template:Km to mi northeast of Ramallah along the Ramallah-Nablus road. It is surrounded by the Palestinian towns of Dura al-Qar' and Ein Yabrud to the north, Rammun to the east, Deir Dibwan to the southeast and al-Bireh to the southwest, as well as by the Israeli settlement of Beit El to the northwest. There are several springs around Beitin and the town is known for its olives, almond, fig and plum groves.

History

Human settlement at the site of Beitin dates back to the Chalcolithic period. Archaeological excavations in 1950 uncovered flint tools, pottery and animal bones from that time. In the early Bronze Age, normally nomadic populations settled in the area. Canaanite tombs, houses and olive presses were discovered to the north and southeast of the village. In the Middle Bronze Age, it was a fortified Canaanite town. It is believed that the town was named Luz at this time.

Beitin has been identified as the biblical Bethel. According to tradition, Jacob encountered God in Luz and renamed the town Bethel or "house of God". However, based on a reading of Josephus, where he writes vayetsai mebeit-el luzah ("from Bethel to Luz"), Luz and Bethel may have been two different places. Bethel first belonged to the Tribe of Benjamin and was later conquered by the Tribe of Ephraim. Saint Jerome said it "lay twelve Roman miles from Jerusalem, on the right or east of the road leading to Neapolis."

In Byzantine times, Bethel held annual festivals on October 18. The population was Eastern Orthodox Christian and monks from the Sinai Peninsula were known to have visited, in particular Zosimas of Palestine. The church fell into ruin after the Islamic Rashidun army conquered the area, but was rebuilt by the Crusaders in the 1100s. After the Crusaders were defeated by the Muslim Ayyubid forces of Saladin in 1187, the church was destroyed and the village was abandoned. In the early 19th century, Bedouins from Jordan migrated to the site, inhabited it, built a mosque near the church's old site, and renamed it Beitin.

Landmarks

The ruins of the Byzantine church are known in Arabic as al-Muqater or Khirbet al-Kenise ("Ruins of the Church"). There is another ruin called al-Burj Beitin ("the Tower of Beitin") or simply al-Burj in western Beitin. It is believed to have been built on the site where Abraham built an altar. Burj Beitin consisted of dilapidated stones of what used to be a fortress and a Greek church. Al-Burj was used as a watch tower by the Crusaders.

Demographics

In a 1922 British Mandate census, Beitin had a population of 446, rising to 566 in 1931. In a 1945 land and population survey by Sami Hadawi, Beitin had 690 inhabitants. In 1997, Palestinian refugees accounted for exactly 30% of the population which was 1,510 at the time.

According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), Beitin had a population of over 3,050 inhabitants in mid-year 2006. The 2007 PCBS census revealed a considerably lesser population of 2,143, of which 1,128 were males and 1,015 were females. There were 717 housing units and the average household size was 4.9 family members.