Al Bireh

Al-Bireh, al-Birah, or el-Bira ( ar, البيرة; also known historically as Castrum Mahomeria, Magna Mahomeria, Mahomeria Major, Birra, or Beirothah) is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank, north of Jerusalem. It is the capital of the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate of the State of Palestine. It is situated on the central ridge running through the West Bank and is above sea level, covering an area of . Al-Bireh is under the administration of the Palestinian National Authority (as part of Area A).

Because of its location Al-Bireh served as an economic crossroad between the north and south, along the caravan route between Jerusalem and Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the city had a population of approximately 39,202 in the 2007 census.2007 PCBS Census
Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. p. 114.

History

Edward Robinson in the early 19th century thought Al-Bireh was the biblical Be'eroth,Robinson and Smith, 1841, pp
130
- 133 but modern scholars believe Be'eroth was located at Kh. el-Burj near Beit Iksa.Finkelstein et al., 1997, p. 510

Claude Reignier Conder and others identified it with Beirothah of the Samaritan chronicles.

The Crusaders captured and named the town Birra. It was also called Castrum Mahomeria, Magna Mahomeria or Mahomeria Major.Pringle, 1993, pp
161
- 165 It was one of 21 villages given by King Godfrey as a fief to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p
11
/ref> In 1114, the gift was re-confirmed by Baldwin I of Jerusalem.

In 1156, 92 people from ''Mahomeria'' pledged their allegiance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and a further 50 names were added in the next three decades. Hence, it has been estimated that the total Frankish population at this time was 500–700.

The Crusaders built a castle,Pringle, 1997, p.
35
/ref> church and hospice there.Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, pp.
88
89Pringle, 2009, pp
259
- 266 The latter two buildings were built by the Knights Templar in 1146 and belonged to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Ayyubids under Saladin drove away the Crusaders from Birra when they reconquered interior Palestine after the Battle of Hattin in 1187, and completely demolished the town. Yaqut al-Hamawi mentions seeing the ruins a few times during his travels in the area. Nearing the end of Ayyubid rule, in 1280, the modern town of al-Bireh was an inhabited village. The Ayyubids built a mosque in the town dedicated to Umar ibn al-Khattab adjacent to the church ruins.Sharon, 1999, pp
236
239

Potsherds from the Crusader/Ayyubid era have been found.

Ottoman era

Al-Bireh, like the rest of Palestine, was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, and in the census of 1596 the village, called Bira al-Kubra, was a part of the ''nahiya'' ("subdistrict") of Al-Quds which was under the administration of the '' liwa'' ("district") of Al-Quds. It had a population of 45 households, all Muslim, and paid taxes on wheat, barley, olive trees, fruit trees, occasional revenues, beehives and/or goats; a total of 4,570 akçe. Half of the revenue went to a waqf.

In the spring of 1697, Henry Maundrell noted at Al Bireh, which he called ''Beer'', the remains of a Church, which he wrote was built by Empress Helena.Maundrell, 1703, p
63
March 25, 1697, cited in Wilson, c1881, vol 1, p
218
/ref>

After the 1834 Arab revolt in Palestine, the Ottoman authorities conscripted many men from Al-Bireh as soldiers. In 1838, when Robinson visited, 60 had been taken away to be soldiers, out of a total population of 700. Robinson noted it as a Muslim village, ''el-Bireh'', located in the area immediately north of Jerusalem.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol. 3, 2nd appendix, p
122
/ref>

When French explorer Victor Guérin visited the village in 1863, he found it to have 800 inhabitants.

Socin, citing an official Ottoman village list compiled around 1870, noted that Al-Bireh had a population of 399 Muslims in 142 houses, and 20 "Greeks" in 5 houses, though that population count included only men. It was further noted that the name meant "The cistern". Hartmann found that Al-Bireh had 142 houses.

In 1883, the PEF's ''Survey of Western Palestine'' (SWP) described Bireh as a good-sized village, with "fairly well built" houses.

In 1896 the population of Bireh was estimated to be about 1,080 persons.

Until 1917, the city served as a political and administrative center for the Ottoman Empire.

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, ''Al-Bireh'' had a population of 1,479; 1,407 Muslims, and 72 Christians,Barron, 1923, p
16
/ref> where the Christians were 61 Orthodox, 3 Roman Catholics and 8 "other".Barron, 1923, Table XIV, p
45
/ref> The population had increased in the 1931 census to 2,292; 2,044 Muslim and 248 Christians, in 541 houses.Mills, 1932, p
48
/ref>

In the 1945 statistics, the town's residents numbered 2,920; of which 280 were Christians and 2,640 Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p
26
/ref> while urban Bireh had 967 dunams of land, and rural Bireh 22,045 dunams, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 5,162 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 11,226 used for cereals, while 759 dunams were built-up (urban) land.

Jordanian era

In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and the 1949 Armistice Agreements

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