Nalin Surie, Indian High Commissioner (4662715377) (cropped)

Ni'lin ( ar, نعلين) is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the central West Bank, located west of Ramallah. Ni'lin is about east of the 1949 Armistice Line (Green Line) bordered by Deir Qaddis, the Israeli settlements of Nili and Na'ale to the northeast, the village of al-Midya and Modi'in Illit (Kiryat Sefer) settlement bloc are to the south, Budrus (4 km) and Qibya (5 km) villages are located to the northwest. The town's total land area consists of approximately 15,000 dunams of which 660 is urban. Under the Oslo II agreement, 93% of town lands has been classed as ' Area C'.Ni’lin Town (Fact Sheet)
ARIJ, pp. 16-17

Most of the town's inhabitants rely on agriculture for income and prior to the outbreak of the Second Intifada, many had jobs in construction in Israel. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of approximately 4,750 inhabitants in mid-year 2006.

Situated 262 meters (860 feet) above sea level, Ni'lin has mild winters and hot, dry summers with temperatures averaging 32 °C (88 °F) during the day.

History

Potsherds have been found dating back to the late Iron Age (8th–7th century B.C.E.), and the Hellenistic, Byzantine, Crusader/Ayyubid, Mamluk, and early Ottoman periods.

A person named ''Isaac de Naelein'' is mentioned in a Crusader text of the year 1167 in relation to nearby Casale St. Maria ( Aboud).

Ottoman era

In 1517, Ni'lin was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire with the rest of Palestine, and in 1596 it appeared in the tax registers as being in the '' Nahiya'' of Ramla of the ''Liwa'' of Gaza. It had a population of 72 households, all Muslims. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, fruit trees, goats, and/or beehives, and a press for olives or grapes, in addition to occasional revenues; a total of 3,500 akçe. All of the revenue went to a Waqf.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 155

In 1838, it was noted as a Muslim village (called ''Na'lin'') in the ''Ibn Humar'' area in the District of Er-Ramleh.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p
121
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An Ottoman village list of about 1870 showed that Ni'lin had 156 houses and a population of 493, though the population count included only men. It was described as bordering Deir Qaddis.

In 1882, the PEF's '' Survey of Western Palestine'' described Ni'lin (called ''N'alin'') as a "large village on high ground, surrounded by olives, and supplied by cisterns."

On 28 December 1917, during World War I, the village was captured by the British from Ottoman forces. The British held the line from here eastwards to Beitin and westwards to the coast, north of Jaffa.

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, the village, (named ''Na'lin''), had a population of 1,160 inhabitants, all Muslims, while in the 1931 census the population of Ni'lin was 1249 (one Christian and the rest Muslim), in 299 inhabited houses.Mills, 1932, p
22
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In the 1945 statistics the population of Ni'lin was 1,420, all Muslims, who owned 15,875 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 5,921 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 3,053 dunams were used for cereals, while 29 dunams were built-up (urban) land.

File:Ni'lin 1944.jpg, Ni'lin 1944 1:20,000
File:Deir Abu Mash'al 1945.jpg, Ni'lin 1945 1:250,000

Jordanian era

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

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