Beit Ur al-Tahta (, lit. "Lower house of straw") is a

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

village located in the central

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

, in the

Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governorate The Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate () is one of 16 governorates of Palestine. It covers a large part of the central West Bank, on the northern border of the Jerusalem Governorate. Its district capital or ''muhfaza'' (seat) is the city of ...

of the

State of Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

. According to the

Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS; ) is the official statistical institution of Palestine. Its main task is to provide credible statistical figures at the national and international levels. It is a state institution that provid ...

, Beit Ur at-Tahta had a population of 5,040 inhabitants in 2017.

Location and geography

Beit 'Ur at Tahta is located west of

Ramallah Ramallah ( , ; ) is a Palestinians, Palestinian city in the central West Bank, that serves as the administrative capital of the State of Palestine. It is situated on the Judaean Mountains, north of Jerusalem, at an average elevation of abov ...

. It is bordered by Beit Ur al Fauqa to the east,

Deir Ibzi Deir Ibzi () is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, located west of Ramallah in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 2,590 inhabitants in 2017. ...

to the east and north,

Saffa The Schweizerische Ausstellung für Frauenarbeit (SAFFA), , was an exhibition that took place in Bern in 1928 and in Zurich in 1958. SAFFA was organized by the Bund Schweizerischer Frauenvereine (BFS, the Federation of Swiss Women's Associations), t ...

and

Beit Sira Beit Sira () is a Palestinian people, Palestinian village in the central West Bank, located 22 kilometers west of Ramallah and is a part of the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate. The village is situated along the Green Line (Israel), Green Line. D ...

to the west, and

Kharbatha al Misbah Kharbatha al-Misbah () is a Palestinian town in the central West Bank, located west of Ramallah in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 6,366 in 2017. It h ...

to the south. The old center of Beit Ur al-Tahta is located in the southern part of the village, while the northern part is marked by wide terraces and is the site of several of the village's archaeological pieces. The total area of the village is 5,653

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; ; ; ), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area analogous in role (but not equal) to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amo ...

s, of which 773 dunams were built-up areas.Beit ‘Ur at Tahta Village Profile
/ref>

History

Ancient and classical periods

Beit Ur al-Tahta is situated on an ancient tell, which has been identified as the site of Lower

Bethoron Bethoron (; ), also Beth-Horon, were two neighboring towns in ancient Israel, situated on the Gibeon–Aijalon road. They served as strategic points along the road, guarding the "ascent of Bethoron". While the Hebrew Bible sometimes distinguishes ...

. The modern Arabic name

preserves Fruit preserves are preparations of fruits whose main preserving agent is sugar and sometimes acid, often stored in glass jars and used as a condiment or spread. There are many varieties of fruit preserves globally, distinguished by the meth ...

part of the

biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...

name for the village, believed to be the namesake of the

Canaanite deity Canaanite religion or Syro-Canaanite religions refers to the myths, cults and ritual practices of people in the Levant during roughly the first three millennia BC. Canaanite religions were polytheistic and in some cases monolatristic. They we ...

Horon Horon () is a group of traditional folk dances from the Eastern Black Sea Region in Turkey. Name Etymology The term ''horon'' derives from Greek '' choros'' (, see chorus), which means "dance." The earliest instance of its usage in a Turkic l ...

. Archaeological findings indicate that Lower Bethoron was established before Upper Bethoron (

Beit Ur al-Foqa Beit Ur al-Fauqa () is a Palestinian village located in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate of the State of Palestine, in the northern West Bank, west of Ramallah and southeast of Beit Ur al-Tahta. Beit 'Ur al-Fauqa is identified with the anc ...

);

potsherd This page is a glossary of archaeology, the study of the human past from material remains. A B C D E F ...

s found in Beit Ur al-Fauqa date from the

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

onward, while potsherds from the lower town date from the

Late Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

. In 66 CE, during the initial stages of the

Great Jewish Revolt Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" * Artel Great (bo ...

Cestius Gallus Gaius Cestius Gallus (d. 67 AD) was a Roman senator and general who was active during the Principate. He was suffect consul for the second '' nundinium'' of the year 42 as the colleague of Gaius Caecina Largus. Gallus was the son of Gaius Cestius ...

was ambushed and defeated by rebels at this location. The village has unearthed a variety of archaeological findings from antiquity. A

Mandatory Mandate most often refers to: * League of Nations mandates, quasi-colonial territories established under Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, 28 June 1919 * Mandate (politics), the power granted by an electorate Mandate may also r ...

-period document mentions four ossuaries that were found in a tomb, two embellished with rosettes. Other noteworthy archaeological finds include an Iron Age

olive press Olive oil extraction is the process of extracting the olive oil present in olive drupes. Olive oil is produced in the mesocarp cells, and stored in a particular type of vacuole called a lipo vacuole, i.e., every cell contains a tiny oliv ...

and a burial cave from the Roman period. In January 2001, a burial cave was discovered on the southern outskirts of the village. The cave consisted of two chambers and an arched doorway. Artifacts inside the cave included several pottery fragments, a cooking pot, a bowl and goblet dating to the late

Second Temple period The Second Temple period or post-exilic period in Jewish history denotes the approximately 600 years (516 BCE – 70 CE) during which the Second Temple stood in the city of Jerusalem. It began with the return to Zion and subsequent reconstructio ...

(1st century BCE–1st century CE).

Byzantine period

To the west of the village is the ruins of a chapel, apparently from the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

period, and ceramics from the same period have also been found. The village also yielded

acanthus Acanthus (: acanthus, rarely acanthuses in English, or acanthi in Latin), its feminine form acantha (plural: acanthae), the Latinised form of the ancient Greek word acanthos or akanthos, or the prefix acantho-, may refer to: Biology *Acanthus ...

capitals, traces of a

mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

floor, and architectural fragments. Capitals, bases, and a marble

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

were discovered in ''er-Ras,'' situated east of the village. A fragment of a marble

sarcophagus A sarcophagus (: sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a coffin, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek language, Greek wikt:σάρξ, σάρξ ...

, featuring

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

inscriptions (''...of ...asia ...''; ''... son of Andr...'') was found among the ruins of a Christian church, in the vicinity of a new mosque.

Crusader period

During the Crusader period, the place was mentioned in the 12th century as a

fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

of the

Holy Sepulchre The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also known as the Church of the Resurrection, is a fourth-century church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. The church is the seat of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Some ...

. While some scholars associate Beit Ur al-Tahta with ''Vetus Betor'' of the Crusader era, others argue for its location in Beit Ur al-Fauqa.

Ottoman period

In 1596 the village appeared in Ottoman tax registers under the name of ''Bayt 'Ur as-Sufla'' and was part of the ''

Nahiya A nāḥiyah ( , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiyeh, nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level divisi ...

'' ("Subdistrict") of Quds of the '' Liwa'' ("District") of

Quds Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the oldest cities in the world, and is considered holy to the three major Abrahamic religions—Juda ...

. It had a population of 20

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

households who paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on various agricultural products, including wheat, barley, olives, goats and/or beehives; a total of 3,700

akçe The ''akçe'' or ''akça'' (anglicized as ''akche'', ''akcheh'' or ''aqcha''; ; , , in Europe known as '' asper'') was a silver coin mainly known for being the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. It was also used in other states includi ...

. In 1838 it was noted as a Muslim village, located in the ''Beni Malik'' area, west of Jerusalem.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p
124
/ref> A 19th-century traveler visiting the town found the remains of ancient foundations, rock-cut cisterns and a tomb that was said to have contained treasures. Father P.M. Séjourné, revisiting the site, noticed the ruins of a large church: "The mosaic pavement of an important church located northeast of the village has disappeared, at least for the moment, under a watermelon field. The scattered spoils of the Christian building have enriched the neighbouring modern mosque and many hovels nearby. Fragments of a graceful frieze,

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

s with Corinthian

carved in white marble, columns and dressed stones lie unused along the roads." Another researcher,

Victor Guérin Victor Guérin (; 15 September 1821 – 21 September 1890) was a French people, French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included ...

, saw two columns from the church inside the local mosque. Based on these finds, it was concluded that the village was once Christian, and had a large three-

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

church. An official Ottoman village list from about 1870 showed that ''Bet Ur et-Tatha'' had 35 houses and a population of 185, though it only counted the men. In 1883, the PEF's ''

Survey of Western Palestine The PEF Survey of Palestine was a series of surveys carried out by the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) between 1872 and 1877 for the completed Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) and in 1880 for the soon abandoned Survey of Eastern Palestine. The ...

'' described Beit 'Ur et Tahta as "A village of moderate size on a low ridge with wells to the west. In the middle of the village is the sacred place of ''Neby 'Or'', with a palm tree in the courtyard: near it is a well in the street.Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p
17
/ref>

British Mandate period

In the

1922 census of Palestine The 1922 census of Palestine was the first census carried out by the authorities of the British Mandate of Palestine, on 23 October 1922. The reported population was 757,182, including the military and persons of foreign nationality. The divis ...

, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Beit Ur al-Tahta had a population of 470, all Muslims, while at the 1931 census, Beit 'Ur al-Tahta had 117 occupied houses and a population of 611, still all Muslim.Mills, 1932, p
47
In the 1945 statistics the population was 710, all Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p
26
/ref> while the total land area was 4,619

s, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 2,045 were allocated for plantations and irrigable land, 1,780 for cereals, while 41 dunams were classified as built-up (urban) areas. File:el Misbah 1944.jpg, Beit Ur al-Tahta 1944 1:20,000 from 1919 survey File:Burj 1945.jpg, Beit Ur al-Tahta 1945 1:250,000 (bottom right quadrant)

Jordanian period

In the wake of the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, also known as the First Arab–Israeli War, followed the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, civil war in Mandatory Palestine as the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. The civil war becam ...

, and after the

1949 Armistice Agreements The 1949 Armistice Agreements were signed between Israel and Egypt,Jordanian rule. In 1961, the population was 1,198 persons. Beit Ur al-Tahta1

Post-1967

Since the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

in 1967, Beit Ur al-Tahta has been under

Israeli occupation Israel has occupied the Golan Heights of Syria and the Palestinian territories since the Six-Day War of 1967. It has previously occupied the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt and southern Lebanon as well. Prior to 1967, control of the Palestinian terr ...

. The population in the 1967 census conducted by the Israeli authorities was of 920, of whom 60 originated from the Israeli territory. In the 1980s and 1990s, lands belonging to Beit Ur al-Tahta were confiscated by the

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i government to build Highway 443 along the Pass of Bethoron. A petition challenging the move submitted to the

Supreme Court of Israel The Supreme Court of Israel (, Hebrew acronym Bagatz; ) is the Supreme court, highest court in Israel. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all other courts, and in some cases original jurisdiction. The Supreme Court consists of 15 jud ...

in September 1983 was rejected by Justice

Aharon Barak Aharon Barak (; born 16 September 1936) is an Israeli lawyer and jurist who served as President of the Supreme Court of Israel from 1995 to 2006. Prior to this, Barak served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Israel from 1978 to 1995, and bef ...

who ruled that under

international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...

, a military government have the right to infringe private property if a number of conditions are fulfilled, stating that "The step is taken for the benefit of the local population". Highway 443 initially served as a main approach road linking the 25,000 inhabitants of six villages to each other's and to

. After the outbreak of the

Second Intifada The Second Intifada (; ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, was a major uprising by Palestinians against Israel and its Israeli-occupied territories, occupation from 2000. Starting as a civilian uprising in Jerusalem and October 2000 prot ...

, the

Israeli military The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, an ...

prevented Palestinian use of the road and blocked some parts of it without a legal order, and the construction of the

Israeli West Bank barrier The West Bank barrier, West Bank wall or the West Bank separation barrier, is a separation barrier built by Israel along the Green Line (Israel), Green Line and inside parts of the West Bank. Israel describes the wall as a necessary securi ...

closed off access to the old road, which lengthened the journey. In 2007, the

Israeli High Court of Justice The Supreme Court of Israel (, Hebrew acronym Bagatz; ) is the highest court in Israel. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all other courts, and in some cases original jurisdiction. The Supreme Court consists of 15 judges appointed ...

ordered the state of Israel to explain why the road has been blocked for seven years without a legal order and why Palestinians are prevented from using it. After the 1995 accords, 36.7% of village land was classified as Area B land, and the remaining 63.3% as

Area C Area C (; ) is the fully Israeli-controlled territory in the West Bank, defined as the whole area outside the Palestinian enclaves (Areas A and B). Area C constitutes about 61 percent of the West Bank territory, containing most Israeli settle ...

. Israel has confiscated land from the village in order to construct the

Israeli settlement Israeli settlements, also called Israeli colonies, are the civilian communities built by Israel throughout the Israeli-occupied territories. They are populated by Israeli citizens, almost exclusively of Israeli Jews, Jewish identity or ethni ...

Beit Horon Beit Horon () is a communal Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Bordering Route 443 between Modi'in and Jerusalem, the biblical pass of Beit Horon (Joshua 10:10), after which it is named, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Binyamin Reg ...

In October 2009, infrastructure improvements were completed in Beit Ur al-Tahta that included improved roads and street lighting. The project was funded by

American Charities for Palestine American Charities for Palestine (ACP) is a charitable 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC that supports the development of Palestine's education and health sectors. History American Charities for Palestine was established ...

, the

United States Agency for International Development The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. Established in 1961 and reorganized in 1998 ...

(USAID) and the

Sheikh Mohammed Shami Foundation Sheikh ( , , , , ''shuyūkh'' ) is an honorific title in the Arabic language, literally meaning " elder". It commonly designates a tribal chief or a Muslim scholar. Though this title generally refers to men, there are also a small number of ...

. The total cost was $400,000. In September 2021, a Palestinian gardener was shot dead near the village when he apparently lit up a cigarette near a group of

Kfir Brigade The 900th "Kfir" Brigade (, ''lit.'' "Lion Cub Brigade"), is the youngest and largest infantry brigade of the Israel Defense Forces. It is subordinate to the 99th "Flash" Infantry Division (''Reserve'') of Israel's Central Regional Command. T ...

soldiers sitting nearby in ambush for potential Molotov bomb throwers.

Holy Sites

Shrine of Nebī 'Ur

Nebī 'Ur is a shrine and tomb located in Beit 'Ur al-Tahta. Since 1958, when a mosque was erected on the site, the tomb has been housed in its courtyard but is devoid of a headstone. The women of the village used to come to the site to pray for rain. When a baby was unwell, it was customary to bathe the mother and son for seven days while adding seven stones from the tomb to the water. The site is used for prayer and

Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

rituals that include musical instruments, for which a storage room was constructed. Since Nebī 'Ur is unknown in Muslim tradition, it suggested that he be defined as a local saint who was given the village's name along with the epithet Nebī (meaning "

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divinity, divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings ...

" in Arabic) in order to elevate the village's status by associating it with a figure of religious significance.

Khirbet Hallaba

Close to the village lies the large ruin of ''Khirbet Hallaba'', situated atop a hill 411 meters high and its surrounding foothills. There were mostly Roman and Byzantine potsherds found, along with a smaller number of Hellenistic, early Islamic, and medieval sherds as well. The site was also surveyed by

Finkelstein Finkelstein ( or , ) is a German language, German and Yiddish language, Yiddish surname originating from Old High German ''funko'' (spark) and ''stein'' (stone). ''Fünkelstein'' meant pyrite (George J. Adler, ''A Dictionary of the German and Engl ...

et. al, who described it as "a large site with the remains of buildings on its summit". He noted the secondary use of ancient remains in later structures in the vicinity, such as a pillar integrated into a terrace wall and high terrace walls constructed from reused stones. Additionally, rock-cut installations have been discovered nearby. In the 19th century, French explorer

noted that the villagers of Beit 'Ur al-Tahta worship a woman named "Hanieh bent-Yakoub" in a dome at Khirbet Hallabeh.Guérin, 1868, pp
345
/ref>

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

Welcome To Bayt 'Ur al-TahtaBeit ‘Ur al-Tahta
Welcome to Palestine *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 17
IAA

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Beit ‘Ur at Tahta Village (Fact Sheet)

Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem The Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem (ARIJ; ) is a Palestinian NGO founded in 1990 with its main office in Bethlehem in the West Bank. ARIJ is actively working on research projects in the fields of management of natural resources, water m ...

(ARIJ)
Beit ‘Ur at Tahta Village Profile
ARIJ
Bayt 'Ur al-Tahta, areal view
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Locality Development Priorities and Needs in Beit ‘Ur at Tahta Village
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