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 six kilometers southeast of
Bethlehem
Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about south of Jerusalem, and the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. It had a population of people, as of . The city's economy is strongly linked to Tourism in the State of Palesti ...
.The town is in the
Bethlehem Governorate
The Bethlehem Governorate () is one of 16 governorates of Palestine. It covers an area of the West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Its principal city and district capital is Bethlehem. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, its pop ...
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 ...
. 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 ...
, the village had a population of 1,596 in 2017. The village is named after the 'Arab al-Ta'mira
Bedouin
The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...
tribe of the Bethlehem area, and along with Za'atara, Hindaza,
Tuqu'
Teqoa (, also spelled Tuquʿ) is a Palestinian town in the Bethlehem Governorate, located southeast of Bethlehem in the land Samaria And Judah West Bank. The town is built adjacent to the biblical site of Tekoa (; also called Thecoe), now Khirbe ...
, Khirbet al-Deir (today part of Tuqu'),
Nuaman
Nuaman or Khallet an Nu'man (, meaning "Grace"), also written Nu'man, al-Numan/an-Nu'man, is a small village located just north of Beit Sahour in the Bethlehem Governorate, Palestinian Governorate of Bethlehem. The Israeli government incorporated ...
al-Asakra
Al-Asakra () is a Palestinian village in the Bethlehem Governorate in the south-central West Bank, located 4.5 kilometers southeast of Bethlehem. It is a part of the Jannatah municipality. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistic ...
Bethlehem
Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about south of Jerusalem, and the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. It had a population of people, as of . The city's economy is strongly linked to Tourism in the State of Palesti ...
Tuqu'
Teqoa (, also spelled Tuquʿ) is a Palestinian town in the Bethlehem Governorate, located southeast of Bethlehem in the land Samaria And Judah West Bank. The town is built adjacent to the biblical site of Tekoa (; also called Thecoe), now Khirbe ...
to the south.
History
The village
mosque
A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard.
Originally, mosques were si ...
, the ''Mosque of Omar'', has been tentatively dated to 636 CE.
Ottoman era
Beit Ta'mir was incorporated into the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
in 1517 with all 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 ...
.
In 1531, records from the Jerusalem Sharia Court mention an individual named 'Ali al-Ta'amari of the Ta'amreh tribe. This record places the Ta'amreh in the vicinity of Bethlehem, marking their involvement in legal matters during the early Ottoman period. In 1603/4 a Bedouin named Sha‘ala of ‘Arab al-Ta‘āmira sold a beast of burden, originally stolen from Jindas near
Lydda
Lod (, ), also known as Lydda () and Lidd (, or ), is a city southeast of Tel Aviv and northwest of Jerusalem in the Central District of Israel. It is situated between the lower Shephelah on the east and the coastal plain on the west. The ci ...
to Sālim b. Ghunaym, resident of the village of Dayr al-Sinna in the
Kidron Valley
The Kidron Valley ( classical transliteration, ''Cedron'', from , ''Naḥal Qidron'', literally Qidron River; also Qidron Valley) is a valley originating slightly northeast of the Old City of Jerusalem, which then separates the Temple Mount fro ...
near Jerusalem. These mentions highlight the Ta'amreh's active role within the social and judicial landscape of the region in the 16th and 17th centuries.
In 1596 Beit Ta'mir appeared in the tax registers as being in 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 ...
Al-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—Jud ...
under the name of ''Bayt Ta'mar''. It had a population of 65 household;Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 114 who were all
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 ...
s. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 33.3% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, vegetable and fruit gardens, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues; a total of 8,100
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 ...
. Half of the revenue went to a
Waqf
A (; , plural ), also called a (, plural or ), or ''mortmain'' property, is an Alienation (property law), inalienable charitable financial endowment, endowment under Sharia, Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot ...
.
In 1838, Edward Robinson noted ''Beit Ta'mar, the village of the Ta'amirah'', on his travels in the region, It was also noted as an Arab village, located south of '' Wadi er-Rahib'' in the Jerusalem district.
In 1863,
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 ...
noted it as an ancient site, inhabited by people of the ''Ta'amereh'' tribe.
An Ottoman list from about 1870 notes a "sizable" village with a mosque with a small
minaret
A minaret is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generally used to project the Muslim call to prayer (''adhan'') from a muezzin, but they also served as landmarks and symbols of Islam's presence. They can h ...
. The villagers were
Bedouin
The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...
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 ...
'' (SWP) described Beit T'amir: "a small village on a hill with
well
A well is an excavation or structure created on the earth by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...
s and a few olives. The name is that of an Arab tribe which was originally settled in the place. The village contains a small mosque named after the Khalif Omar."
In 1896 a population list noted that Beit Ta'mir was "half Bedouin".
British Mandate era
In the 1945 statistics the population was counted under the name ''Arab et Ta'amira'' together with '' Arab Ibn Ubeid'', ''Arab et Rashayida'' and ''Arab et Sawahira''; together they had a population of 7,070
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 ...
s,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p 25 /ref> with ''Arab et Ta'amira'' having a total of 209,888
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 land according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 24 dunams were used plantations and irrigable land, 12,424 for cereals, while 197,440 dunams were classified as non-cultitivable land.
Jordanian era
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 of ''Ta'amira'' inhabiting the desert of their lands as Nomads (as indicated by the Arabic section of the Jordanian Census, "عرب التعامرة") was 306, excluding other Ta'amira populations such as Za'atara (1,003), Tuqu' (555), and other Ta'amira villages, which would number their total population in thousands.
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 Ta'mir has been held 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 ...
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 ...