Beit Imrin

History

Ceramics from the Byzantine and early Islamic periods have been found here.

According to the Beit Imrin Village Council, Beit Imrin was founded by Arabs from nearby Burqa and the Bani Hassan tribe of Transjordan, whose members also populated Qarawat Bani Hassan. The town of Sebastia is located to the southwest, the villages of Ijnisinya and Nisf Jubeil to the south, Burqa to the northwest and Yasid to the east.

Ottoman era

In 1517, Beit Imrin was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire with the rest of Palestine. In 1596, it appeared in Ottoman tax registers as a village in the nahiya (subdistrict) of Jabal Sami in the Nablus Sanjak. It had a population of 19 households and 2 bachelors, all Muslim, and paid taxes on wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, occasional revenues, goats and beehives, and a press for olives or grapes; a total of 13,200 akçe.

In 1667 there was a Greek Orthodox community in the village.

In 1838 American Biblical scholar Edward Robinson noted that the village was on the road to Jenin. He also noted that the village had a mixture of Greek Christians and Muslim inhabitants. At this time the village had 50 Christians and a priest.

In 1870, Victor Guérin estimated that Beit Imrin had 700 inhabitants. He further noted: "The houses are small and roughly built, except the Sheikh’s house, which is large and well-built. Below the village and to the west there is a fertile valley irrigated by a spring called Ain Dilbeh."

In 1870/1871 (1288 AH), an Ottoman census listed the village in the nahiya (sub-district) of Wadi al-Sha'ir.

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described it as "a village of moderate size in the valley at the foot of the Sheikh Beiyzid chain. It is built of stone, and has a spring in the valley to the south, and olives round it on the east and west. Some of the inhabitants are Greek Christians."

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Beit Imrin had a population of 527; 512 Muslims and 15 Christians, where the Christians were all Orthodox. The population increased in the 1931 census to 620, of whom 13 were Christians and 607 Muslims, in a total of 157 occupied houses.

In the 1945 statistics, the population was 860, all Muslims, with 12,094 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 1,442 dunams were for plantations or irrigated land, 6,819 for cereals, while 53 dunams were built-up (urban) land.

Jordanian era

In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Beit Imrin came under Jordanian rule. It was annexed by Jordan in 1950.

In 1961, the population of Beit Imrin was 1,048.

Post-1967

Since the Six-Day War in 1967, the village has been under Israeli occupation. A census that same year recorded the population as 1,100.

After the 1995 accords, 97.7% of the village land was classified as Area A, 1.8% as Area B, and the remaining 0.5% as Area C.

A village council to administer Beit Imrin's civil affairs was established in 1966, with the first mayor being Ayad Youssef Abdel-Rahman Ahsan. The council consists of nine members including the mayor, who currently is Basheer Samarah.

Demography

The village had a Christian population, but most of them left. Some of the residents have their origins in Kafr Qaddum, Burqa and Ijnisinya.

References

Bibliography

• Perlmann, Joel: The 1967 Census of the West Bank and Gaza Strip: A Digitized Version. Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y.: Levy Economics Institute of Bard College. November 2011 – February 2012. [Digitized from: Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing, 1967 Conducted in the Areas Administered by the IDF, Vols. 1–5 (1967–70), and Census of Population and Housing: East Jerusalem, Parts 1 and 2 (1968–70).]

References

1. (February 2018). "Preliminary Results of the Population, Housing and Establishments Census, 2017". [[State of Palestine]].
2. Palmer 1881, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp00conduoft#page/180/mode/1up 180]
3. [http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Portals/_PCBS/Downloads/book1487.pdf 2007 PCBS Census]. [[Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics]]. p.110.
4. Zertal, 2004, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vt-IvRhCEyYC&pg=PA437 437]-438
5. [http://www.beit-imrin.org.ps/eabout1.htm About Beit Imrin] {{webarchive. link. (December 3, 2008 Beit Imrin Village Council.)
6. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 130.
7. Ellenblum, 2003, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=riHMZiH_Te4C&pg=PA249 249]
8. Robinson and Smith, vol 3, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/n166/mode/1up 149]
9. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/128/mode/1up 128]
10. Guerin, 1875, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongogr04gugoog#page/n235/mode/2up 210-211].
11. Grossman, David. (2004). "Arab Demography and Early Jewish Settlement in Palestine". Magnes Press.
12. Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp02conduoft#page/159/mode/1up 159].
13. Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Nablus, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n26/mode/1up 24]
14. Barron, 1923, Table XV, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n49/mode/1up 47]
15. Mills, 1923, p. [https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas 60].
16. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. [http://cs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/VSpages/VS1945_p18.jpg 18].
17. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20I/Nablus/Page-059.jpg 59].
18. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20II/Nablus/Page-105.jpg 105].
19. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20III/Nablus/Page-155.jpg 155].
20. Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. [http://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/JordanCensusPages/JordanCensus1961-p25.pdf 25]
21. Perlmann, [http://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/1967_census/vol_1_tab_2.pdf Vol 1, Tab 2: Beit Umrin].
22. [http://vprofile.arij.org/nablus/pdfs/vprofile/Beit%20Imrin_vp_en.pdf Beit Imrin Village Profile], ARIJ, p. 16
23. [http://www.beit-imrin.org.ps/eabout2.htm Beit Imrin Council Members] {{webarchive. link. (December 3, 2008 Beit Imrin Village Council.)
24. Grossman, D. (1986). "Oscillations in the Rural Settlement of Samaria and Judaea in the Ottoman Period". in '''Shomron studies'''. Dar, S., Safrai, S., (eds). Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House. p. 353