Beit Einun
Template:Infobox Palestinian Authority municipality Beit Einun or Bayt 'Anun (Arabic: بيت عينون) is a Palestinian village in the Hebron Governorate, located five kilometers northeast of Hebron in the southern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the village had a population of 1,809 inhabitants in 2007.[1]
The Israeli army has a major road block at Beit Einun Junction. Following the upsurge in violence from October 2015 it has been a focus of attacks against soldiers by young Palestinians. The attackers are usually shot dead. In the first two weeks of 2016 there were three separate incidents in which four young Palestinian attackers were killed, no soldiers were injured.[2][3]
History
Beit Einun is the modern site of the Biblical Beth-anoth.[4][5] The site became populated during Byzantine rule of Palestine,[6] and ceramics from that period has been found.[7] Three churches were built near the center of the town sometime between the 5th and 6th centuries.[6] The wall construction indicates rebuilding of the church in the Crusader period. Excavations have revealed a mosaic floor in the main hall of the church from the Byzantine period. It is a part of a complex building in which living quarters and storage rooms, as well as water cisterns were found.[8] Other remains from this time period include two water cisterns, two wine-presses and several tombs.[6][9]
Beit 'Einun is mentioned in the Waqf dedication given by the Islamic prophet Muhammad to Tamim al-Dari, a sahaba ("companion"). Many Muslim-built stone structures are located in the village.[8] According to Al-Muqaddasi, Beit Einun was well known in the Middle East during the Abbasid era, for producing high-quality raisins named 'Aynuni after the village's name (Bayt Aynun).[10][11]
Ottoman era
The village was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of Palestine, and in 1596 Beit Einun appeared in Ottoman tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Halil of the Liwa of Quds. It had a population of 18 Muslim households, and paid taxes on wheat, barley, vineyards, fruit trees, occasional revenues, goats and/or bee hives.[12]
In July 1863 the French explorer Victor Guérin visited the place, called Khirbet Beit A´noun. He inspected the ruins, and dated them to the Byzantine era.[13]
In 1883 the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine found here "walls, foundations, and a reservoir. There is a spring to the wast, and on the south a small ruined chapel; the walls and pillar-chafts remaining; this is called el Keniseh. Remains of a tower with large drafted masonry also exist; it measures 82 feet north and south by 72 feet east and west. The stones are in some cases 6 feet long and 3 feet high."[14]
Geography
Beit Einun is situated in the 'Anun Valley, at the bottom of a hill in the Judea region, forming the beginning of a fertile plain cultivated with vines and grains. There are terraces on the higher slopes of the hill to prevent erosion. These small separate fields are planted with grape and tomato vines, plum and almond orchards.[8] Beit Einun is located just five kilometers north of Hebron. Other nearby localities include, Sa'ir and ash-Shuyukh to the northeast, Halhul to the northwest, Beit Kahil to the west and Ras Abu Risha to the southeast.[15]
Demographics
Beit Einun's population drastically decreased after the Six-Day War in 1967, from 4,967 to just a few hundred residents. Most of the inhabitants left for Jordan.[16] In the 1997 census by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), Beit Einun had a population of 1,748. The gender make-up was 906 males and 842 females.[17] Palestinian refugees constituted 15.6% of the village's inhabitants.[18] In 2004, Beit Einun had a population of 2,277 inhabitants, rising to 2,439 in 2006 according to PCBS estimates.[19] However, the PCBS 2007 census revealed that Beit Einun had 1,809 inhabitants.[1]
References
- ^ a b 2007 PCBS Census Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. p.118.
- ^ [1] Maan 14 January 2016 Palestinian shot dead after alleged attack attempt near Hebron
- ^ [2] Ha'aretz 23 January 2016
- ^ Joshua 15:59
- ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. 311
- ^ a b c Khirbet Abu Rish (Beit 'Anun) Magen - Y. Baruch
- ^ Dauphin, 1998, p. 939
- ^ a b c Palestinian sites: Beit 'Einun Village - Hebron Jerusalem Media and Communications Centre. Accessed on 2008-03-30
- ^ Pringle, 1997, p. 26
- ^ le Strange, 1890, p. 387
- ^ Wheatly, Paul. (2001).The Places where Men Pray Together University of Chicago Press, p.412.
- ^ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 124
- ^ Guérin, 1869, pp. 151 -152
- ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. 351
- ^ Satellite view of Beit 'Anun
- ^ Welcome to Bayt 'Anun Palestine Remembered.
- ^ Palestinian Population by Locality, Sex and Age Groups in Years Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS).
- ^ Palestinian Population by Locality and Refugee Status Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS).
- ^ Projected Mid -Year Population for Hebron Governorate by Locality 2004- 2006 Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. Accessed on 2008-03-30
Bibliography
- Conder, Claude Reignier; Kitchener, Herbert H. (1883). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology. Vol. 3. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
- Dauphin, Claudine (1998). La Palestine byzantine, Peuplement et Populations. BAR International Series 726 (in French). Vol. III : Catalogue. Oxford: Archeopress.
- Guérin, Victor (1869). Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine (in French). Vol. 1: Judee, pt. 3. Paris: L'Imprimerie Nationale.
- Hütteroth, Wolf-Dieter; Abdulfattah, Kamal (1977). Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century. Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft. ISBN 3-920405-41-2.
- Palmer, E. H. (1881). The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
- Pringle, Denys (1997). Secular buildings in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: an archaeological Gazetter. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521 46010 7.
- le Strange, Guy (1890). Palestine Under the Moslems: A Description of Syria and the Holy Land from A.D. 650 to 1500. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
External links
- Welcome To Bayt 'Anun
- Survey of Western Palestine, Map 21: IAA, Wikimedia commons
- Halt of construction notifications against mosque, houses and stone quarries in Beit Einun 15 April 2009, ARIJ
- Reopening Beit 'Einun Entrance[permanent dead link] 16 May 2012, ARIJ
