Beit Lid Explained

Beit Lid
Translit Lang1:Arabic
Translit Lang1 Type:Arabic
Translit Lang1 Info:بيت ليد
Translit Lang1 Type1:Latin
Translit Lang1 Info1:Bayt Lid (official)
Bayt Leed (unofficial)
Type:Municipality type C
Pushpin Map:Palestine
Pushpin Map Caption:Location of Beit Lid within Palestine
Coordinates:32.2611°N 35.13°W
Grid Name:Palestine grid
Grid Position:162/185
Subdivision Type:State
Subdivision Name:State of Palestine
Subdivision Type1:Governorate
Subdivision Name1:Tulkarm
Established Title:Founded
Government Type:Municipality
Leader Title:Head of Municipality
Unit Pref:dunam
Area Total Km2:16.8
Area Total Dunam:16753
Population Footnotes:[1]
Population Total:5606
Population As Of:2017
Population Density Km2:auto
Blank Name Sec1:Name meaning
Blank Info Sec1:The house of Lid[2]

Beit Lid (Arabic: بيت ليد) is a Palestinian town in the Tulkarm Governorate in the northeastern West Bank, located a 10 kilometers southeast of Tulkarm and west of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 5,606 inhabitants in 2017. In 1922, it had 653 inhabitants, which rose to 1,807 in 1961.

History

Byzantine ceramics have been found here.[3]

The village mosque has a large gate with a triple arch. An inscription over the lintel is a construction text, commemorating the building of the mosque. It dates from the late Mamluk, or early Ottoman period.[4]

Ottoman era

Beit Lid, like all of Palestine was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517. In the 1596 tax registers, it was part of the nahiya ("subdistrict") of Jabal Sami, part of the larger Sanjak of Nablus. It had a population of 64 households, all Muslims. The inhabitants paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues and a press for olive oil or grape syrup; a total of 17,310 akçe. Half of the revenues went to a Waqf.[5]

In 1838, Edward Robinson passed it in the distance,[6] and placed it in the Wady esh-Sha'ir administrative region, west of Nablus.[7] In 1863 Victor Guérin noted it as a considerable village which occupied the top of a high hill; containing a thousand inhabitants. The houses were crudely built.[8]

In the 1860s, the Ottoman authorities granted the village an agricultural plot of land called Ghabat Beit Lid in the former confines of the Forest of Arsur (Ar. Al-Ghaba) in the coastal plain, west of the village. This formed the foundation for the village of Khirbat Bayt Lid, founded by some Beit Lid's residents.[9] [10]

In 1870/1871 (1288 AH), an Ottoman census listed the village in the nahiya (sub-district) of Wadi al-Sha'ir.[11]

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Beit Lid as “A village of small size, built on a hill rising 600 feet above the valley south of it. The houses are of stone, and supplied by a well on the south-east, lower down. A few olives grow round the village.”[12]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Beit Lid's population was 653, all Muslims,[13] increasing in the 1931 census to 738 residents, still all Muslim, in a total of 171 houses.[14]

In the 1945 statistics the population of Beit Lid was 960 Muslims,[15] and the land area was 16,752 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[16] 1,044 dunams were for citrus and bananas, 3,264 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 4,473 used for cereals,[17] while 22 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[18]

1948-1967

In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Beit Lid came under Jordanian occupation.

In 1961, the population of Beit Lid was 1,807.[19]

Post-1967

After the Six-Day War in 1967, Beit Lid has been under Israeli occupation.

Agriculture is a major economic sector in Beit Lid, with olives, almonds, figs, grapes and grains being the primary crops grown on 16,753 dunams. Until recently, agriculture employed most of the working males of the town, however, many residents are employed in small business professions, such as construction, blacksmithing and electricity. Many in Beit Lid that worked inside Israel, have been unemployed since the Second Intifada and the difficult conditions surrounding it.[20]

There are four schools (two primary and two secondary), four kindergartens, a clinic operated by the Palestinian National Authority and founded in 1964. Beit Lid contains four mosques, including Masjid al-Qadim, Masjid Fatima Zahra, Masjid as-Salaam and Masjid Salah ad-Din.[20]

At Beit Lid an Israeli military base was built, the Beit Lid base, the headquarters Israel's military courts and military police. The Beit Lid base was invaded by right-wing protesters on 30 July 2024 after the Israeli military police detained nine Israeli soldiers at Sde Teiman detention camp for suspected torture and sexual abuse of Palestinian prisoners; Knesset member Tally Gotliv protested outside the base.[21]

See also

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. February 2018 . Preliminary Results of the Population, Housing and Establishments Census, 2017 . Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) . . 64–82 . 2023-10-24.
  2. Palmer, 1881, p. 180
  3. Dauphin, 1998, p. 768
  4. Sharon, 1999, pp. 152 -153
  5. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 126
  6. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol. 3, p. 137
  7. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd Appendix, p. 129
  8. Guérin, 1875, pp. 211 -212
  9. Marom, Roy, "The Contribution of Conder's Tent Work in Palestine for the Understanding of Shifting Geographical, Social and Legal Realities in the Sharon during the Late Ottoman Period", in Gurevich D. and Kidron, A. (eds.), Exploring the Holy Land: 150 Years of the Palestine Exploration Fund, Sheffield, UK, Equinox (2019), pp. 212-231
  10. Web site: Marom . Roy . 2022 . The Oak Forest of the Sharon (al-Ghaba) in the Ottoman Period: New Insights from Historical- Geographical Studies, Muse 5, . 2023-10-06 . escholarship.org.
  11. Book: Grossman, David . Arab Demography and Early Jewish Settlement in Palestine . Magnes Press . 2004 . Jerusalem . 253.
  12. Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 159
  13. Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Tulkarem, p. 27
  14. Mills, 1932, p. 53
  15. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 20
  16. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 74
  17. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 124
  18. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 174
  19. Government of Jordan, 1964, p. 27
  20. http://www.palestineremembered.com/GeoPoints/Bayt_Lid_874/Article_8134.html Information of Beit Lid
  21. News: Peleg . Bar . Solomon . Eden . Maanit . Chen . Kubovich . Yaniv . IDF Moves Troops to Base Where Violent Mob Protested Arrest of Soldiers for Abusing Gaza Detainee . 30 July 2024 . . 30 July 2024 . https://archive.today/20240730082455/https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-07-30/ty-article/.premium/idf-move-troops-to-base-where-mob-protested-arrest-of-soldiers-for-abusing-gaza-detainee/00000191-008a-d643-a1d1-b88eb6730001 . 30 July 2024.