Municipality type D in Hebron, State of Palestine
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 1,928 inhabitants in 2017.[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.[3][4]
History
Iron Age
One opinion suggests that Beit Einun is the modern site of the Biblical Beth-anoth.[5][6] Another view suggests that it is the biblical site of Enam (Joshua 15:34),"a village about 2 km. from the renowned terebinth" that grew near Hebron.[7]
Classical period
At Beit Einun, six burial caves were discovered,[8] containing several ossuaries dating back to the 1st century CE. One of them bears an inscription in Hebrew with the word "Israel".[9]
Several scholars suggest that the presence of the name Selacus on one of the ossuaries, which may incorporate the theophoric element "Qos", indicates the existence of a Judaized Edomite community there during the Late Roman period, several generations after the Second Temple's destruction. While these individuals had adopted Jewish customs, they still preserved a distinct identity separate from ethnic Jews.[8]
Byzantine period
The site became populated during Byzantine rule of Palestine,[10] and ceramics from that period has been found.[11] Three churches were built near the center of the town sometime between the 5th and 6th centuries.[10] 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.[12] Other remains from this time period include two water cisterns, two wine-presses and several tombs.[10][13]
Early Islamic period
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.[12] 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).[14][15]
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.[16][17]
In 1838 Edward Robinson noted it in ruins.[18][19]
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.[20]
In 1883 the PEF's Survey of 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."[21]
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.[12] 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.[22]
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.[23] 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.[24] Palestinian refugees constituted 15.6% of the village's inhabitants.[25] In 2004, Beit Einun had a population of 2,277 inhabitants, rising to 2,439 in 2006 according to PCBS estimates.[26] However, the PCBS 2007 census revealed that Beit Einun had 1,809 inhabitants.[27]
