Location
Yatma is located 12.4 km south of Nablus. It is bordered by Qabalan to the east and south, Beita to the north, Yasuf and As Sawiya to the west.[3]
History
Pottery sherds from the Iron Age II, Persian, Hellenistic/Roman and the Crusader/Ayyubid eras have been found here.[4]
It has been suggested that this was the place of origin of Dosthai of Kefar Iathma who is mentioned in the Mishnah as a disciple of the House of Shammai,[5][6] and that it was the Eincheitem of the Crusader period.[4]
Sherds from the Mamluk era has also been found here.[4]
Ottoman era
In 1517, the village was included in the Ottoman empire with the rest of Palestine, and in the 1596 tax-records it appeared as Yitma, located in the Nahiya of Jabal Qubal of the Liwa of Nablus. The population was 10 households and 2 bachelors, all Muslim. They paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and beehives, a press for olive oil or grape syrup, in addition to occasional revenues and a fixed tax for people of Nablus area; a total of 1,800 akçe.[7] Sherds from the early Ottoman era have also been found here.[4]
In 1838, Edward Robinson noted it as part of Jurat Merda District, south of Nablus.[8][9]
In 1850/1 de Saulcy noted Yatma on his travels in the region,[10] as did
Victor Guérin in 1870.[11]
In 1870/1871 (1288 AH), an Ottoman census listed the village in the nahiya (sub-district) of Jamma'in al-Thani, subordinate to Nablus.[12]
In 1882, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine Yetma was described as "A little village, on high ground, with olives round it."[13]
British Mandate era
In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Yatma had a population of 242 Muslims,[14] increasing in the 1931 census to 325 Muslims, in 64 houses.[15]
In the 1945 statistics the population was 440 Muslims[16] while the total land area was 3,777 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[17]
Of this, 1,214 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 1,741 for cereals,[18] while 44 dunams were classified as built-up areas.[19]
Jordanian era
In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Yatma came under Jordanian rule.
The Jordanian census of 1961 found 618 inhabitants.[20]
Post 1967
Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Yatma has been under Israeli occupation.
After the 1995 accords, 29% of village land is defined as Area B land, while the remaining 71% is defined as Area C land. Israel has also confiscated village land for Israeli bypass roads.[21]
In 2011, two cars were set ablaze in Yatma and the village mosque was vandalised with Hebrew graffiti, reading "price tag" and "Migron", in what was assumed to be a price tag attack by Israeli settlers.[22][23]
