Battir

This article is about the village. For other uses, see Betar (disambiguation).

Battir
Other transcription(s)
• Arabic	بتير
• Also spelled	Bateer (official)
Battir
Battir Location of Battir within the Palestinian Territories
Coordinates:
Palestine grid	163/126
Governorate	Bethlehem
Government
• Type	Municipality
• Head of Municipality	Akram Bader
Area
• Jurisdiction	7,419 dunams (7.4 km2 or 2.9 sq mi)
Population (2007)
• Jurisdiction	3,967
Name meaning	Bether
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	Palestine: Land of Olives and Vines — Cultural Landscape of Southern Jerusalem, Battir
Type	Cultural
Criteria	iv, v
Designated	2014 (38th session)
Reference no.	1492
State Party	Palestine
Region	Arab States
Endangered	Since 2014

Battir (Arabic: بتير‎‎) is a Palestinian village in the West Bank, 6.4 km west of Bethlehem, and southwest of Jerusalem.

Ancient Betar, whose name Battir preserves, was a second century Jewish village and fortress, the site of the final battle of the Bar Kokhba revolt. It was inhabited during the Byzantine and Islamic periods, and in the Ottoman and British Mandate censuses its population was recorded as primarily Muslim. Battir is situated just above the route of the Jaffa–Jerusalem railway, which served as the armistice line between Israel and Jordan from 1949 until the Six-Day War, when it was captured by Israel. In former times, the city lay along the route from Jerusalem to Bet Gubrin. In 2007, Battir had a population of about 4,000 and was under the control of the Palestinian National Authority.

History

Antiquity

Main article: Betar (fortress)

Battir has been identified as the site of ancient Betar (also called Beiter). The modern Palestinian village is built around the ancient site Khirbet el-Yahud (Arabic, meaning "ruin of the Jews" ) and "is unanimously identified with Betar, the last stronghold of the Second Revolt against the Romans, where its leader, Bar-Kokhba, found his death in 135 CE." "A modern agricultural terrace follows the line of the ancient fortification wall". There is a tradition that the village is also the site of the tomb of the Tannaic sage Eleazar of Modi'im.

Modern era

In 1596, Battir appeared in Ottoman tax registers as a village in the Nahiya of Quds in the Liwa of Quds. It had a population of 24 Muslim households and two bachelors, and paid taxes on wheat, summercrops or fruit trees, and goats or beehives.

French explorer Victor Guérin visited the place in 1860s.

The Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine in 1883 described Battir as a moderate sized village, on the precipitous slope of a deep valley.

In the 20th century, Battir's development was linked to its location alongside the railroad to Jerusalem, which provided access to the marketplace as well as income from passengers who disembarked to refresh themselves en route. During the 1948 war, most of the villagers had fled, but Mustafa Hassan and a few others stayed. At night they would light candles in the houses, and in the morning they would take out the cattle. When nearing the village, the Israelis thought Battir was still inhabited and gave up attacking. The armistice line was drawn near the railroad, with Battir ending up just meters to the east of Jordan's border with Israel. At least 30% of Battir's land lies on the Israeli side of the Green Line, but the villagers were allowed to keep it in return for preventing damage to the railway, thus being the only Palestinians officially allowed to cross into Israel and work their lands before the Six-Day War.

After the Six-Day War in 1967, Battir came under Israeli control. In 1970 two Katusha rockets were fired from the village vicinity toward Jerusalem. Since the signing of the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in 1995, it has been administered by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). Battir is governed by a village council currently administrated by nine members appointed by the PNA.

Demographics

File:Fellahat going to Market.jpg

Village women going to market, 1913

At the time of the 1931 census, Battir had 172 houses and a population of 755 Muslims, two Christians and one Jew. It had increased to 1,050 Muslims by 1945. In 2007, Battir had a population of 3,967, in 2012 the population was estimated at about 4,500.

Geography

Battir is located 6.4 km (horizontal distance) north-west of Bethlehem on a hill above Wadi el-Jundi (lit. "Valley of the Soldier"), which runs southwest through the Judean hills to the coastal plain. The Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine in 1883 described the city's natural defenses, saying its houses stand upon rock terraces, having a rocky scarp below; thus from the north the place is very strong, whilst on the south a narrow neck between two ravine heads connects the hill with the main ridge. At an altitude of around 760 m above sea level, Battir's summers are temperate, and its winters mild with occasional snowfall. The average annual temperature is 16^o C.

Ancient irrigation system and terraces

Battir has a unique irrigation system that utilizes man-made terraces and a system of manually diverting water via sluice gates. The Roman-era network is still in use, fed by seven springs which have provided fresh water for 2,000 years. The irrigation system runs through a steep valley near the Green Line where a section of the Ottoman-era Hejaz Railway was laid. Battir's eight main clans take turns each day to water the village's crops. Hence a local saying that in Battir "a week lasts eight days, not seven." According to anthropologist Giovanni Sontana of UNESCO, "There are few, if any, places left in the immediate region where such a traditional method of agriculture remains, not only intact, but as a functioning part of the village."

Battir's ancient terraces, 1893

In 2007, the village of Battir sued the Israeli Defense Ministry to try to force them to change the planned route of the Israeli West Bank barrier which would cut through part of Battir's 2,000-year-old irrigation system, which is still in use. The Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA), which approved the fence’s original route in 2005, changed its mind and wrote in a 13-page policy paper that Battir’s terraces were also an Israeli heritage site and should be carefully safeguarded, stating that agricultural terraces around Battir attesting to millennia-old methods of farming in the region will be irreversibly harmed by the fence, no matter how narrow its route. It was the first time an Israeli government agency expressed opposition to the construction of a segment of the fence. This affidavit was one of four expert opinions that contended the fence would decimate the unique farming system, and in early May 2013, the Israeli High Court of Justice ruled that the Defense Ministry must explain “why should the route of the separation barrier in the Battir village area not be nullified or changed, and alternately why should the barrier not be reconfigured.” The Defense Ministry has to submit a new plan for securing the border that will not destroy Battir by July 2, 2013. A separate petition against the separation barrier has also been filed by the nearby Jewish settlement Beitar Illit, fearing that it would prevent them from expanding the settlement.

In 2011 UNESCO awarded Battir a $15,000 prize for "Safeguarding and Management of Cultural Landscapes" due to its care for its ancient terraces and irrigation system.

In May 2012, the Palestinian National Authority sent a delegation to UNESCO headquarters in Paris to discuss the possibility of adding Battir to its World Heritage List. The PNA's deputy minister of tourism, Hamadan Taha, said that the organization wants to "maintain it as a Palestinian and humanitarian heritage," making special note of its historic terraces and irrigation systems. the nomination of Battir was blocked at the last minute because the formal submission was too late. In a document concerning the damage the security fence would do to the area, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA) noted "The struggle of our neighbors to name the area a World Heritage Site places us in an embarrassing position, and we should work together with them to protect the landscape."

In January 2015, according to the village mayor Akram Badir, the Israeli Supreme Court rejected the IDF request to build the separation barrier through the village

Archaeology

Roman Inscription found near Battir mentioning the 5th and 11th Roman Legions

An old Roman bath fed by a spring is located in the middle of the village. Archaeologist D. Ussishkin dates the village to the Iron Age, and states that at the time of the Revolt it was a village of between one and two thousand people chosen by Bar Kochba for its spring, defensible hilltop location, and proximity to the main Jerusalem-Gaza road. A Roman inscription was also discovered near one of the city's natural springs on which are inscribed the names of the Fifth Macedonian Legion and the Eleventh Claudian Legion, which said legions presumably took part in the siege of the city during Emperor Hadrian's reign.

There isn't any evidence of habitation in the period immediately after the Revolt. A mosaic from the late Byzantine or early Muslim period was found in Battir.

Sister cities

• Luton, United Kingdom

See also

• Betar (fortress)
• Betar Illit

External links

• Welcome To Battir
• Survey of Western Palestine, Map 17: IAA, Wikimedia commons
• Battir Village (Fact Sheet)
• Battir Village Profile
• Battir Village Area Photo
• The priorities and needs for development in Battir village based on the community and local authorities’ assessment
• www.battir.i8.com
• Battir village photos
• Battir Video