Al-Mughayyir (; sometimes transliterated Al Mughayer or al-Mughaiyir) is a Palestinian village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, located 27 kilometers northeast of Ramallah and 34 kilometers southeast of Nablus, in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the village had a population of 2,872 inhabitants in 2017.
Location and name Al-Mughayyir is located north-east of Ramallah. It is bordered by Fasayil to the east, Turmus Ayya and Khirbet Abu Falah to the west, Duma and Jalud to the north, and Kafr Malik and al-Auja to the south.Al Mughayyir Village Profile, ARIJ, p. 4.
The name al-Mughayyir means 'the changer' and was given due to the continuously changing weather, a result of the village's location in a mountainous area above the central part of the Jordan Valley.Al Mughayyir Village Profile: History, ARIJ, p. 5.
History The PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) found here "ancient cisterns, and a rock-cut winepress near the village, which is well built of hewn stone."Conder and Kitchener (1882), SWP II, p. 402.
Potsherds from the Byzantine/Umayyad and Mamluk eras have been found here.Finkelstein et al. (1997), pp. 750-1.
Ottoman period In 1517, the village was included in the Ottoman Empire with the rest of Palestine, appearing in the 1596 tax-records as Mugayyir, located in the Nahiya of Jabal Qubal, part of Nablus Sanjak. The population was 7 households and 9 bachelors, all Muslim. They paid taxes on wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, occasional revenues, goats and beehives; a total of 4500 akçe.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah (1977), p. 132. Potsherds from the early Ottoman era have also been found here.
In 1838 Edward Robinson noted al-Mughayyir was located in the Beitawy district, east of Nablus,Robinson and Smith (1841), vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 128. while in 1852, he described the village as being of "considerable size", and built of hewn stones. He further noted that the villagers were "quite civil, and readily answered all our inquiries."Robinson and Smith (1856), p. 292.
In 1870 Victor Guérin found "El-Merhaïr" to consist of a few houses and being largely deserted by its inhabitants, for lack of drinking water. He especially noticed a small mosque, which had a number of regularly cut stones that seem ancient. There were also several caves, dug in rock, which also seemed ancient.Guérin (1875), pp. 17-18. In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described it as "a small village of stone houses, on a ridge, with olives to the west, and beautiful corn-land in the Merj Sia. There is also corn-land on the north."Conder and Kitchener (1882), SWP II, p. 387.
British Mandate period In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted in 1922 by the British Mandate authorities, al-Mughayyir had a population of 179, all Muslims,Barron (1923), Table IX, Sub-district of Nablus. p. 25. increasing in the 1931 census when the village had a population of 204, still all Muslims, in a total of 41 houses.Mills (1932), p. 63.
In the 1945 statistics, al-Mughayyir (including Khirbat Jib'it) had a population of 290 Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics (1945), p. 19. with total of 33,903 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi (1970), p. 60. Of this, 361 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 6,908 used for cereals,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi (1970), p. 107. while 34 dunams were built-up (urban) land.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi (1970), p. 157.
Jordanian period In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and the 1949 Armistice Agreements, al-Mughayyir came under Jordanian rule.
The Jordanian census of 1961 found 365 inhabitants.Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics (1964), p. 26.
1967-present Since the Six-Day War in 1967, al-Mughayyir has been under Israeli occupation.
Impact of the Israeli occupation According to the Oslo II Interim Agreement signed between the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel in September 1995, al-Mughayyir's lands were split between area 'B' and area 'C'. Approximately 1,934 dunums (5.9% of the village's total area) is classified as area B, where the Palestinian National Authority has control over civil matters and Israel continues to have overriding responsibility for security. Area B constitutes most of all inhabited Palestinian areas, including municipalities, villages and some refugee camps. The majority of the village's population resides in Area B which forms a small part compared to the village's total area. The rest of the village's area, constituting 31,121 dunums (94.1% of the total area) is classified as Area C, where Israel retains full control over security and administration related to the territory. In Area C, Palestinian building and land management is prohibited except through consent or authorization by the Israeli Civil Administration. Most of the lands lying within Area C are agricultural areas and open spaces, in addition to Israeli military camps. According to villagers 75% of its land has been confiscated for Israeli settlements, military bases and natural reserves.'Israeli settlers torch mosque in Ramallah-area village,' Ma'an News Agency 12 November 2014
On 12 November 2014, the al-Mughayyir mosque was damaged extensively when it was torched, reportedly by settlers in what was believd to be a price-tag attack."Protection of Civilians: 11– 17 November 2014", OCHA November According to Haaretz journalist Chaim Levinson, it was the tenth such mosque subject to arson in Israel and the West Bank since June 2011, and no investigation has ever led to an indictment."Ten torched mosques, zero indictments". Chaim Levinson, 13 November 2014, Haaretz.
On the November 25, 2018, another price tag attack left eight cars damaged, and graffiti stating "Death to the Arabs", "Revenge", and "Price Tag".The sadists who destroyed a decades-old Palestinian olive grove can rest easy, by Gideon Levy and Alex Levac, 24 January 2019, Haaretz.
2019 killing On January 26, 2019, 38-year-old local resident Hamdy Taleb Na'asan was shot in the back and killed, and 10 other Palestinians were wounded. The Israeli army believed that Israeli settlers from Adei Ad had fired the shots. The head of the al-Mughayyir village council told Haaretz: "We're not entirely sure who was hit by military fire and who was hit by settler (shooting), but there undoubtedly are some hit by the settlers, who had attacked the houses unprovoked."Palestinian shot dead by settler in West Bank clashes, IDF officials believe, Jack Khoury, Yotam Berger, Yaniv Kubovich, 26 Jan. 2019, Haaretz The Israeli settlers gave conflicting stories about how the disturbances started, but ended by telling that according to an Israeli hiker, claiming to stabbed, the altercation began some 200 meters from Adei Ad when three Arabs ambushed him and attempted to drag him to the village. The Israeli army expressed "doubts" that the teen was stabbed, while the al-Mughayyir villagers flatly denied it, and Yesh Din also said the settlers initiated the disturbances.Palestinians, IDF clash in second day of violence near al-Mughayer, Tovah Lazaroff, 27 January 2019, The Jerusalem Post.Palestinian killed in violent altercation with settlers over Shabbat JPost, 26 January 2018No settlers questioned after Palestinian shot dead in the West Bank, Yotam Berger, Jack Khoury, January 28, 2019, Haaretz
2020 killing In December 2020, Ali Ayman Abu Aliya, 13 years old, was killed during protests at the village against "the construction of a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank". Abu Aliya was hit in the abdomen during clashes with the Israeli army, where the army had used 0.22-inch calibre Ruger ammunition. The UN Middle East envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, described the killing as "shocking and unacceptable"."Israel to investigate shooting of Palestinian child", Oliver Holmes, 7 Dec. 2020, The Guardian. According to the DCIP; "Ali did not present any threat to Israeli forces at the time he was killed".Israeli forces shoot, kill 16-year-old Palestinian boy, May 5, 2021, dci-palestine.orgIsraeli forces shoot and kill 15-year-old Palestinian boy, Dec 04, 2020, dci-palestine.org
Tree wars According to The Economist in October 2009, 200 olive trees belonging to villagers from al-Mughayyir were felled by settlers from the illegal settler outpost at Adei Ad, near Shvut Rachel. October is harvest time for olives and is often a time of "tension between Palestinian farmers and Jewish settlers", and The Economist tied the destruction of trees to the settlers' 'price tag policy.
In her 2009 publication entitled Tree Flags, legal scholar and ethnographer Irus Braverman describes how Palestinians identify olive groves as an emblem or symbol of their longtime, steadfast agricultural connection (tsumud) to the land.
"More than 80,000 Palestinian farmers derive a substantial portion of their annual income from olives. Harvesting the fruit, pressing the oil, selling and sharing the produce is a ritual of life."
In January 2019, twenty-five 35-year-old olive trees were cut down by vandals who left vehicle tracks leading to the nearby Israeli outpost of Mevo Shiloh, but no disciplinary action was taken by Israeli authorities.
April 2024 settler rampage On April 12, during the April 2024 Israeli settler rampages following the killing of Benjamin Achimeir, settlers surrounded the village and about 500 of them (according to the head of the village council) broke into it, burning houses and vehicles, including a fire engine that was called to deal with the fires, and attacking residents with shots and stones. A resident of the village, 26-year-old Jihad Abu Alia was killed and 25 residents were injured in the attack. According to eyewitnesses, military forces arrived at the scene but did not try to stop the attack. The next day the village was attacked again and three of its residents were injured, one of them seriously.
May 2025 settler violence Om May 18, Hilltop Youth settlers built an illegal outpost 100 meters from the closest house in the village.Five Days After Building an Outpost on the Edge of a West Bank Palestinian Village, Israeli Settlers Drove Locals Out, by Hagar Shezaf. May 26 2025, Haaretz The 150 Palestinian inhabitants were forced to leave their homes. The settlers harassed and threw stones at the Palestinian villagers as they tried to take their belongings and dismantle the wooden and metal frames of their houses. Police and soldiers were present in the village but did not intervene.Israeli settlers force about 150 Palestinians to leave their West Bank village, by Quique Kierszenbaum in Mughayyir al-Deir and Emma Graham-Harrison in Jerusalem. May 23 2025, The Guardian.
On 2 March 2026, settlers blocked the only entrance to the village of al-Mughayyir, removed Palestinian flags, and attacked a shepherd. Soldiers who arrived at the scene fired tear gas into the village and toward residents who attempted to push the settlers back.
The following day, settlers and soldiers reportedly set up a checkpoint at the village entrance shortly after the daily fast ended. According to reports, a settler struck a 55-year-old man with a stick while he was being held at the checkpoint, as soldiers stood by without intervening. Paramedics who attempted to treat him were also attacked by settlers or soldiers. The injured man required ten stitches to his head.
2026 settler and IDF violence