Shabtin is a Palestinian village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate of the State of Palestine, in the central West Bank.
Shabtin is located north-west of Ramallah. Shabtin is bordered by Al Itihad to the east, Shuqba to the north, Ni'lin to the west, and Deir Qaddis to the south.Shabtin Village Profile, ARIJ, p. 4
Etymology The name Šabtīn /Šibtīn/ is Aramaic, and means ““sticks, canes”.
History Just southeast of the village (at grid no. 1544/1528) is Kh. Shabtin, where pottery sherds from the Persian,Finkelstein et al, 1997, p. 194 Persian/Hellenistic, late Roman,Dauphin, 1998, p. 830 Byzantine Umayyad/Abbasid eras have been found. The SWP noted "Traces of ruins" here.Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 355
Pottery sherds from the Roman/Byzantine eras have been found at Shabtin.Finkelstein et al, 1997, p. 195
During the Crusader era, the area was a Crusader stronghold, centred around Aboud. Remains of a house from Crusader era have been identified in the centre of Shabtin.Ellenblum, 2003, pp. 134, 180
Sherds from the Mamluk era have been found in Shabtin, together with a hoard of 45 Mamluk gold coins.
Ottoman era The current village was founded in the 18th century or in the early 19th century.Grossman, D. (1986). "Oscillations in the Rural Settlement of Samaria and Judaea in the Ottoman Period". in Shomron studies. Dar, S., Safrai, S., (eds). Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House. p. 347
Sherds from the early Ottoman Empire has also been found here.
In the 1840s, the village got caught up in the Qays–Yaman rivalry and was at one time plundered.Macalister and Masterman, 1906, pp. 43-44
In 1870, Victor Guérin noted the village, Cheptin, on the slopes of a hill in the distance.Guérin, 1875, p. 81 An Ottoman village list of the same year, 1870, showed that Schetin had 16 houses and a population of 42, though the population count only included men.Socin, 1879, p.161 It was also noted to be in the Ramla district, and noted after Der KaddisHartmann, 1883, p. 140, also noted 16 houses
In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described ‘’Shebtin’’ as: "a small village in a valley, with a well to the east. It appears to be an ancient site, and has rock cut tombs south of it."Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 298
British Mandate era In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Shebtin had a population of 63 inhabitants, all Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table VII, Division Jaffa, Sub-district of Ramleh, p. 22 increasing in the 1931 census to a population of 110, still all Muslim, in 20 houses.Mills, 1932, p. 23
In 1945 statistics the population of Shabtin was 150 Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 30 with 4,423 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. 68 Of this, 27 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 1,158 dunams for cereals,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 117 while 7 dunams were built-up (urban) land.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 167
Jordanian era In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Shabtin came under Jordanian rule.
The Jordanian census of 1961 found 232 inhabitants.Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 24
Post-1967 During the Six-Day War in 1967, Shabtin came under Israeli occupation.
After the 1995 accords, 7.2% of Shabtin land was classified as Area B, the remaining 92.8% as Area C.Shabtin Village Profile, ARIJ, p. 15
Israel has confiscated 1,781 dunams of land from Shabtin in order to construct two settlements, Nili and Na'aleh.Shabtin Village Profile, ARIJ, p. 16
References
Bibliography
External links Welcome To Shabtin Survey of Western Palestine, Map 14: IAA, Wikimedia commons Shabtin Village (Fact Sheet), Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem (ARIJ) Shabtin Village Profile, ARIJ Shabtin photo, ARIJ