Beit Lid () is a Palestinian town in the Tulkarm Governorate in the northeastern West Bank, located a 10 kilometers southeast of Tulkarm and west of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 5,606 inhabitants in 2017. In 1922, it had 653 inhabitants, which rose to 1,807 in 1961.

History Byzantine ceramics have been found here.Dauphin, 1998, p. 768

The village mosque has a large gate with a triple arch. An inscription over the lintel is a construction text, commemorating the building of the mosque. It dates from the late Mamluk, or early Ottoman period.Sharon, 1999, pp. 152 -153

Ottoman era Beit Lid, like all of Palestine was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517. In the 1596 tax registers, it was part of the nahiya ("subdistrict") of Jabal Sami, part of the larger Sanjak of Nablus. It had a population of 64 households, all Muslims. The inhabitants paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues and a press for olive oil or grape syrup; a total of 17,310 akçe. Half of the revenues went to a Waqf.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 126

In 1838, Edward Robinson passed it in the distance,Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol. 3, p. 137 and placed it in the Wady esh-Sha'ir administrative region, west of Nablus.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd Appendix, p. 129 In 1863 Victor Guérin noted it as a considerable village which occupied the top of a high hill; containing a thousand inhabitants. The houses were crudely built.Guérin, 1875, pp. 211 -212

In the 1860s, the Ottoman authorities granted the village an agricultural plot of land called Ghabat Beit Lid in the former confines of the Forest of Arsur (Ar. Al-Ghaba) in the coastal plain, west of the village. This formed the foundation for the village of Khirbat Bayt Lid, founded by some Beit Lid's residents.Marom, Roy, "The Contribution of Conder's Tent Work in Palestine for the Understanding of Shifting Geographical, Social and Legal Realities in the Sharon during the Late Ottoman Period", in Gurevich D. and Kidron, A. (eds.), Exploring the Holy Land: 150 Years of the Palestine Exploration Fund, Sheffield, UK, Equinox (2019), pp. 212-231

In 1870/1871 (1288 AH), an Ottoman census listed the village in the nahiya (sub-district) of Wadi al-Sha'ir.

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Beit Lid as “A village of small size, built on a hill rising 600 feet above the valley south of it. The houses are of stone, and supplied by a well on the south-east, lower down. A few olives grow round the village.”Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 159

British Mandate era In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Beit Lid's population was 653, all Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Tulkarem, p. 27 increasing in the 1931 census to 738 residents, still all Muslim, in a total of 171 houses.Mills, 1932, p. 53

In the 1945 statistics the population of Beit Lid was 960 Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 20 and the land area was 16,752 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 74 1,044 dunams were for citrus and bananas, 3,264 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 4,473 used for cereals,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 124 while 22 dunams were built-up (urban) land.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 174

1948-1967 In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Beit Lid came under Jordanian rule.

In 1961, the population of Beit Lid was 1,807.Government of Jordan, 1964, p. 27

Post-1967 After the Six-Day War in 1967, Beit Lid has been under Israeli occupation.

Agriculture is a major economic sector in Beit Lid, with olives, almonds, figs, grapes and grains being the primary crops grown on 16,753 dunams. Until recently, agriculture employed most of the working males of the town, however, many residents are employed in small business professions, such as construction, blacksmithing and electricity. Many in Beit Lid that worked inside Israel, have been unemployed since the Second Intifada and the difficult conditions surrounding it.Information of Beit Lid PalestineRemembered. 2001-03-21.

There are four schools (two primary and two secondary), four kindergartens, a clinic operated by the Palestinian National Authority and founded in 1964. Beit Lid contains four mosques, including Masjid al-Qadim, Masjid Fatima Zahra, Masjid as-Salaam and Masjid Salah ad-Din.

See also Beit Lid suicide bombing (January 1995)

References

Bibliography

External links Welcome To Bayt Lid Beit Lid, Welcome to Palestine Survey of Western Palestine, Map 11: IAA, Wikimedia commons