At-Tur is believed to be the location of the site of
Bethphage (; ), a place mentioned in the
New Testament. Archaeological excavations uncovered rock-cut installations, a quarry, columbarium, and rock-cut caves. Also found at the site are burial caves believed to date from the
Second Temple period.
Ottoman Empire In 1596, the village appeared as
Tur Zayta in
Ottoman tax registers as being in the
Nahiya of Quds of the
Liwa of Quds. It had a population of 48 households and 8 bachelors, all
Muslim, and paid taxes on wheat, barley, vines or fruit trees, and goats or beehives, a total of 3,200
akçe. In 1838, in the
Biblical Researches in Palestine, it was noted as a Muslim village, located in
el-Wadiyeh district, east of Jerusalem. An Ottoman village list of about 1870 counted 38 houses and a population of 127, though the population count included only men. It was described as a village on the Mount of Olives. In 1883, the
Palestine Exploration Fund's
Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described At-Tur as "a small straggling village on the top of Olivet. The houses are built of stone, but low and mean. The church of the Ascension, now a mosque, stands towards the west at the brow of the hill." In 1896 the population of
Et-tur was estimated to be about 474 persons.
British Mandate In the
1922 census of Palestine conducted by the
British Mandate authorities, At Tur had a population 1,037; 806 Muslims and 231 Christians, increasing in the
1931 census to 2,090; 12 Jews, 253 Christians and 1,825 Muslims, in 400 houses. In the
1945 statistics the population of Et Tur was 2,770; 2,380 Muslims and 390 Christians, who owned 8,808
dunams of land according to an official land and population survey. 228 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 2,838 for cereals, while 86 dunams were built-up (urban) land.
Jordan After the
1948 Arab-Israeli War, At-Tur came under
Jordanian rule. The Jordanian census of 1961 found 4,289 inhabitants in At-Tur, of whom 686 were Christian.
Israel During the 1967
Six-Day War, At-Tur came under
Israeli occupation, remaining so after the war. In 2024, At-Tur had a population of 18,150, mostly
Muslims, with a small
Christian minority and a few dozen families of
Israeli Jews. Jewish Israelis have been buying properties in the neighbourhood and have been resettling the
Mount of Olives at a growing rate. On Friday, 24 April 2015, a 16-year-old resident of at-Tur was shot dead by Israeli soldiers at the Az-Zaim checkpoint. The police said he attacked with a knife, but his family denied this. == Landmarks ==