Ancient period Battir is built just north east of
Khirbet el-Yahud (), also known as Tel Beitar, an
archeological site that comprises the ruins of ancient
Betar. It was continuously inhabited since the
Iron Age up until the second century CE, when the Romans destroyed it during the
Bar Kokhba revolt. Spearheads, stone balls, vessels, two cisterns, and coins from both the
First Jewish-Roman War and the
Bar Kokhba revolt were found in Battir in 1907 when three local families who owned the land near the ruin began cleaning the stones. The
Warren Cup is also said to have been found near Battir. According to one Jewish tradition, it is also the site of the tomb of the
Tannaic sage
Eleazar of Modi'im.
Byzantine period A
mosaic from the late
Byzantine or
early Islamic period was found in Battir.
Ottoman period 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 households and two bachelors, all
Muslims, and paid taxes on wheat, summer crops or fruit trees, and goats or beehives; a total of 4,800
Akçe. All of the revenue went to a
Waqf. In 1838 it was noted as
Bittir, a Muslim village in the
Beni Hasan district, west of Jerusalem. French explorer
Victor Guérin visited the place in 1863, while an Ottoman village list from about 1870 showed that Battir had a population of 239, in a total of 62 houses, though that population count only included men. It was further noted that it had "a beautiful spring flowing through the courtyard of the
mosque". In 1883, the
PEF's
Survey of Western Palestine described Battir as a moderate sized village, on the precipitous slope of a deep valley. In 1896 the population of
Bettir was estimated to be about 750 persons. passing through Battir. The
1949 armistice line passes just south of the railway, placing it on the Israeli side. 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.
British Mandate period In the
1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the
British Mandate authorities, Batir had an all Muslim population of 542 persons, increasing in the
1931 census to 758; 755 Muslims, two Christians and one Jew, in 172 houses. In the
1945 statistics the population of Battir was 1,050, all Muslims, with a total of 8,028
dunams of land according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 1,805 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 2,287 for cereals, while 73 dunams were built-up (urban) land.
Jordanian period 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 between the railroad and the main part of the village, with Battir ending up just meters from
Jordan's border with Israel on the Jordanian side. At least 30% of Battir's land lies on the Israeli side of the Green Line, as well as a few of its buildings, but the villagers were allowed to keep it in return for preventing damage to the railway, The Jordanian census of 1961 found 1,321 inhabitants in Battir.
Post-1967 Since the
Six-Day War in 1967, the status of Battir changed from
Jordanian rule on to
Israeli occupation. The population in the 1967 census was 1445. Since the signing of the
Oslo II Accord in 1995, Battir has been administered by the
Palestinian National Authority (PNA). It is governed by a village council currently administrated by nine members appointed by the PNA. 23.7% of the village's lands were classified as
Area B, while the remaining 76.3% were classified as
Area C. in 2012 the population was estimated at 4,500. In 2024, Israel approved a new settlement on the UNESCO World Heritage Site, which
Peace Now denounced as a threat to Battir's "ancient terraces and sophisticated irrigation systems, evidence of thousands of years of human activity". ==Geography==