Sherds from the
Hellenistic,
Roman and
Byzantine eras have been found here. A grave, with three
arcosolia, and with coins from the reign of
Constantine the Great have been excavated here. Sherds from the
Umayyad,
Crusader/
Ayyubid and
Mamluk eras have also been found.
Ottoman era Ein Yabrud, like the rest of
Palestine, was incorporated into the
Ottoman Empire in 1517, and in the
census of 1596, the village was noted in the
Nahiya of Quds of the
Liwa of
Quds under the name of '
Ayn Ibrud. The population was 24 households, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33.3% on various agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, olive trees, vineyards, fruit trees, goats and/or beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues"; a total of 8,700
akçe. In 1838,
Edward Robinson noted Ein Yabrud "on the top of a hill". It was further noted as Muslim village, located in the
Beni Murrah region, north of Jerusalem. In 1863
Victor Guérin found it to have 800 inhabitants. He further noted that a number of houses were built with antique materials.
Socin found from an official Ottoman village list from about 1870 that the village had 66 houses and a population of 282, though the population count only included men. It was further noted that it was located one hour north of
Beitin. In 1882 the
PEF's
Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described '
Ain Yebrud as: "A village of moderate size on the top of a hill, well built, surrounded with fine groves of olives, with a
well on the north-east." In 1896 the population of '
Ain jabrud was estimated to be about 573 persons.
British Mandate era In the
1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the
British Mandate authorities, the population numbered 576 Muslims, increasing in the
1931 census to 788 inhabitants, in 178 houses. In the
1945 statistics Ein Yabrud had a population of 930 Muslims, and a total land area of 11,488
dunams. 3,151 dunams were for plantations and irrigable land, 3,632 for cereals, while 88 dunams were built-up areas.
Jordanian era In the wake of the
1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the
1949 Armistice Agreements, Ein Yabrud came under
Jordanian rule.
Jordan confiscated lands of Ein Yabrud and nearby
Silwad for the construction of a military camp before the
Six-Day War. The Jordanian census of 1961 found 1,501 inhabitants in Ein Yabrud.
Post-1967 Since the
Six-Day War in 1967, Ein Yabrud has been under
Israeli occupation. After the
1995 accords, 34.3% of village land is classified as
Area B land, while the remaining 65.7% is classified as
Area C. Israel has
confiscated land from Ein Yarbrud for two
settlements: 1,252
dunams for
Ofra and 137 dunams for
Beit El. The Jordanian buildings formed the initial basis of the Israeli settlement of Ofra founded in 1975. Ein Yabrud is the home village of
Hamas military commander Maher Udda. ==References==