Remains from the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Crusader, and Mamluk periods have been found. It has been proposed that Taibe was
Tubi, listed among the places paying tribute to
Thutmose III.
Roman and Byzantine empires North east of the village
sarcophagus remains have been found. This area apparently functioned as a graveyard during the
Roman and
Byzantine eras. In 2021, archaeologist announced the discovery of an engraved stone from the late
5th century from the frame of an entrance door of a church, with a mosaic
Greek inscription. The inscription reads “
Christ born of Mary."This work of the most God-fearing and pious bishop [Theodo]sius and the miserable Th[omas] was built from the foundation. Whoever enters should pray for them”. According to archaeologist Dr. Walid Atrash, Theodosius was one of the first Christian bishops and he served as the regional archbishop. This church was the first evidence of the Byzantine church’s existence in Taybeh.
Crusaders and Caliphates During the
Crusader period there was a castle here called (Le)
Forbelet (in medieval Arabic: 'Afrabala). It was probably
Hospitaller and dependent on nearby
Belvoir. In July 1182 the castle was the background of the pitched large-scale Battle of Forbelet between
Baldwin IV and
Saladin. The castle was sacked by
Saladin in 1183, and occupied by the
Muslims besieging Belvoir in 1187-88.
Ottoman Empire Taibe was incorporated into the
Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of Palestine, and in 1596 it appeared in the
tax registers under the name of
Tayyibat al-Ism as being in the
Nahiya of Shafa of the
Liwa of
Lajjun. It had a population of 13
Muslim households and paid taxes on wheat, barley, summer crops, and goats or beehives; a total of 5,300
Akçe.
Pierre Jacotin named the village
Taibeh on his map from 1799. In 1870–1871 an Ottoman census listed the village as Tayiba-i Zu'bi, after its resident clan, in the
nahiya (sub-district) of Shafa al-Shamali. In 1875, the French explorer
Victor Guérin visited the village and described it as poor, but formerly an important city, while in 1882 the
Palestine Exploration Fund's
Survey of Western Palestine described Taibe as: "A straggling village, of moderate size, lying on flat ground, and containing several good stone houses. There is one in the middle of the village, belonging to the Sheikh, which is larger than the rest."
British Mandate In a
census conducted in 1922 by the
British Mandate authorities, Taibeh had a population of 220, all Muslim, while at the time of the
1931 census, At-Taiyiba had 43 occupied houses and a population of 186 Muslims. In the
1945 statistics Taibe had a population of 280 Muslims counted with 150 Jews at
Moledet) with 7,127
dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 7,103 dunams were used for cereals, while 22 dunams were built-up land.
Israel Since 1948 Taibe has been part of the state of Israel. To mark Israel's 60th anniversary in 2008, the dome of the local mosque was painted in the Israeli colors, blue and white. Nearly all the residents of Taibe are members of the Zuabi family, one of the larger
48-Palestinian clans. ==See also==