Beitunia
| Beitunia | ||
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| Other transcription(s) | ||
| • Arabic | بيتونيا | |
| • Also spelled | Beituniya (official) Beatonia (unofficial) |
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View of the city from the west
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 Beitunia
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| Coordinates: 31°53′20.24″N 35°10′03.12″E / 31.8889556°N 35.1675333°ECoordinates: 31°53′20.24″N 35°10′03.12″E / 31.8889556°N 35.1675333°E | ||
| Palestine grid | 166/143 | |
| Governorate | Ramallah & al-Bireh | |
| Government | ||
| • Type | Municipality | |
| • Head of Municipality | Ribhi Dola | |
| Area | ||
| • Jurisdiction | 26,174 dunams (26.2 km2 or 10.1 sq mi) | |
| Population (2007) | ||
| • Jurisdiction | 19,761 | |
| Name meaning | Beitunia, personal name | |
| Website | www.beitunia.ps | |
Beitunia (Arabic: بيتونيا), also Bitunya, is a Palestinian City located 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) west of Ramallah and 14 kilometers (8.7 mi) north of Jerusalem. The City is in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the central West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the City had a population of 19,761 in 2007, making it the third largest locality in its governorate after al-Bireh and Ramallah.
Potsherds from the Byzantine, Mamluk and early Ottoman period have been found.
In 1883, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine suggested that Beitunia was the Crusader village Uniet, which was one of 21 villages given by King Godfrey as a fief to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
However, in 1887, Röhricht identified Beitunia with Beitiumen, another fief given by the King to the Holy Sepulchre.Conder found this to be "evidently correct" and hence "very doubtful" that Beitunia was Uniet. Abel, writing in 1931, suggested that Beitunia was Beit Uniet, mentioned in an early 12th-century text.
A large vaulted building in the town, named Badd al Balad ("oil press of the village") has been dated to the Crusader era.
Beitunia, like the rest of Palestine, was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, and in the census of 1596, the village was located in the Nahiya of Quds of the Liwa of Quds. The population was 75 households and 5 bachelors, all Muslim. They paid taxes on wheat, barley, olives, vineyards, fruit trees, occasional revenues, goats and/or beehives.
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