It has been suggested that this was the place mentioned in
Crusader sources as Zibi,[4] but this is not supported by archeological evidence, as the earliest
potsherds found here date back to the
Ottoman period.[5]
Ottoman era
In 1517, the village came under Ottoman rule with the rest of
Palestine and in the 1596
tax-records it was in the Nahiya of Jabal Quds of the Liwa of
Al-Quds. The population was 25 households, all
Muslim. They paid a fixed tax rate of 33.3% on agricultural products, which included wheat, barley, olive trees, vineyards, fruit trees, goats and beehives in addition to "occasional revenues"; a total of 3,290
akçe.[6]Sherds from the early Ottoman era have been found here.[5]
In 1838 it was noted as Deir Bezi'a, a Muslim village, located in the Beni Harith region, north of Jerusalem.[7][8]
In 1870,
Victor Guérin described the village, which he called Deir Ebzieh, as being: "situated on a summit of very difficult access and contains four hundred inhabitants, all Moslems; some houses are large and fairly well built. I notice with the medhafeh (guest house) a fragment of carved stone which carries the debris of a mutilated
rosette."[9] An Ottoman village list of about the same year, 1870, showed that der bezei had 239 inhabitants with 51 houses, though the population count included only the men. It further noted that the village was north of
Bethoron, that is, north of
Beit Ur al-Fauqa and
Beit Ur al-Tahta.[10][11]
In 1882, the
PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Deir Ibzia as: "a village of moderate size on a ridge, with a
well to the west, and surrounded by olives".[12]
In 1896 the population of Der bezei was estimated to be about 279 persons.[13]
In the
1945 statistics, the population of Deir Ibzi was 410 Muslims,[16] with 14,285 dunams (14.3 km2; 5.5 sq mi) of land under their jurisdiction, according to an official land and population survey.[17] Of this, 6,418 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 2,670 were for cereals,[18] while 51 dunams (5.1 ha; 12.6 acres) were built-up (urban) land.[19]
The Jordanian census of 1961 found 542 inhabitants in Deir Ibzi.[20]
1967-present
Since the
Six-Day War in 1967, Deir Ibzi has been under
Israeli occupation. The population in the 1967 census conducted by the Israeli authorities was 536, 34 of whom originated from the Israeli territory.[21]
After the
1995 accords, 27% of village land was classified as
Area B, the remaining 73% as
Area C. Israel has confiscated land from Deir Ibzi for bypass roads, in addition to 22
dunams taken for the
Israeli settlement of
Dolev.[22] This included spring Ein Bubin, now used by the Israeli settlers in Dolev for their own irrigation projects.[23][24]