The
Chapel of the Ascension is located in At-Tur. Located on the Mount of Olives, the chapel is part of a larger complex consisting first of a Christian church and monastery, then an Islamic mosque. It is located on a site which the Christian faithful traditionally believe to be the earthly spot where Jesus ascended into Heaven forty days after his resurrection.
Ottoman era
In 1596, the village appeared as Tur Zayta in
Ottomantax registers as being in the Nahiya of Quds of the Liwa of Quds. It had a population of 48 households and 8 bachelors, all
Muslim, and paid taxes on wheat, barley, vines or fruit trees, and goats or beehives, a total of 3,200
akçe.[3]
An Ottoman village list of about 1870 counted 38 houses and a population of 127, though the population count included only men. It was described as a village on the Mount of Olives.[6][7]
In 1883, the
Palestine Exploration Fund's
Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described At-Tur as "a small straggling village on the top of Olivet. The houses are built of stone, but low and mean. The church of the Ascension, now a mosque, stands towards the west at the brow of the hill."[8]
In 1896 the population of Et-tur was estimated to be about 474 persons.[9]
In the
1945 statistics the population of Et Tur was 2,770; 2,380 Muslims and 390 Christians,[12] who owned 8,808
dunams of land according to an official land and population survey.[13] 228 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 2,838 for cereals,[14] while 86 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[15]
The Al-Makassed Islamic Charitable Hospital, a 250-bed medical facility with in-patient and out-patient services is located in At-Tur.[21]
Jewish Israelis have been buying properties in the neighbourhood and have been resettling the
Mount of Olives at a growing rate.
On Friday, 24 April 2015, a 16-year-old resident of at-Tur was shot dead by Israeli soldiers at the Az-Zaim checkpoint. The police said he attacked with a knife, but his family denied this.[22]