Deir Jarir

Deir Jarir (دير جرير) is a Palestinian agricultural town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the central West Bank, located 12 km northeast of Ramallah. It is situated on a hilltop overlooking the Jordan Valley at an elevation of 900 m. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), Deir Jarir had a population of 4,469 inhabitants in 2017.

It spreads along a large land area of 33357 dunam, of which 17.2% is under the civil jurisdiction of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), while the remainder is under Israeli military control. Most of the land administered by the PNA is the city's built-up area and most of Deir Jarir's cultivated lands are grown with grape vines and fig and olive trees. Open-spaces make-up 76% of the town's area.

Location
Deir Jarir is located 12.2 km northeast of Ramallah. It is bordered by Al Auja to the east, Kafr Malik and Al Mazra'a ash Sharqiya to the north, Silwad to the west, and  Et Taiyiba to the south.

Name
The village name means "the monastery/house of Jerir", and is named, in the opinion of 19th-century orientalist E. H. Palmer, after the celebrated Arab poet Jarir.

History
Sherds from the Mamluk era have been found here. In 1354, in the Mamluk era, much of the revenue from Deir Jarir was given to a waqf in Jerusalem, to be used for the Khātūniyya Madrasa. In 1491-92, Deir Jarir yielded annually 3,800 aspers in revenue to this madrasa.

Ottoman period
In 1517, Deir Jarir was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire with the rest of Palestine, and in 1596 it appeared (with the name Dar Jarir) in the tax registers as being in the nahiya of Quds in the liwa of Quds. It had a population of 23 households, all Muslim. Taxes were paid on wheat, barley, olives, vineyards, fruit trees, occasional revenues, goats and/or bee hives; a total of 4,300 akçe. Shards from the early Ottoman era have also been found.

In 1838 it was noted as Deir Jureir, a Muslim village, located in the Beni Murrah region, north of Jerusalem.

The French explorer Victor Guérin visited the village in 1863 and in 1870, and he found it having about 200 inhabitants.

An Ottoman village list of about 1870 indicated 111 houses and a population of 394, though the population count included men only.

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Dar Jerir as "A village of moderate size, with ancient tombs to the south, and a spring to the west; a few olives on the same side."

In 1896 the population of Deir Jarir was estimated to be about 828 persons.

British Mandate
In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, the village, named Dair Ijreer, had a population of 739, all Muslim. In the 1931 census the population of Deir Jarir was a total of 847, still entirely Muslim, in 172 inhabited houses.

In the 1945 statistics, the population of Deir Jarir was 1,080, all Muslims, who owned 33,161 dunam of land according to an official land and population survey. 3,091 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 6,499 used for cereals, while 40 dunam were built-up (urban) land.

Jordanian period
In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Deir Jarir came under Jordanian rule. It was annexed by Jordan in 1950.

The Jordanian census of 1961 found 1,474 inhabitants in Deir Jarir.

1967-present
Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Deir Jarir has been under Israeli occupation. The population of Deir Jerir in the 1967 census conducted by the Israeli authorities was 1,275, 18 of whom originated from the Israeli territory.

After the 1995 accords, 15% of village land was classified as Area B, the remaining 85% as Area C. Israel has confiscated 1,264 of dunams of village land for the construction of the Israeli settlement of Kokhav HaShahar.

In September 2005, hundreds of armed residents from Deir Jarir attacked the nearby town of Taybeh, which was provoked by a family feud. The feud was caused by a Christian man from Taybeh allegedly having intimate relations with a Muslim woman from Deir Jarir. The attack left 13 houses burnt, and three men were arrested (two from Deir Jarir and one from Taybeh). Despite the incident, the neighboring towns continue to have healthy relations; residents say "the people of Taybeh and the people of Deir Jarir are one family".