Beit Rima
| Bani Zeid | |
|---|---|
| Other transcription(s) | |
| • Arabic | بني زيد |
| • Also spelled | Bani Zeid al-Gharbiyya (official) Bani Zayd Bani Zaid West Bani Zeid (unofficial) |
 Bani Zeid
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| Coordinates: 32°02′28″N 35°06′6″E / 32.04111°N 35.10167°ECoordinates: 32°02′28″N 35°06′6″E / 32.04111°N 35.10167°E | |
| Palestine grid | 159/161 |
| Governorate | Ramallah & al-Bireh |
| Government | |
| • Type | Municipality |
| • Head of Municipality | Abdel Karim Abu Aql |
| Population (2007) | |
| • Jurisdiction | 5,515 |
| Name meaning | "[the] Zaid Tribe" |
Bani Zeid (Arabic: بني زيد) is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the north-central West Bank, located 27 kilometers (17 mi) northwest of Ramallah, about 45 kilometers northwest of Jerusalem and about 6 kilometers (3.7 mi) southwest of Salfit. A town of over 5,500 inhabitants, Bani Zeid was founded when the villages of Deir Ghassaneh and Beit Rima merged to form a municipality in 1966 during Jordanian rule. The town owes its name to the Arab tribe that was granted the area as a fief by the Ayyubid sultan Saladin in the 12th century for having served in the Muslim army during the first Crusades. It was settled by members of the tribe alongside the native fellahin ("peasantry") during the reign of Mamluk sultan Baibars in the mid-13th century. During Ottoman rule, the area of Bani Zeid served as a sheikdom with some administrative capacity. It consisted of several villages with Deir Ghassaneh as its center. During that time, the Barghouti family dominated the sheikdom.
During the 1936–39 Arab revolt against British Mandate rule, Deir Ghassaneh was the scene of rebel gatherings and British military raids. In 1967, Bani Zeid was occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War, but it was transferred to full Palestinian security and administrative control in 2000. The next year it became the first Palestinian-controlled town to be the site of major operation by Israeli forces during the Second Intifada. When Fathiya Barghouti Rheime was elected mayor in 2005, Bani Zeid became the first Palestinian locality with a woman as head of the municipality, in concurrence with nearby Ramallah. The current mayor is Abdel Karim Abu Aql, elected in 2012.
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