Bil'in
| Bil'in | |
|---|---|
| Other transcription(s) | |
| • Arabic | بلعين |
| • Also spelled | Bilin (unofficial) |
View of Bil'in
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 Bil'in
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| Coordinates: 31°55′40″N 35°04′16″E / 31.92778°N 35.07111°ECoordinates: 31°55′40″N 35°04′16″E / 31.92778°N 35.07111°E | |
| Governorate | Ramallah & al-Bireh |
| Government | |
| • Type | Village council |
| • Head of Municipality | Ahmed Issa Abdullah Yassin |
| Area | |
| • Jurisdiction | 3,983 dunams (4.0 km2 or 1.5 sq mi) |
| Population (2007) | |
| • Jurisdiction | 1,701 |
| Name meaning | Belain (personal name) |
Bil'in (Arabic: بلعين) is a Palestinian village located in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) west of the city of Ramallah in the central West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Bil'in has a population of 1,800, mostly Muslims. It is internationally known for protests against the Israeli occupation and the community leader, Abdullah Abu Rahmah, who heads the weekly protests, is under indictment for what the prosecution has called the 'ideological crime' of taking illegal actions on the West Bank.
Potsherds from the Hellenistic, Byzantine, Crusader/Ayyubid, and Mamluk periods have been found.
Potsherds from the early Ottoman period have been found.
In 1863, the French explorer Victor Guérin saw it from a distance, and described it a small hamlet, while an official Ottoman village list of about 1870 showed 32 houses and a population of 147, though the population count included men only. In 1882 the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine described Bil'in (then called Belain) as "a little village on a hill-side".
In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Bil'in had a population of 133, all Muslim, increasing in the 1931 census to 166, still all Muslims, in a total of 39 houses.
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