Bayt Jibrin was a Palestinian Arab village located 21 kilometers (13 mi) northwest of the city of Hebron. In the last census of Palestine in 1945, the population was 2,430. The village had a total land area of 56,185 dunams or 56.1 km2 (13,900 acres), of which 0.28 km2 (69 acres) were built-up while the rest remained farmland. The early inhabitants of Bayt Jibrin are believed to have been the Canaanites. The Romans conquered the town after the First Jewish-Roman War and it became a Roman colony and a major administrative center under the name of Eleutheropolis. In the early 7th century, Bayt Jibrin was conquered by Muslim forces led by 'Amr ibn al-'As. Under the Crusaders, who captured the city in the 11th century, the town declined economically, but prospered after its capture by the Mamluks. It fell to the Ottoman Turks centuries later and afterwards taxes were implemented on the town's goods. In the 19th century, the al-'Azza family took control of Bayt Jibrin and unsuccessfully attempted to rebel against the Ottomans, ending in the exile and execution of local leaders. Under the British Mandate of Palestine, Bayt Jibrin again served as a district center for surrounding villages. In the 1947 UN Partition Plan, it was designated as part of the Arab state, but was captured by Israeli forces during the 1948 War, causing its inhabitants to flee east. Today, many of these refugees and their descendants live in the 'Azza and Fawwar camps in the southern West Bank. The kibbutz of Beit Guvrin was established on Bayt Jibrin's lands in 1949.
