What is "battir"

Battir is a Palestinian village in the West Bank, 6.4 km west of Bethlehem, and southwest of Jerusalem.

Ancient Betar, whose name Battir preserves, was a second-century Jewish village and fortress, the site of the final battle of the Bar Kokhba revolt. It was inhabited during the Byzantine and Islamic periods, and in the Ottoman and British Mandate censuses its population was recorded as primarily Muslim. Battir is situated just above the route of the Jaffa–Jerusalem railway, which served as the armistice line between Israel and Jordan from 1949 until the Six-Day War, when it was captured by Israel. In former times, the city lay along the route from Jerusalem to Bet Gubrin. In 2007, Battir had a population of about 4,000 and was under the control of the Palestinian National Authority.