History of Sur Bahir

In 1945 the population of Sur Baher, together with Umm Tuba, was 2,450, all Arabs, who owned 8,915 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey. 911 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 3,927 used for cereals, while 56 dunams were built-up (urban) land.

During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War Sur Baher was captured by Jordanian forces, and became a part of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan until the Six-Day War in 1967, when it was captured by Israel.

Development projects

In 2000, the Israeli government and Jerusalem municipality approved building plans for two new high schools and a youth center. In September 2005, the Jerusalem municipality, in cooperation with the Israel Defense Forces, cleared a Jordanian minefield in Sur Baher. The work, carried out by an Israeli company, was completed by October 2005. In May 2007, the municipality built two schools on the cleared land: a girls school attended by 800 students, and Ibn Rushd, a boys school attended by 700 students