Deir Dibwan

Deir Dibwan (Arabic: دير دبوان‎) is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the central West Bank 7 kilometers east of Ramallah. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics the town had a population of approximately 5,252 inhabitants in mid-year 2006. There were 5,016 people from Deir Dibwan living abroad. Deir Dibwan was built close to the ruins of Et-Tell.

Name

The word "Deir" means monastery (church or temple) and the word "dibwan" came from the name of the "divan", or Council. It has also been called Deir Dubwan, where "Dubwan" is a proper name.

History

Et-Tell is a mound located just west of the village.

Potsherds from the Middle Bronze Age, Iron Age II, Hellenistic/Roman, Byzantine, Crusader/Ayyubid and Mamluk era have been found.

Deir Dibwan have been identified with the Crusader site named Dargebaam, or Dargiboan.

Ottoman era

Potsherds from the early Ottoman era have been found.

In the late Ottoman period, in 1838, the American scholar Edward Robinson described Deir Dibwan as being "tolerably wealthy", and reportedly the producer of great quantities of figs.