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Balata village () is a Palestinian suburb of Nablus, in the northern West Bank, located east of the city center. Formerly its own village, it was annexed to the municipality of Nablus during rule (1948–1967).Abujidi, 2014, p. 96 The village contains a number of well-known sites: Tell Balata (considered to be Biblical Shechem), Jacob's Well and Joseph's Tomb.
The village is just north of Balata Camp, one of the largest Palestinian refugee camps.
The village's name is transcribed in the writings of Eusebius (d. circa 339) and Jerome (d. 420), as Balanus or Balata.Conder, 1878, p. 70Forlong, 1998, p. 343. In the Samaritan chronicles, its Arabic names are transcribed as Balata ("a pavement of flat stone slabs") and Shejr al-Kheir ("tree of grace"). In the writings of Yaqut al-Hamawi (d. 1229), the Syrian geographer, its name is transcribed as al-Bulāṭa.Houstma, 1987, p. 616
One theory holds that balata is a derivation of the Aramaic language word Balut, meaning "acorn" (or, in Arabic, "oak"), while another theory holds that it is a derivation of the Byzantine Empire-Roman era, from the Greek language word platanos, meaning "terebinth", which grew around the village spring.Mazar and Ahituv, 1992, p. 53.Crown et al., 1993, p. 39
The history of the village is tied to that Jacob's Well and Joseph's Tomb. Benjamin of Tudela, (d. 1173), who visited the site in the 12th century, places it "A sabbath-way distance from Shechem," and says it contains Joseph's sepulcher.Benjamin of Tudela et al., 1841, p. 426. Yaqut al-Hamawi (d. 1229) wrote that it was "a village of the Nablus District in Filastin. The Jews say that it was here that Nimrud (Nimrod) ibn Ka´an threw Abraham into the fire; the learned, however, say this took place at Babil (Babylon), in Irak -and Allah alone knows the truth. There is here the spring called Ain al Khidr. Yusuf (Joseph) as Sadik -peace be on him! - was buried here, and his tomb is well known, lying under the tree".quoted in Le Strange, 1890, p. 416
The church built around Jacob's Well and the lands of the village of Balata belonged to the Benedictine nuns of Bethany in the 12th century.Pringle, 1993, p. 258 Written documentation from this time of the Crusades indicates that, Balata, also known as Balathas, was a Franks settlement.Ellenblum, 2003, pp. xix, 224
Ballata was destroyed in the early 19th century during local conflicts. It was used by barracks by Jazzar Pasha's army. Later, it was repopulated by from Beita, as well as others from the Gaza City and Hebron (Duweiqat) areas, who had previously resided in Beita.Grossman, D. (1986). "Oscillations in the Rural Settlement of Samaria and Judaea in the Ottoman Period". in Shomron studies. Dar, S., Safrai, S., (eds). Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House. p. 352
In 1870, Victor Guérin found here a small village, with about twenty houses. It had abundant waters, which were distributed to the fields in a canal, with "beautiful antique tiles".Guérin, 1874, pp. 382-384 In 1882, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine described Balata as a small hamlet in the valley, of low howels, near a beautiful spring. On the east were figs and mulberries.Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 168
A 1900 report by Conrad Schick for the Palestine Exploration Fund describes Balata as a hamlet made up of a few huts surrounded by gardens that lay to the west of Jacob's Well and its accompanying church complex, at that time in ruins.Schick, 1900, pp. 61-63
In the 1945 statistics, Balata had a population of 770 Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 18 with a total of 3,000 dunams of land,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Sami Hadawi, 1970, p. 61 living in a built-up area of 25 .Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Sami Hadawi, 1970, p. 155 Of the land, 95 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, while 1,832 dunams were used for cereals.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 105
In 1961, the population was 2,292.Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 15
During the First Intifada, whenever the refugee camp was placed under curfew by the occupying authorities, so too was the village. Law in the Service of Man, 1990, p. 185, note #18.
The village contains an old mosque, five schools, and the village spring, which served as the main water source, is known as Ain el-Khidr. Education and medical services in the Balata refugee camp are provided by UNRWA. While electricity and running water supplies were often irregular, the camp was better off in terms of public services than the village of Balata, which lacked piped water, and depended upon private electricity generators and Israeli-run education and medical services, until some after the establishment of the Palestinian National Authority following the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993.Moors, 1995, p. 44
USAID sponsors a flagship program involving the Balata Al-Balad Women's Society in the village that seeks to increase coordination between community-based organizations and the Palestinian Ministry of Health to improve the provision of health care services.
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