Bil'in did not appear in records from the 16th century. It was a small village in the 19th century, settled by families that were once nomads in the Shephelah and had origins in Bayt Jibrin and Iraq al-Manshiyya.[7]
In 1838 it was noted as a Muslim village, Ba'lin, in the Gaza district,[8] being smaller than nearby Barqusya.[9]
In the 1945 statistics, the village together with Ard el Ishra had a population of 180 Muslims,[2] and the land area was 8,036 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[3] Of this, 143 dunams were for plantations and irrigable land, 6,972 for cereals,[14] while 6 dunams were built-up areas.[15]
Bi'lin had an elementary school which was founded in 1937 and a shrine for al-Shaykh Ya'qub.[16]
Bil'in 1945 1:250,000 (bottom left quadrant)Bil'in 1948 1:20,000
Post 1948
Qedma started using some of the village land after 1948.[5]
In 1992 the village site was described: "All that remains is the rubble of a few houses, with wild herbs and thorns growing on the site, along with some trees and cactus plants. The site is surrounded by barbed wire. Parts of the surrounding land are planted with mango trees and grapes, while others serve as pastures."[5]
^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. 380
^Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p. 119
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