[7] A Byzantine lintel was found in the village in the 1870s, with "a Greek cross inscribed in a circle, and having its four arms ornamented with curious facet-work.

"[8] Charles Clearmont Ganneau suggested al-Burj as the site of the Castellum Arnoldi, near Beit Nuba, 'in primes auspices campestrum,' built in 1131 A.D. by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, to protect the approach to that city (William of Tyre).

"[14] In 1863 Victor Guérin found the village to have no more than 200 inhabitants, and noted that the Crusader fortress was in ruins.

[8] In 1883, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Al-Burj as "a small village on a hill-top, with open ground beneath on all sides.

There are remains of a Crusading fortress (Kulat et Tanturah), and the position is a strong one, near the main road to Lydda".

[9] By the beginning of the 20th century, former Bedouins from the 'Arab al-Jaramina tribe settled the in the village in and neighboring Bir Ma'in.

The Arab Legion counterattacked the following day with two infantry platoons and ten armoured cars but were forced to retreat.

The cook, on returning, didn't believe the story that they had been sent to a hospital in Ramallah, and some time later was executed with four bullets.