The Palestinian village of Dura al-Qar' and Ein Yabrud lie to the north, Rammun to the east, Deir Dibwan to the southeast and al-Bireh to the southwest.

[4] It stands on the site of the ancient town and biblical sanctuary of Bethel,[4][5][6] which was left abandoned after the Crusader period.

The population was Eastern Orthodox Christian and monks from the Sinai Peninsula, particularly Zosimas of Palestine, were known to have visited the town.

It remained obscure and unmentioned by various sources from the 13th to the 19th century, including Yaqut, Mujir al-Din, and European travelers, likely indicating a state of ruin since the fall of the Crusader kingdom.

[12] In the early 19th century, people from Transjordan and other places migrated to Beitin[11][13] and built a mosque near the site of the old church.

[14] In 1838 Edward Robinson noted Beitin as a place "in ruins or deserted," located immediately north of Jerusalem.

[17][18] In 1882 the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Beitin as a village "built on the side of a flat spur which rises slightly on the north.

On the south-east is a flat dell, with good fig and pomegranate gardens, and there are other fig-trees round the village and among the houses.

The surrounding ground is quite bare of trees, of white chalk, very barren and stony on the south; of hard limestone cropping up on the north; the fields divided off by low drystone walls.

The remains of a good-sized tower exist towards the north, and on the south the walls of a church of Crusading date, once dedicated to St. Joseph.

[30][31] On 19 December 2011, Israeli settlers were accused of carrying out a second price tag attack in only four days, in which five Palestinian-owned cars were burnt and the walls of several houses were sprayed with graffiti.

[32] During the first incident (15 December 2011), the assailants not only vandalized a mosque, but also attacked an IDF military base in the West Bank, injuring a top Israeli commander.

[14][40] According to biblical scholar Edward Robinson who visited Palestine in the 19th century, al-Burj Beitin consisted of dilapidated stones that used to form part of a fortress and a Greek church.