[1] It has been suggested that this was the place mentioned in Crusader sources as Zibi,[4] but this is not supported by archeological evidence, as the earliest potsherds found here date back to the Ottoman period.

[7][8] In 1870, Victor Guérin described the village, which he called Deir Ebzieh, as being: "situated on a summit of very difficult access and contains four hundred inhabitants, all Moslems; some houses are large and fairly well built.

I notice with the medhafeh (guest house) a fragment of carved stone which carries the debris of a mutilated rosette.

"[9] An Ottoman village list of about the same year, 1870, showed that der bezei had 239 inhabitants with 51 houses, though the population count included only the men.

[10][11] In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Deir Ibzia as: "a village of moderate size on a ridge, with a well to the west, and surrounded by olives".