Al Jib or al-Jib () is a Palestinian village in the Jerusalem Governorate of the State of Palestine, located ten kilometers northwest of Jerusalem, partially in the seam zone of the West Bank. The surrounding lands are home to Al Jib Bedouin. Since 1967, Al Jib has been occupied by Israel and about 90% of its lands are classified as Area C. About a quarter of the land is seized by Military Orders for the establishment of Israeli settlements. Al Jib's Al Khalayleh neighborhood was separated from the rest of the city by the West Bank barrier. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Al Jib had a population of approximately 4,700 in 2006. Location Al Jib is a Palestinian village located (horizontally) north-west of Jerusalem. It is bordered by Bir Nabala and Al Judeira to the east, Beituniya to the north, Beit Ijza and Biddu to the west, and An Nabi Samwil to the south. History Ancient period The 10th-century Jewish lexicographer, David ben Abraham al-Fasi, identified Al-Jib with the ancient Canannite and Israelite city of Gibeon, which view was corroborated also by the Hebrew Lexicon compiled by Wilhelm Gesenius and Frants Buhl ("now al-Ǧīb"). However, the first scientific identification of Al-Jib with the ancient Gibeon was made by Edward Robinson in 1838. Archaeological excavations led by James Pritchard in 1956, 1957, and 1959 confirmed this identification with the discovery of the "Al Jib jar handles", 56 jar handles inscribed with the Semitic triliteral gb'n. The inscriptions were dated to the latter years of the Kingdom of Judah and have been cross-referenced against genealogical lists in the Book of Chronicles. While they include many Benjaminite names, they also include non-Israelite names, attesting to the intermixing of local population. Gibeon prospered during the late Iron Age II, when the town had strong fortifications, a winery and a sophisticated water system. An intricate cemetery from the same period was discovered just east of the tell. Pottery and coins from the Late Hellenistic and Hasmonean periods dating to the reigns of Antiochus III and John Hyrcanus were discovered at the site. Late antiquity A vaulted building still remaining in the centre of Al Jib has been dated from between the mid-5th and mid-8th centuries CE. The building has earlier been described as a church from the Crusader era, with "total length of the chapel appears to have been 40 feet east