Beit Ummar () is a Palestinian town located eleven kilometers northwest of Hebron in the Hebron Governorate of the State of Palestine. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, in 2016, the town had a population of 17,892 inhabitants. Over 4,800 residents of the town are under the age of 18. Since the Second Intifada, unemployment ranges between 60 and 80 percent due mostly to the inability of residents to work in Israel and a depression in the Palestinian economy. A part of the city straddles Road 60 and due to this, several propositions of house demolition have occurred. Beit Ummar is mostly agricultural and is noted for its many grape vines. This has a major aspect on their culinary tradition of stuffed grape leaves known as waraq al-'inib and a grape syrup called dibs. Beit Ummar also has cherry, plum, apple and olive orchards. History Beit Ummar is believed to be the site of Biblical village of Maarath. A church, tentatively dating to the 5th century CE, (but with changes probably done in 8th century) was excavated in the 1930s at Khirbat Asida, to the east of the centre of Beit Ummar. According to some traditions, the town was named after the Islamic Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab because he supposedly frequented the town. Many of the town's predominantly Muslim residents are descendants of Arab Christian families who converted during the 7th century Muslim conquest. Christian ruins in the old city are a testament to this conversion over 1,000 years ago. The main mosque in Beit Ummar houses the tomb of Nabi Matta. Matta refers to Amittai, the father of Jonah. Mujir ad-Din writes that Matta was "a holy man from the people of the house of the prophecy." Nearby Halhul houses the purported tomb of Jonah with the inscription reading "Yunus ibn Matta" or "Jonah son of Amittai", confirming that Matta is indeed the Arabic name for Amittai (some suggested it referred to the apostle Matthew); the Beit Ummar tomb is dedicated to Amittai. In 1226, the Ayyubid sultan al-Mu'azzam built a mosque with a minaret under the supervision of Jerusalem governor Rashid ad-Din al-Mu'azzami. The Mamluks constructed some additions to the mosque and engraved several inscriptions on its surface. Ottoman era In 1838, Edward Robinson noted the village from Al-Dawayima. Victor Guérin visited the village in 1863, and found it to have about 450 inhabitants. Swiss orientalist