Bayt Lid, Khirbat

The village stood on a gently elevated hill in undulating terrain overlooking the coastal plain. A secondary road connected the village to two nearby main roads running north-south and east-west, linking it to Tulkarm. The village was established by people from the original village of Bayt Lid, who had moved to the surrounding plains to cultivate agricultural land. They eventually settled at the archaeological site of Khirbat Hanuna, which came to be known as Khirbat Bayt Lid, named after their original village.

The nearby site of al-Mughayir, located approximately half a kilometer to the north, was a Crusader-era village known as Artabek. In the late 19th century, British surveyors described al-Mughayir as a small village surrounded by olive trees to the north and south.

The inhabitants of Khirbat Bayt Lid were Muslims. The village had a mosque and a primary school that was fully managed by the local residents—an uncommon arrangement, as village schools in Palestine were typically integrated into the official school system and subject to government oversight, even when originally founded by villagers. The residents sourced their domestic water from a deep well and earned their livelihood primarily through agriculture. Main crops included grains, watermelon, pistachios, potatoes, and olives, with olive trees covering approximately 50 dunums.

In 1944–1945, a total of 2,877 dunums were devoted to cereals, and 64 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards.

Occupation and Ethnic Cleansing

The first incident in the village during the war was reported by the Palestinian press on 14 February 1948. On that date, the Falastin newspaper reported that unidentified assailants opened fire on a Palestinian woman, injuring her. Tensions in the area had been rising during the initial weeks of the war. The village was located east of the Jewish settlement of Netanya, in a region between Tel Aviv and Zikhron Ya'akov.

The Haganah General Command had decided to "cleanse" this area of its Arab population prior to 15 May 1948 in preparation for the declaration of the Jewish state. According to Israeli historian Benny Morris, the inhabitants of Khirbat Bayt Lid left on 5 April 1948 “due to fear and isolation,” although many residents of the coastal region were forcibly expelled in the weeks that followed.

The village was included in "Plan Dalet" as one of the villages designated for occupation by the Alexandroni Brigade.

The Village Today

The site is now covered with orchards, particularly citrus groves. A few olive trees still stand. The surrounding lands are also cultivated with citrus and other fruit-bearing trees.

Israeli Settlements on Village Lands

In 1948, the settlement of Nordia (grid reference 140191) was established on the village site. The settlement of Ganot Hadar (140292), established in 1964, lies approximately half a kilometer to the northeast of the village site, though not on village lands.