Rantis has a land area 11,046 dunams of which 589 dunams are built-up area.[3] The town's main economic sector is agriculture and 20% of its land area is planted with crops. There are two primary schools and two kindergartens. Other facilities include three clinics, a bus station, a club and two
mosques.[3]
Rantis is located 22.2 km northwest of Ramallah. It is bordered by Al Lubban al Gharbi and Abud land to the east, Al Lubban al Gharbi village land to the north, Israel to the west and Shuqba to the south.[4]
Both Eusebius and Jerome identify Arimathea with the birthplace of biblical prophet Samuel.[6] Strong mediaeval traditions supporting this claim celebrated this place as the prophet's original home.[6] In the 4th century, Jerome reported that his friend, Saint Paula, visited the location.[6]
In 145 BCE, Rentis, then known as Rathamin, was cut off from Samaria and incorporated into Judaea. It served as a toparchy's headquarters before Thamna took its position.[10]
Other archaeological finds include remains of a road and a building from the Roman period.[9] A building, probably dating to the Byzantine period, has also been excavated.[11]
During the Crusader period, it was known as Arimathia, Arimatie, Abarimatie, and Rantis.[12] By 1150, the Premonstratensians were represented in Rentis with a house.[12] In 1159-60, Crusader sources mention a church in the village.[12][13]
In 1187 Rantis was conquered by Saladin, and the Crusaders were never able to return despite the very fact that Amalric of Jerusalem used to rule the area before being succeeded to Sidon at around 1153.[12]
Rantis was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of Palestine, and in 1596 it appeared in the tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Jabal Qubal of the LiwaofNablus. It had a population of 20 households and 2 bachelors, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 33.3% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and/or beehives, and a wine-orolive press; a total of 2,500 Akçe.[14]
In 1838, Edward Robinson noted it as a village, Rentis, in the Jurat Merda district, south of Nablus.[15]
The French explorer Victor Guérin visited the village in 1870, and found that it had 400 inhabitants, and that it was surrounded by olives and tobacco-plantations.[16]
In 1870/71 (1288 AH), an Ottoman census listed the village in the nahiya (sub-district) of Jamma'in al-Awwal, subordinate to Nablus.[17]
In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Rantis as a village, principally made of adobe, on a slope, surrounded by open ground and a few olive trees. Water was supplied by cisterns. The SWP assumed the village was "ancient", as rock-cut tombs were found there.[18]
In the 1945 statistics, the population was of 1,280, all Muslims,[21] while the total land area was 30,933 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[22] Of this, 1,299 were allocated for plantations and irrigable land, 7,341 for cereals,[23] while 30 dunams were classified as built-up (urban) areas.[24]
On 28–29 January 1953 Israeli military forces estimated at 120 to 150 men, using 2-inch mortars, 3-inch mortars, P.I.A.T. (projectors, infantry, anti-tank) weapons, bangalore torpedoes (long metal tubes containing an explosive charge), machine-guns, grenades and small arms, crossed the demarcation line and attacked the Arab villages of Falameh [Falāma, Falamya] and Rantis. At Falameh the mukhtar was killed, seven other villagers were wounded, and three houses were demolished. The attack lasted four and a half hours. Israel was condemned for this act by the Mixed Armistice Commission.[25][26]
After the Six-Day War in 1967, Rantis has been under Israeli occupation. The population in the 1967 census conducted by the Israeli authorities was 897, 27 of whom originated from Israeli territory.[28]
After the 1995 accords, about 12% of the village land was classified as Area B, while the remainder 88% was classified as Area C. According to ARIJ, Israel has confiscated village land to be used for bypass roads for Israeli settlements. The Israeli West Bank barrier will extend for 4 km on Rantis village land, and leave 1,815 dunams (16.6%) of the village land behind the barrier.[29]
