Ottoman era

Baqa al-Hatab 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 Bani Sa'b of the Liwa of Nablus. It had a population of 59 households, all Muslims. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on various agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, summer crops, goats and/or beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues"; a total of 23,900 akçe. 5,25/24 of the revenues went to a Muslim charitable endowment.^[4]

In 1870/1871 (1288 AH), an Ottoman census listed the village in the nahiya (sub-district) of Bani Sa'b.^[5]

In 1882 the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Baka (Beni Sab): "A well-built stone village in a conspicuous position on a bare ridge, with a few olives, and a well to the north; it is a small place. A high house on the north side formed a trigonometrical station in 1873."^[6] It is historically the mother-village of many family hamula groups that now form the population of the Israeli township of Tira.^[7]

British Mandate era

In a 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Baqa had a population of 207 Muslims,^[8] increasing in the 1931 census, when Baqa had a population of 282 Muslims, with 63 houses.^[9]

In the 1945 statistics the population was 390 Muslims,^[10] with 8,950 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.^[11] Of this, 645 dunams were for plantations or irrigated land, 1,688 were for cereals,^[12] while 36 dunams were built-up land.^[13]

Jordanian era

In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Baqa came under Jordanian rule.

The Jordanian census of 1961 found 569 inhabitants in Baqa Hatab.^[14]

1967-present

Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Baqa has been under Israeli occupation.

After the 1995 accords, about 58.4% of the village land is defined in Area B, while the remainder 41.6% is in Area C.^[15]