Did Jews Purchase Property North of Jerusalem Before Balfour?

Of course.

Whenever and wherever possible despite the Ottoman land laws.

And they attempted to have Jews reside on the land and develop it through construction and agriculture.

Here is a map of the area  just north of Jerusalem around the Tomb of Samuel the Prophet and the grey-colored areas indicate locations of Jewish ownership, property sold to them by local Arabs living in nearby villages:

It's from this book.

A modern approximation:

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