Rafidiya

The village was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of Palestine, and in 1596 it appeared in the tax registers under the name of Rafidya, as being in the nahiyah of Jabal Qubal, part of Nablus Sanjak. It had a population of nine Muslim households and six Muslim bachelors, and 85 Christian households. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 33,3 % on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and/or beehives, in addition to occasional revenues and a press for olive oil or grape syrup; a total of 2000 akçe.[8][9]

Rafidia was at one time owned by the prominent Tuqan family of Nablus. They ceded it to an Arab Christian family with Ghassanid origins from al-Karak, in modern-day Jordan in the 17th century. According to tradition, the family, consisting of a father, and his three sons and daughter had fled al-Karak to avoid marrying the daughter, Rafid, to Emir Udwan, a Muslim prince of the city. They initially migrated to Taybeh through the Dead Sea, but then moved north towards Nablus. At the time, there was one Muslim family in the area, al-Hassouneh, and after the Christian family settled, the two families split the land and the water between themselves equally. The village was named "Rafidia" in honor of Rafid.[10]

A map from Napoleon's invasion of 1799 by Pierre Jacotin named it Rafidiyeh, as a village by the road from Jaffa to Nablus.[11]

In 1838, Robinson found the village to be entirely Christian, and said to contain "115 taxable men, or nearly 500 inhabitants."[12] It was noted as being in the Jurat 'Amra district, south of Nablus.[13] In 1863, Guérin found the village to have 300 inhabitants, almost all "Schismatic Greek" families, about 40 Catholic and the rest Muslims.[4]

In 1870/1871 (1288 AH), an Ottoman census listed the village with a population of 70 households in the nahiya (sub-district) of Jamma'in al-Awwal, subordinate to Nablus.[14]

In 1882, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine, (SWP), described Rafidia as "a good-sized village on the hill-side, with a spring above it to the north-east and vegetable gardens below. The inhabitants are Greek Christians....A Protestant school is conspicuous in the middle of the village".[15]

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Rafidiya had a population of 438; 111 Muslims and 307 Christians,[16] where the Christians were 206 Orthodox, 44 Roman Catholics, 1 Melkite and 56 Church of England.[17] The population decreased at the time of the 1931 census to 355; 68 Muslims and 287 Christians, in 88 houses.[18]

In the 1945 statistics Rafidiya had a population of 430; 80 Muslims and 350 Christians,[19] with 2,004 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey,[20] Of this, 447 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 1,168 used for cereals,[21] while 32 dunams were built-up land.[22]

In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Rafidiya came under Jordanian rule.

In 1961, the population of Rafidiya was 923,[23] of whom 361 were Christian ( 39.11%).[24]

Since the Six-Day War in 1967, the town has been under Israeli occupation. The population of Rafidiya in the 1967 census conducted by Israel was 1,123, of whom 183 originated from the Israeli territory.[25]