Sarra, Nablus

In 1517, the village was included in the Ottoman empire with the rest of Palestine, and it appeared in the 1596 tax-records as Sarra, located in the Nahiya of Jabal Qubal of the Liwa of Nablus. The population was 19 households and 10 bachelor, all Muslim. They paid a fixed tax rate of 33.3% on agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues and a fixed tax for people of Nablus area; a total of 1,549 akçe.[5]

During the 1834 Peasants' revolt in Palestine, Musa Bek Toukan besieged Qasim al-Ahmad at Kuriet Surra, but Qasim al-Ahmad broke free, and pursued his besieging forces all the way back to Nablus.[6]

In 1838, Surra was located in the District of Jurat 'Amra, south of Nablus.[7][8]

In 1863 Victor Guérin found it to have 500 inhabitants.[9]

In 1870/1871 (1288 AH), an Ottoman census listed the village with a population of 62 households in the nahiya (sub-district) of Jamma'in al-Awwal, subordinate to Nablus.[10]

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Surra as: "A small village in a hollow, with a spring on the south east, surrounded by olives."[11]

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Sarra had a population of 277 Muslims,[12] increasing in the 1931 census to 382 Muslims, in a total of 106 houses.[13]

In the 1945 statistics the population was 540 (all Muslim),[14] while the total land area was 5,928 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[15] Of this, 540 dunams were for plantations and irrigable land, 3,513 for cereals,[16] while 34 dunams were classified as built-up areas.[17]

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

The Jordanian census of 1961 found 767 inhabitants.[18]

Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Surra has been held under Israeli occupation along with the rest of the Palestinian territories.

After the 1995 accords 42% of the village land was classified as Area A, 43% classified as Area B, and the remaining 15% classified as Area C.[19]

Sarra has suffered from several reported Israeli price tag attacks:

• 4 March 2011: Israeli settlers from Shvut Rachel damaged roughly 500 olive trees belonging to the village, and stoned homes, apparently in reprisal for the dismantling of several mobile homes.[20]
• 25 July 2011: Settlers torched the farmlands of the village, after Israeli soldiers intervened to stop Israeli peace activists from preventing a group of settlers from uprooting trees, according to IMEMC.[21]