Sir, Jenin

Sir (Arabic: صير) is a Palestinian town in the Jenin Governorate of Palestine, in the West Bank, located 18 kilometers south of Jenin. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 769 inhabitants in mid-year 2006 and 857 by 2017.[1][3]

This article is about the Palestinian village in Jenin district. For the village in Qalqilya district, see Sir, Qalqilya.
Sir
Municipality type D (Village council)
Arabic transcription(s)
 • Arabicصير
Sir in the winter
Sir in the winter
Sir is located in State of Palestine
Sir
Sir
Location of Sir within Palestine
Coordinates: 32°21′49″N 35°18′52″E
Palestine grid179/196
StateState of Palestine
GovernorateJenin
Government
 • TypeVillage council
Population
 (2017)[1]
 • Total857
Name meaningThe fold[2]

Location

Sir is located on the southern part of Marj Sanur, together with Meithalun.[4]

History
El nabi Theeb, Sir

SWP noted: "The ruin west of the village has the appearance of an ancient site. Foundations, cisterns cut in the rock, and heaps of stones among bushes."[5]

Pottery sherds from the Persian,[6] early and late Roman,[6] and Byzantine[6][7] eras have been found here.

Sir is identified with Kfar Zir (Hebrew: כפר ציר), mentioned in the 6th-7th century Mosaic of Reḥob as a Jewish village in the region of Sebastia inhabited mostly by non-Jews and, therefore, agricultural produce obtained from the area could be taken by Jews without the normal restrictions imposed during the Sabbatical years, or the need for tithing.[8]

A Crusader estate named Casale Syrorum, whose rights were affirmed in the year 1165/1166 CE by Amalric of Jerusalem, was located here.[9][10]

Ottoman era

Sir, like the rest of Palestine, was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, and in the census of 1596 it was a part of the nahiya ("subdistrict") of Jabal Sami which was under the administration of the Nablus Sanjak. The village had a population of 31 households and 4 bachelors, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 33,3% on agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, beehives and/or goats, in addition to occasional revenues, a tax for people of liwa Nablus, and a press for olive oil or grape syrup; a total of 7,832 akçe.[11]

In 1870, Victor Guérin noted it as a small village on a high hill. There were many cisterns and tombs cut out from the rock, which convinced Guérin that the place was ancient. The inhabitant, which numbered 150, had a mosque.[12]

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Sir as: "A small village on a knoll amid brushwood, with a large house on the west."[13]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Sir had 194 Muslims inhabitants,[14] increasing in the 1931 census to 233; 2 Christians and 231 Muslims, in a total of 42 houses.[15]

In the 1945 statistics the population of Sir was 290, all Muslims,[16] with 12,499 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.[17] Of this, 1,908 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 6,045 dunams for cereals,[18] while 10 dunams were built-up (urban) land and 4,536 dunams were classified as "non-cultivable".[19]

Jordanian era

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

The Jordanian census of 1961 found 470 inhabitants.[20]

Post-1967

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

References
  1. Preliminary Results of the Population, Housing and Establishments Census, 2017 (PDF). Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) (Report). State of Palestine. February 2018. pp. 64–82. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
  2. Palmer, 1881, p. 207
  3. Projected Mid -Year Population for Jenin Governorate by Locality 2004- 2006 Archived 2008-09-20 at the Wayback Machine Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
  4. Saulcy, 1854, vol 1, p. 87
  5. Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 245
  6. Zertal, 2007, p. 147
  7. Dauphin, 1998, pp. 757-8
  8. Zertal, Adam (2007). The Manasseh Hill Country Survey. Volume 2, The Eastern Valleys and the Fringes of the Desert. Leiden: Brill. p. 105. ISBN 978-90-474-2387-4. OCLC 310354878. During the Middle Ages a fortress named Casale Syrorum stood here. The name and the finds support the identification of Sir with כפרציר from the Rehov Inscription (line 27); see previous site
  9. Röhricht, 1904, RRH Ad, pp. 25 -26, #422a
  10. Zertal, 2007, p. 146
  11. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 125
  12. Guérin, 1874, p. 353
  13. Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 228
  14. Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Jenin, p. 29
  15. Mills, 1932, p. 71
  16. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 17
  17. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 55
  18. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 99
  19. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 149
  20. Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 25

Bibliography
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