Sir, Jenin
Village in Jenin Governorate, West Bank
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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][4]
Sir | |
|---|---|
| Arabic transcription(s) | |
| • Arabic | صير |
Sir in the winter | |
  Sir Location of Sir within Palestine | |
| Coordinates: 32°21′49″N 35°18′52″E | |
| Palestine grid | 179/196 |
| State |  State of Palestine |
| Governorate | Jenin |
| Government | |
| • Type | Village council |
| Population (2017)[1] | |
• Total | 857 |
| Name meaning | The fold[2] |
Location
Sir is located on the southern part of Marj Sanur, together with Meithalun.[5]
History
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."[6]
Pottery sherds from the Persian,[7] early and late Roman,[7] and Byzantine[7][8] 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.[9]
A Crusader estate named Casale Syrorum, whose rights were affirmed in the year 1165/1166 CE by Amalric of Jerusalem, was located here.[10][11]
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.[12]
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.[13]
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."[14]
British Mandate era
In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Sir had 194 Muslims inhabitants,[15] increasing in the 1931 census to 233; 2 Christians and 231 Muslims, in a total of 42 houses.[16]
In the 1945 statistics the population of Sir was 290, all Muslims,[17] with 12,499 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.[18] Of this, 1,908 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 6,045 dunams for cereals,[19] while 10 dunams were built-up (urban) land and 4,536 dunams were classified as "non-cultivable".[20]
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.[21]
Post-1967
Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Sir has been under Israeli occupation.