Saydun
صيدون
Village
Etymology: from Zidon[1]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Saydun (click the buttons)
Saydun is located in Mandatory Palestine
Saydun
Saydun
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 31°50′28″N 34°54′17″E / 31.84111°N 34.90472°E / 31.84111; 34.90472
Palestine grid141/138
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictRamle
Date of depopulationnot known[2]
Population
 (1945)
 • Total210[3][4]

Saydun (Arabic: صيدون) was a Palestinian village in the Ramle Subdistrict of Mandatory Palestine. It was depopulated during the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on April 6, 1948, during Operation Nachshon. It was located 9 km south of Ramla on the east bank of Wadi Saydun.

History

In 1838, it was noted as a large village[5] whose inhabitants were Muslim.[6]

In 1863 Victor Guérin found it to have about 200 inhabitants, He further noted: "Sitting on a low hill, [] the houses are built of adobe. Lacking wood and coal, the Arabs of this locality, as well as many others in Palestine, make fire with sun-dried cow dung in the shape of rounded clods. They feed on water at a well of modern date, because the ancient well is dry." "This village [] must certainly succeed an ancient village".[7]

An Ottoman village list from about 1870 counted 35 houses and a population of 148, though the population count included men, only.[8][9]

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described the place as: "a small village of the same class" (as Shahma).[10]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Saidum had a population of 124 inhabitants, all Muslims,[11] increasing in the 1931 census to 174, still all Muslims, in a total of 35 houses.[12]

In the 1945 statistics the village had a population of 210 Muslims[3] with a total of 7,487 dunums of land.[4] 49 dunums of land was used for plantations and irrigable land, 5,247 dunums were used for cereals,[13] while 15 dunams were classified as built-up public areas.[14]

Saydun (Sidun) 1942 1:20,000
Saydun (Seidun) 1945 1:250,000

Post 1948

In 1992 the village site was described: "Cactuses and numerous grapevines grow on the site. Only one stone house remains; it has a flat roof and a round-arched door and is used for storage. The surrounding land are used for agriculture by Israelis."[15]

References

  1. ↑ Palmer, 1881, p. 274
  2. ↑ Morris, 2004, p. xix, village #259. Gives both date and cause of depopulation as "Not known"
  3. 1 2 Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 30
  4. 1 2 Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 68
  5. ↑ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, p. 21
  6. ↑ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 120
  7. ↑ Guérin, 1869 p. 33: "Assis sur une colline peu élevée, il compte à peine deux cents habitants. Les maisons sont construites en pisé. Faute de bois et de charbon, les Arabes de cette localité, ainsi qne de beaucoup d'au- tres en Palestine, font du feu avec des bouses de vache séchées au soleil en forme de mottes arrondies. Ils s'alimentent d'eau à un puits de date moderne, car le puits antique est à sec." "Ce village"[] "a du succeder certainement à une antique bourgade".
  8. ↑ Socin, 1879, p. 159
  9. ↑ Hartmann, 1883, p. 140 noted 30 houses
  10. ↑ Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 408
  11. ↑ Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramleh, p. 21
  12. ↑ Mills, 1932, p. 23.
  13. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 117
  14. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 167
  15. ↑ Khalidi, 1992, p. 414

Bibliography

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