Abu Shukheidim was a

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

village in the

Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate The Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate ( ar, محافظة رام الله والبيرة ') is one of 16 governorates of Palestine. It covers a large part of the central West Bank, on the northern border of the Jerusalem Governorate. Its distr ...

. In 2005 it merged with the village of Al-Mazra'a al-Qibliya to form the town of

Al-Zaitounah Al-Zaitounah ( ar, الزيتونة, meaning "the Olive") is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate. It was formed in 2005 as the result of a merger of the villages of Abu Shukheidim and al-Mazra'a al-Qibliya. In 2007, al-Za ...

History

Pottery sherds from the

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium i ...

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...

, Crusader/

Ayyubid The Ayyubid dynasty ( ar, الأيوبيون '; ) was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni Muslim of Kurdish origin, Saladin ...

and the

Mamluk Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') i ...

eras have been found here.Finkelstein et al, 1997, p. 406

Ottoman era

Sherds from the early Ottoman era has also been found here. In 1838, it was noted as a Muslim village, ''Abu Shukheidim'', in the Bani Harith district, north of Jerusalem. In 1863

Victor Guérin Victor Guérin (15 September 1821 – 21 Septembe 1890) was a French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included Greece, Asia Min ...

found it consisting of a dozen houses. A ''birket'' (artificial pond) was lined on the inside with good cement, but needed repairs. Near the ''birket'' were several very old buildings. The villagers were compelled to stock up on water at a

well A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. T ...

located at the bottom of the mountain whose village occupies the summit. An Ottoman village list of about 1870 showed that ''Abu Schechedim'' had 14 houses and a population of 76, though the population count included men, only. In 1882, the

PEF PEF, PeF, or Pef may stand for the following abbreviations: * Palestine Exploration Fund * Peak expiratory flow * PEF Private University of Management Vienna * Pentax raw file (see Raw image format) * Perpetual Education Fund * Perpetual Emigratio ...

's ''

Survey of Western Palestine The PEF Survey of Palestine was a series of surveys carried out by the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) between 1872 and 1877 for the Survey of Western Palestine and in 1880 for the Survey of Eastern Palestine. The survey was carried out after th ...

'' described ''Abu Shukheidim'' as a village resembling

Abu Qash Abu Qash ( ar, ابو قش) is a Palestinian village located in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the northern West Bank, located north of Ramallah and south of the Birzeit University. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statisti ...

, and supplied by the same well. In 1896 the population of Abu schechedim'' was estimated to be about 204 persons.

British Mandate era

In the

1922 census of Palestine The 1922 census of Palestine was the first census carried out by the authorities of the British Mandate of Palestine, on 23 October 1922. The reported population was 757,182, including the military and persons of foreign nationality. The divis ...

, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, the population of ''Abu Iskhajdam'' was 139 Muslims, increasing in the 1931 census to 201 Muslims, in 47 houses.Mills, 1932,
47
/ref> In 1945 statistics ''Abu Shukheidim'' had a population of 250 Muslims, and a total land area of 1,430 dunams. Of this, 781 dunams were for plantations and irrigable land, 178 were for cereals, while 23 dunams were built-up areas.

Jordanian era

In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the

1949 Armistice Agreements The 1949 Armistice Agreements were signed between Israel and Egypt,Jordanian rule The Jordanian annexation of the West Bank formally occurred on 24 April 1950, after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, during which Transjordan occupied territory that had previously been part of Mandatory PalestineRaphael Israeli, Jerusalem divi ...

. The Jordanian census of 1961 found 1,358 inhabitants.

Post-1967

Since the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...

in 1967, Abu Shukheidim has been under

Israeli occupation Israeli-occupied territories are the lands that were captured and occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967. While the term is currently applied to the Palestinian territories and the Golan Heights, it has also been used to refer ...

. After the 1995 accords, 54.2% of

land was defined as

Area B The Palestinian enclaves are areas in the West Bank designated for Palestinians under a variety of U.S. and Israeli-led proposals to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The enclaves are often compared to the nominally self-governing black ...

, while the remaining 45.8% was defined as Area C. Israel has confiscated 308 dunams of land from Al-Zaitounah in order to construct two Israeli settlements,

Talmon Talmon ( he, טַלְמוֹן) is an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Located in the West Binyamin at an elevation of nearly 600 metres and 18 km east of Modiin, it is organised as a community settlement and falls under the jurisdicti ...

and

Nahl'iel Nahliel ( he, נַחֲלִיאֵל) is a Haredi Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Located close to the Palestinian villages of Beitillu and Deir 'Ammar, and some from Modi'in, it is organised as a community settlement and falls under the j ...

.AL-Zaytouneh Town Profile
ARIJ, p. 18

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 14
IAAWikimedia commons

AL-Zaytouneh town (fact sheet)

Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem The Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem (ARIJ; ar, معهد الابحاث التطبيقية - القدس) is a Palestinian NGO founded in 1990 with its main office in Bethlehem in the West Bank. ARIJ is actively working on research proje ...

(ARIJ)
AL-Zaytouneh town profile
(ARIJ)
AL-Zaytouneh aerial photo
(ARIJ)
Locality Development Priorities and Needs in AL- Zaytouneh Town
(ARIJ) {{Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate Villages in the West Bank Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate Municipalities of the State of Palestine