Beit Sira

Beit Sira () is a Palestinian village in the central West Bank, located 22 kilometers west of Ramallah and is a part of the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate. The village is situated along the Green Line. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, around 4,000 dunams of its land became a part of the " No-Man's Land" strip between the north-central West Bank and Israel. Currently Beit Sira's jurisdiction is 3,120 dunams, of which 441 dunams are built-up areas and the remainder is open spaces for future construction or agricultural land.

Etymology

According to Palmer, Beit Sira means "The house of the fold".
Bayt Sīrā /Bēt Sīra/ is an ancient toponymic survival, meaning House of Sira. The second part of the name may originate from the Biblical female name Š’rh (< *ši’r-at).

Location

Beit Sira is located (horizontally) west of Ramallah. It is bordered by Kharbatha al-Misbah, Beit Liqya, and Beit Ur al-Tahta to the east, Saffa to the north, the Green Line (the Armistice Line 1949) to the west, and Bayt Nuba to the south.

History

Ottoman Era

In the 1596 tax records, Beit Sira was a part of the ''nahiya'' ("subdistrict") of Ramla, part of Gaza Sanjak, in the Ottoman Empire, with a population of 17 Muslim household. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 25% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, vineyards, fruit trees, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues; a total of 4,500 akçe. All of the revenue went to a Waqf.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 156

In 1838, it was noted as a Muslim village in the ''Ibn Humar'' District, part of the er-Ramleh area.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p.
120
/ref>

In 1863 Victor Guérin noted Beit Sira as a considerable village on the summit of a rocky hill. A saint, revered under the name of ''Neby Sira'', had a sanctuary there with his tomb. Socin, citing an official Ottoman village list compiled around 1870, noted that ''Bet Sira'' had 39 houses and a population of 125, though the population count included only men. Hartmann found that ''Bet Sira'' had 29 houses.

In 1873, Clermont-Ganneau was told that Beit Sira supposedly housed the tomb of Neby Sira, a son of Jacob and brother to Neby Ma'in (possibly Benjamin), the founder of Bir Ma'in.

In 1883, the PEF's ''Survey of Western Palestine'' (SWP) described it: "A small village on a swell in the low hills. A main road passes through it. The water supply is artificial."

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Beit Sira had a population of 381 Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramallah, p.
16
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census to 460 Muslims in 113 houses.Mills, 1932, p
47
/ref>

In the 1945 statistics the population was 540, all Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p
26
/ref> while the total land area was 4,687 dunams, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 205 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 1,924 for cereals, while 23 dunams were classified as built-up (urban) areas.

File:Bir Ma'in 1944.jpg, Beit Sira 1944 1:20,000 from 1919 survey
File:Burj 1945.jpg, Beit Sira 1945 1:250,000

Jordanian era

In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements

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