Saydun

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.

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
Palestine grid141/138
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictRamle
Date of depopulationnot known[2]
Population
 (1945)
 • Total210[3][4]

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. Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 30
  4. 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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