Seida (Arabic: صيدا) is a Palestinian town in the Tulkarm Governorate in the eastern West Bank, located 20 kilometers northeast of Tulkarm. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Seida had a population of 3,777 inhabitants in 2017.[1]
Seida
| |
|---|---|
| Arabic transcription(s) | |
| • Arabic | صيدا |
  Seida Location of Seida within Palestine | |
| Coordinates: 32°23′06″N 35°07′07″E / 32.38500°N 35.11861°E / 32.38500; 35.11861 | |
| Palestine grid | 161/199 |
| State | State of Palestine |
| Governorate | Tulkarm |
| Government | |
| • Type | Village council |
| Population
(2017)[1]
| |
| • Total | 3,777 |
| Name meaning | Saida, personal name, from "hunting"[2] |
Ceramics from the Iron Age II, Hellenistic, early and late Roman, Byzantine, early Muslim and the Middle Ages have been found here.[3]
In 1179, during the Crusader era, it appeared as an estate, sold to the Zion Monastery in Jerusalem.[3]
In 1265, Seida was one of the estates given by Sultan Baibars to his followers after his victory over the Crusaders,[3] with the whole of Seida given to emir Husam al-Din Itamish b. Utlis Khan.[4]
In 1517, Seida, like all of Palestine, was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire. In the 1596 tax registers, it was part of the nahiya ("subdistrict") of Jabal Sami, part of the larger Sanjak of Nablus. It had a population of 70 households and 2 bachelors, all Muslims. The inhabitants paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues and a fixed tax for people of Nablus area; a total of 12,160 akçe. All of the revenue went to a Waqf.[5]
In 1870/1871 (1288 AH), an Ottoman census listed the village in the nahiya (sub-district) of al-Sha'rawiyya al-Sharqiyya.[6]
In the 1882 PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP), Saida is described as: "a small village, with a well on the east on the back of a long and bare ridge."[7]
In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Saida had a population of 252 Muslims,[8] increasing in the 1931 census to 351 Muslims, living in 75 houses.[9]
In the 1945 statistics the population of Seida was 450 Muslims,[10] with 5,060 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey.[11] Of this, 1,622 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 1,113 were used for cereals,[12] while 11 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[13]
In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Seida came under Jordanian rule.
In 1961, the population was 808.[14]
Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Seida has been under Israeli occupation.
