Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya

In 1517, the village was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire with the rest of Palestine. Under the name "Lubban as-Sawi", the village appeared in 1596 Ottoman tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Jabal Qubal of the liwa of Nablus. It had a population of 75 Muslim households. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 33,3 % on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, olives, and goats or beehives; a total of 15,454 akçe. Half of the revenue went to a Waqf.[10]

In 1838 it was noted as a village el-Lubban, part of the Jurat Merda district, south of Nablus.[11] It was also noted that it was inhabited, and had the appearance of an old place, with rock cut tombs above it.[12]

French explorer Victor Guérin visited the village in 1863, and found it to be in a poor state, but with beautiful old elements as part of the houses. The population was estimated to be 300.[13]

In the 1882 PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP), the village was described as being perched on a terrace on the hill, with ancient tombs close by.[14]

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya (called Lubban Sharqi) had a population of 356, all Muslims,[15] increasing in the 1931 census to a population of 474 Muslims and one Christian, in a total of 116 houses.[16]

In the 1945 statistics Lubban Sharqiya had a population of 620, all Muslims,[17] with 12,545 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.[18] Of this, 2,424 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 5,605 used for cereals,[19] while 34 dunams were built-up land.[20]

In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya came under Jordanian rule. It was annexed by Jordan in 1950.

In 1961, the population of Lubban Sharqiye was 984.[21]

Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya has been under Israeli occupation. The population of Lubben Sharqiya in the 1967 census conducted by Israel was 823, of whom 37 originated from the Israeli territory.[22]

Under the Oslo Accords of 1995, 33% of village land was classified as Area A (full Palestinian control), 25% as Area B (partial Palestinian control), and the remaining 40% as Area C (full Israeli control). Israel has confiscated 1,144 dunums of land from Al Lubban ash Sharqiya for the establishment of the Israeli settlements of Alie and Ma’ale Levona, and additional land for service roads.[23]

On 5 November 1990, at Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya a local villager, Ali el Khatib, aged 65 was gunned down while riding his donkey to an olive grove, and a few second later, gunfire from the same Israeli Peugeot killed Miriam Salman Rashid while she was standing outside her home. The car then sped off towards Eli. On the basis of evidence collected in an intensive investigation, police concluded that it was an operation undertaken by members of the Kach militant organization in retaliation for Meir Kahane’s murder in New York earlier that day. Three Kach activists, among them David Ha'ivri, were arrested on suspicion, but the case never came to trial due to lack of evidence.[24]

According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya had a population of 2,465 in the 2007 census.[25] The population is primarily made up of two clans, the Daraghmeh and Awaysa.

In 2009, two members of Yesh Din wrote in Haaretz about settlers from Eli who had taken control over land in the area, which had seriously damaged the ability of the villagers from Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya to work their land. According to the writers, this was part of a systematic strategy to remove all Palestinians from Area C, and the authors concluded that "an infrastructure of Jewish terror is being created in the West Bank."[26]

On 4 May 2010, a fire broke out in the main mosque of al-Lubban al-Sharqiyya, destroying carpets and religious texts.[27] Police forensics officers were called in to determine whether it was arson or an electrical failure, while the PA said the fire was started by settlers in a price tag attack.[28] Israel firefighters later said the fire seemed to was deliberately set, and that the likely cause was arson.[27] Later the same year, the olive harvest became one of the most violent for years on the West Bank, and olive trees belonging to the village, and situated near the Israeli settlement of Eli, were torched, though Eli residents say it was a "pruning fire that got out of control."[29] The family of Rasmia Awase found 40 olive trees they had planted two decades earlier on their plot near the settlement of Eli chopped down when they came to harvest the fruits. They blamed the destruction on Eli settlers.[30]

In February 2012, an IDF soldier from the Golani Brigade, together with two women were arrested for defacing a village home with graffiti "Mohammed is a Pig". Security cameras in the village showed one of them destroying construction material.[31]

In March 2012, the UN published a report about the take-over by Israeli settlers of water resources on the West Bank, including the spring Ein El Mukheimer near al-Lubban al-Sharqiyya, traditionally used by villagers for irrigation and domestic purposes.[32]

According to the village head of Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya, the villagers were only allowed near another local spring, Ain Arik, for a few days of the year during harvest time. The rest of the year they would be stopped by the Israeli army.[33][34]

One family, the Daraghmehs, have repeatedly complained of harassment from Israeli settlers, saying that both animals and crops have been destroyed. In response, both local and international supporters have come to their aid.[35]