Sir, Jenin

Sir, like the rest of Palestine, was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, and in the census of 1596 it was a part of the nahiya ("subdistrict") of Jabal Sami which was under the administration of the Nablus Sanjak. The village had a population of 31 households and 4 bachelors, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 33,3% on agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, beehives and/or goats, in addition to occasional revenues, a tax for people of liwa Nablus, and a press for olive oil or grape syrup; a total of 7,832 akçe.[9]

In 1870, Victor Guérin noted it as a small village on a high hill. There were many cisterns and tombs cut out from the rock, which convinced Guérin that the place was ancient. The inhabitant, which numbered 150, had a mosque.[10]

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Sir as: "A small village on a knoll amid brushwood, with a large house on the west."[11]

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Sir had 194 Muslims inhabitants,[12] increasing in the 1931 census to 233; 2 Christians and 231 Muslims, in a total of 42 houses.[13]

In the 1945 statistics the population of Sir was 290, all Muslims,[14] with 12,499 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.[15] Of this, 1,908 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 6,045 dunams for cereals,[16] while 10 dunams were built-up (urban) land and 4,536 dunams were classified as "non-cultivable".[17]

In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Sir came under Jordanian rule.

The Jordanian census of 1961 found 470 inhabitants.[18]

Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Sir has been under Israeli occupation.