PLace

Saydun

Place
Saydun — صَيْدُون
District
Lydda
Subdistrict
Ramla
Average Elevation
150 m
Distance from Al Ramla
9 km
Population
Year Arab Total
1931 174
1944/45 210 210
Land Ownership (1944/45) in dunums
Year Arab Jewish Public Total
1944/45 6099 1221 167 7487
Land Use (1944/45) in dunums
Use Arab Jewish Public Total
Non-Cultivable & Built-up (Total)
Use Arab Jewish Public Total
Built-up 15 15
Non-Cultivable 788 123 167 1078
803 123 167 1093 (15%)
Cultivable (Total)
Use Arab Jewish Total
Plantation and Irrigable 49 49
Cereal 5247 1098 6345
5296 1098 6394 (85%)
Number of Houses (1931)
35

The village stood on the east bank of Wadi Saydun, a tributary of Wadi al-Sarar, on the eastern edge of the coastal plain. Saydun was south of the southern branch of the Ramla-Jerusalem highway. In the 1830s it was a large village, according to Robinson, who passed by it in 1838 , but by the late nineteenth century it was described as a small village built of adobe bricks. Later houses, constructed of mud, cement, and stone, were clustered together along the above-mentioned road and also along paths that led to other villages. The population was predominantly Muslim. The village had a few small shops and a maqam (shrine) for a local religious figure. A well on the north side supplied it with drinking water. The villagers worked mostly in rainfed agriculture and animal husbandry. They cultivated mainly grain. In 1944/45 a total of 5,247 dunums was allocated to cereals; 49 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards. The antiquities authorities of the Mandate noted that the foundations of earlier structures were present in the village.

Saydun was probably one of the first villages to fall during Operation Nachshon (see Bayt Naqquba, Jerusalem sub-disctrict). The operational orders in the first stage called for capturing it, along with Khulda and Dayr Muhaysin, in order to control the western entrance to the Jerusalem corridor. No details are given about its occupation, but it probably fell shortly after the operation began on 3 April 1948. It probably was destroyed soon after its capture, as were most other villages in the area (notably Khulda and Dayr Muhaysin). Israeli historian Benny Morris indicates that residents of the area fled either before or during the conquest of their villages and that expulsion orders were not necessary.

There are no Israeli settlements on village lands.

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 lands are used for agriculture by Israelis.

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