Sirin

The village of Sirin was situated on a flat expanse of land that gently sloped toward the southwest. To the northwest, it was bordered by Wadi al-Radduh, and to the southeast by Wadi al-Bayadir. A secondary road connected the village to the main road leading north to Samakh and south to Baysan, while other paths and narrow trails linked it to nearby villages.

During the Crusader period, the village was known as Lucerin. In 1596, Sirin was recorded as a village in the nahiya (subdistrict) of Jenin, under the liwa’ (district) of Lajjun, with a population of 22. The village paid taxes on agricultural products such as wheat, barley, as well as livestock like goats and beehives.

The British traveler Buckingham, who visited the area in the early 19th century, described Sirin as a village with 30 to 40 houses, with around six Bedouin tents nearby.

By the late 19th century, Sirin was surrounded by cactus hedges, with a population of around 100. The villagers cultivated approximately 35 faddans (one faddan = approx. 100–250 dunums). Initially, homes were built at the junction of roads leading to other villages. As the village expanded, newer homes stretched toward the northwest and southeast.

By 1945, Sirin had 810 inhabitants, comprising 190 Christians and 620 Muslims. The village had a boys’ elementary school, and agriculture formed the economic foundation of the village. Key crops included grains and olives. In 1944/1945, a total of:

14,854 dunums were dedicated to cereal cultivation, and

413 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, of which 109 dunums were planted with olive trees.

A Greek inscription was discovered in the home of Zayd al-Shahada, and remains from the Byzantine period, including a mosaic floor and arched structure with a crowned edge, were also found at the site.

Occupation and Depopulation

Units from the Golani Brigade occupied Sirin on 12 May 1948, likely following the capture of Baysan earlier that day. Sirin fell along with the villages of ‘Alam, Hadatha, and Ma‘dhār as part of the same military operation.

According to the book The History of the Haganah, the villagers fled out of fear of the approaching Jewish forces, and it was claimed that “the Lower Galilee became empty of Arabs.”

However, Israeli historian Benny Morris offers a somewhat different and less plausible account, stating that the villagers of the four mentioned communities evacuated on 6 April 1948 under orders from the Arab Higher Committee. He suggests that this was likely due to concerns that these villages might share the same fate as al-Bishof, which had already fallen.

The Village Today

Only a cemetery and a single building (now used as a hay storage) remain. Stone rubble, surrounded by cactus plants, is visible throughout the site. The location is now used as a cattle pen, and a stone structure covers a spring located in the center of the village. Some of the surrounding land is cultivated with cotton.

Zionist Settlements on Village Lands

There are no Israeli settlements established on the lands of the former village of Sirin.