Al-Shajara (Arabic: الشجرة, also spelled ash-Shajarah) is a town in southern Syria, administratively part of the Daraa Governorate, located west of Daraa, in between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Jordan. Nearby localities include Saham al-Jawlan to the east, Nafia to the north, Jamla to the northwest and Bayt Ara to the southwest.
History
In the Ottomantax registers of 1596, it was located in the nahiya of Jawlan Sarqi, Qada of Hawran, with the name of Sajara. It had a population of 5 households and 2 bachelors, all Muslims. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 25% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, goats and beehives, winter pasture/grass lands, in addition to occasional revenues; a total of 1,988 akçe.[2]
In 1838 Eli Smith noted that the place was located west of the Hajj road, and that it was populated with Sunni Muslims.[3]
Railway bridge over the Yarmuk right east of ash-Shajara station, 1908
In 1908 the Darʿā–Haifarailway line started operating and ash-Shajara was connected with the ash-Shajara train station far south of the city in the valley of the Yarmuk, in this section drowned in the waters of the Al-Wehda Dam since 2007.
Modern era
According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, al-Shajara had a population of 6,567 in the 2004 census. It is the administrative center of the al-Shajara nahiyah (subdistrict) which consisted of 17 localities with a combined population of 34,206 in 2004.[1]
Syria
