Sajur
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Hebrew transcription(s) | |
• ISO 259 | Saǧur |
Coordinates: 32°55′54″N 35°19′11″E / 32.93167°N 35.31972°E | |
Grid position | 182/260 PAL |
Country | Israel |
District | Northern |
Area | |
• Total | 3,296 dunams (3.296 km2 or 1.273 sq mi) |
Population (2021)[1] | |
• Total | 4,425 |
• Density | 1,300/km2 (3,500/sq mi) |
Name meaning | Seijur, possibly from "a dog collar", or "red turbid water"[2] |
Sajur (Hebrew: סָג'וּר; Arabic: ساجور) is a Druze town (local council) in the Galilee region of northern Israel, with an area of 3,000 dunams (3 km²). It achieved recognition as an independent local council in 1992. In 2021 it had a population of 4,425.[1]
Sajur is identified with Shazur, an ancient village associated with Simeon Shezuri.[3] According to Jewish traditions, Ishmael ben Elisha ha-Kohen, Simeon Shezuri and Simeon ben Eleazar are buried in Sajur.[4]
Excavations in 1951, 1980 and 1993, on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority revealed, respectively, a tomb with 13 loculi that dated to the Roman–Byzantine periods, a tomb with eight or nine loculi dating to the end of the second century CE and a small tomb with a single room dating to the first–second centuries CE. A salvage dig in January 2002, prior to building a car park, revealed a bedrock-hewn cave, devoid of finds, which may have been a tomb, and various unremarkable finds, although the presence of many finds at the bottom of the stratigraphic sequence is evidence of Iron Age occupation at Sajur.[5]
In the Crusader era Sajur was known as Seisor or Saor.[6] In 1249 John Aleman transferred land, including the casalia of Beit Jann, Sajur, Majd al-Krum and Nahf to the Teutonic Knights.[7]
In 1322 Marino Sanuto the Elder showed Sanur on his map, named Seggori.[8]
Sajur was mentioned as a village in the Ottoman defter for the year 1555-6, located in the Nahiya of Acre of the Liwa of Safad. The land was designated as Sahi land, that is, land belonging to the Sultan.[9]
In 1875, Victor Guérin noted that "It is today a small village, inhabited by Druze; it is located on a hill that was once completely covered with houses. At the bottom, some gardens are planted with fig, olive, pomegranate and mulberry trees."[10]
In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described it as: "A village, built of stone, containing about 100 Druzes; in the plain, with olives and arable land; water from cisterns and spring near".[11]
A population list from about 1887 showed that Sejur had 190 inhabitants; all Druze.[12]
In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Sajur had a population of 196; 176 Druze, 17 Muslims and 3 Christians,[13] where the Christians were all Orthodox.[14] The population increased in the 1931 census to 254; 141 Druze, 11 Muslims and 2 Christians, in a total of 53 houses.[15]
In the 1945 statistics, Sajur had 350 inhabitants; 10 Muslims and 340 classified as “others” (=Druze).[16] They owned a total of 8,172 dunams of land, while 64 dunams were public.[17] 4 dunams were used for citrus and bananas, 1,380 for plantations and irrigable land, 1,933 for cereals,[18] while 7 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[19]
In 1992, Sajur was recognized as a local council.
According to Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a low ranking (3 out of 10) on the country's socioeconomic index (December 2001). The average salary that year was NIS 3,531 per month, whereas the national average was NIS 6,835.