Sajad | |
|---|---|
Village | |
 Remains of Sajad Railway platform. | |
| Etymology: Kh. es Sejed, the ruin of adoration[1] | |
.jpg) 1870s map.jpg) 1940s map.jpg) modern map.jpg) 1940s with modern overlay mapA series of historical maps of the area around Sajad (click the buttons) | |
  Sajad Location withinMandatory Palestine | |
| Coordinates:31°47′01″N34°53′34″E / 31.78361°N 34.89278°E /31.78361; 34.89278 | |
| Palestine grid | 139/132 |
| Geopolitical entity | Mandatory Palestine |
| Subdistrict | Ramle |
| Date of depopulation | 1948[4] |
| Area | |
• Total | 2,795dunams (2.795 km2; 1.079 sq mi) |
| Population (1945) | |
• Total | 370[2][3] |
| Current Localities | Israeli military zone |
Sajad (Arabic:سجد) was aPalestinian village in theRamle Subdistrict. It was located 16 km (9.9 mi) south ofRamla. Sajad was established in the late 19th century near a local train station.[5] It was depopulated during the1948 Arab–Israeli war.[6]
In 1838,Sejad was noted as a place "in ruins or deserted."[7]
The village of Sajad was the site of a railway station built by the French inOttoman eraPalestine. In August 1892, theJaffa–Jerusalem railway service was initiated; the train stopped in Sajad.[8][9] The station was closed after a new railway line and station were built at nearby Wadi Sarar in 1915.[10]
The land which the villagers cultivated, was at one time owned by theOttoman sultanAbd al-Hamid, but it was taken from him by the Ottoman government in 1908. After this, the village land was classified asjiftlik land, owned by the government but leased on a long-term basis to the villagers.[11]
In the1922 census of Palestine, conducted by theBritish Mandate authorities, Sajad had a population of 221Muslims,[12] increasing in the1931 census to 300, still all Muslims, in a total of 66 houses.[13]
The village did not have a school on its own, but in 1945–46 it started sending its students to a school inQazaza, a village to the southeast.[14]
In the1945 statistics the population was 370, all Muslims,[2] while the total land area was 2,795dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[3] Of this, a total of 1,687dunums of land were used for cereals,[15] while 19 dunams were classified as built-up public areas.[16]
A military operation planned by the pre-stateIsraeli forces against the village of Sajad as part ofOperation Nahshon is recorded in a document from the Nahshon Headquarters to the 52nd Battalion, dated 15 April 1948.[17] According toBenny Morris, "Battalion 3 was ordered to annihilate and destroy the village of Sajad."[17] According to Khalidi the village was taken on 9–10 July as part of theGivati Brigade'sOperation An-Far.[6]
There arePalestinian refugees from Sajad who still long to return to the site of their former village and who express deep distrust of otherArab countries in which they live as refugees. . For example, Hassan, a refugee living in theMarka camp inJordan stated: "We do not have any confidence in the Arabs and they aretraitors, sometimes I get so depressed about it, I do not even want to talk to my children about what happened to my village Sajad in Palestine ... I prefer to live in a tent in myhomeland than a castle anywhere else ... because I will always feel that the castle is not really mine."[18]
According toWalid Khalidi, in 1992 the site of the former village of Sajad was inaccessible, as it was a military zone in Israel.[6]
