The Long History

While the archaeological record suggests ancient habitation, the archival history of modern Saqiya begins in the early Ottoman period.

The 1596 Tax Register

In 1596, Saqiya was recorded in the Defter-i Mufassal (Tax Register) as a village in the Nahiya of Ramla. The population was 270 persons (50 households). The economy was based on:

• Wheat and Barley: Dry farming cereals.
• Sesame: A cash crop for oil.
• Beehives: Indicating a landscape rich in wildflowers.

The Mandate Boom (1920–1948)

The arrival of the British and the rapid integration of Palestine into the global capitalist economy transformed Saqiya.

Architectural Evolution

During the 1930s and 40s, “concrete buildings appeared,” signaling a shift in prosperity. The adobe brick, associated with the fellah past, gave way to reinforced concrete. This architectural hybridization—mud brick centers wrapped in concrete peripheries—was characteristic of the coastal villages on the eve of the Nakba.

The School (1936)

Perhaps the most significant indicator of modernization was the founding of the boys’ elementary school in 1936. By the mid-1940s, this school had 136 students and owned 16 dunums of land dedicated to agricultural training. The village was training its youth not just in literacy, but in the scientific management of the orchards that sustained them.