Zikrin

The village was situated in the easternmost extension of the southern coastal plain, near the western foothills of the Hebron Mountains. It was linked to Bayt Jibrin, to the southeast, by a secondary road that passed through Kudna. Another secondary road ran from Zikrin through the village of Ajjur to a highway that ran northeast from Bayt Jibrin and intersected the Jerusalem-Jaffa highway. Zikrin was called Kefar Dikrina during the Roman period. In 1596, Zikrin was a village in the nahiya of Gaza (liwa' of Gaza), with a population of 220. It paid taxes on a number of crops, including wheat, barley, sesame, and fruits, as well as on vineyards. In the late nineteenth century, Zikrin was a village built of stone and surrounded by gardens. Its water supply came from 'numerous' wells in the valley to the north.

The residents of the modem village were Muslims. Their houses were built of stone, mud, and wood and were distributed along two roads, one leading to Bayt Jibrin and another to Dayr al-Dubban. The village had an elementary school and a number of small shops. Shallow wells (3 to 15 m deep) collected rain water and runoff from the wadis, which the villagers utilized for drinking, irrigation, and construction. A well located on Wadi Bisiyya was the main source of drinking water. The villagers engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry. They grew grain, vegetables, and olives. In 1944/45 they allocated a total of 15,058 dunums of their land to cereals. Trees, shrubs, and wild grass grew on the south and southeast sides and served as pastures.