Zayta

The village stood on a hill 1 km north of Wadi Zayta. It was linked by a dirt track to 'Iraq al-Manshiyya, which was located on a highway that ran from east to west between the city of al-Majdal on the coast and Bayt Jibrin. The old Zayta (Khirbat Zayta al-Kharab, 133115) was located 1.5 km south of this village on the southern bank of the wadi. (Because the wadi's stagnant waters bred insects and diseases, the population was moved during the Mandate to the new site.) In 1596 Zayta was a village in the nahiya of Gaza (liwa' of Gaza), with a population of 165. It paid taxes on wheat, barley, goats, and beehives. In the late nineteenth century, Zayta was described as a small hamlet on the edge of the wadi, flanked on two sides by low hills and built of adobe brick.

The new village of Zayta was laid out in a northeast-southwest direction its houses were built of mud, wood, and cane, and its population was Muslim. Drinking water was supplied by artesian wells, most of which were dug south of the village, near Wadi Zayta, where the underground water level was close to the surface. Another well was located north of Zayta. The villagers worked mainly in rainfed agriculture and stock raising, specializing in goats and sheep. They cultivated grain on large tracts of the land and utilized the rest as grazing land for their animals. In 1944/45 a total of 3,027 dunums was allocated to cereals.