Sakhnin

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City in Israel's Northern District

title: "Sakhnin" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["arab-localities-in-israel", "arab-christian-communities-in-israel", "cities-in-northern-district-(israel)", "ancient-jewish-settlements-of-galilee"] description: "City in Israel's Northern District" topic_path: "geography" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakhnin" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary City in Israel's Northern District ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]

FieldValue
nameSakhnin
native_name{{Hlist
rtl
{{Langar
settlement_typeCity (from 1995)
translit_lang1Hebrew
translit_lang1_type1ISO 259
translit_lang1_info1Saḥnin, Saknin (Israeli pronunciation)
image_skylinePikiWiki Israel 17664 Cities in Israel.jpg
image_captionView of Sakhnin
image_blank_emblemSakhnin COA.png
blank_emblem_typeEmblem of Sakhnin
pushpin_mapIsrael northwest#Israel
pushpin_label_positionleft
coordinates
grid_nameGrid position
grid_position177/252 PAL
subdivision_typeCountry
subdivision_type2District
established_titleFounded
established_date1500 BCE (as Sagone)
1995 (Israeli city)
leader_titleMayor
leader_nameMazen Ghnaim
unit_prefdunam
area_total_dunam
population_footnotes
population_total
population_as_of
population_density_km2auto
blank_name_sec1Name meaning
blank_info_sec1Sukhnin, from personal name,
::

| name = Sakhnin | native_name = {{Hlist | {{Script/Hebrew|סַחְ'נִין, סִכְנִין}} | سخنين | settlement_type = City (from 1995) | translit_lang1 = Hebrew | translit_lang1_type1 = ISO 259 | translit_lang1_info1 = Saḥnin, Saknin (Israeli pronunciation) | image_skyline = PikiWiki Israel 17664 Cities in Israel.jpg | image_caption = View of Sakhnin | image_blank_emblem = Sakhnin COA.png | blank_emblem_type = Emblem of Sakhnin | pushpin_map_alt = | pushpin_map = Israel northwest#Israel | pushpin_mapsize = | pushpin_label_position = left | pushpin_map_caption = | coordinates = | grid_name = Grid position | grid_position = 177/252 PAL | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = Israel | subdivision_type1 = | subdivision_name1 = | subdivision_type2 = District | subdivision_name2 = Northern | established_title = Founded | established_date = 1500 BCE (as Sagone) 1995 (Israeli city) | leader_title = Mayor | leader_name = Mazen Ghnaim | unit_pref = dunam | area_total_dunam = | population_footnotes = | population_total = | population_as_of = | population_density_km2 = auto | blank_name_sec1 = Name meaning | blank_info_sec1 = Sukhnin, from personal name, Sakhnin (; or Sikhnin) is a city in Israel's Northern District. It is located in the Lower Galilee, about 23 km east of Acre. Sakhnin was declared a city in 1995. In its population was ; 95% of the population was Muslim and 5% was Christian.{{Cite web |title=סח'נין |url=https://www.cbs.gov.il/he/publications/DocLib/2024/local_authorities22_1957/%D7%A1%D7%97'%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%9F.pdf |access-date=15 July 2025 |website=Central Bureau of Statistics}}

Geography

Sakhnin is built over three hills and is located in a valley surrounded by mountains, the highest one being 602 meters high. Its rural landscape is almost entirely covered by olive and fig groves as well as oregano and sesame shrubs.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/PikiWiki_Israel_18059_Cities_in_Israel.jpg" caption="College of Sakhnin for Teacher Education"] ::

History

Settlement at Sakhnin dates back 3,500 years to its first mention in 1479 BCE by Thutmose II, whose ancient Egyptian records mention it as a centre for production of indigo dye.

Sakhnin is situated on an ancient site, where remains from columns and cisterns have been found. It was mentioned as Sogane, a town fortified in 66, by Josephus. A cistern, excavated near the mosque in the old city centre, revealed pottery fragments dating from the 1st to the 5th century CE.

Haninah ben Teradion, who was arrested by the Roman authorities for heresy (minut), is said to have run a Torah academy there. It may be the village Kfar Sikhnin referred to in rabbinical accounts of the aftermath of the trial of Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus for heresy.

In 1961 Bellarmino Bagatti, during a visit to the village, was shown a tomb venerated by Christians, Jews and Muslims, which local tradition identified as that of James the Just. On returning to the village, he discovered that restoration had been undertaken and the site renamed the burial place of Rabbi Yehoshua of Sakhnin. Richard Bauckham has raised the possibility that the Yaakov of Sikhnin in accounts of rabbi Eliezer may be James the grandson of Jude.

In the Crusader era, it was known as Zecanin. In 1174 it was one of the casalia (villages) given to Phillipe le Rous. In 1236 descendants of Phillipe le Rous confirmed the sale of the fief of Saknin.

Ottoman era

In 1596, Sakhnin appeared in Ottoman tax registers as being in the nahiya (subdistrict) of Akka (Acre), part of Safad Sanjak. It had a population of 66 households and 8 bachelors, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 20% on various agricultural products, including wheat, barley, olives, cotton, in addition to a water mill; a total of 12,138 akçe.

In 1838, Sakhnin was noted as a Muslim and Christian village in the Shaghur district, located between Safad, Acre and Tiberias. In 1859 the British Consul Rogers estimated the population to be 1,100, and the cultivated area 100 feddans, while in 1875 Victor Guérin found 700 inhabitants, both Muslims and Greek Orthodox Christians.

In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Sakhnin as follows: "A large village of stone and mud, amid fine olive-groves, with a small mosque. The water supply is from a large pool about half a mile to the south-east. The inhabitants are Moslems and Christians". A population list from about 1887 showed that Sakhnin had about 1,915 inhabitants; 1,640 Muslims, 150 Catholic Christians and 125 Greek Christians.

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Sakhnin had a population of 1,575; 1,367 Muslims and 208 Christians; 87 Orthodox and 121 Greek Catholic (Melchite). The population increased in the 1931 census to a total of 1,891; 1,688 Muslims, 202 Christians, and 1 Jew, in a total of 400 houses.

In the 1945 statistics, Sakhnin had 2,600 inhabitants; 2310 Muslims and 290 Christians. The total jurisdiction of the village was 70,192 dunams of land. 3,622 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 29,366 dunams for cereals, while 169 dunams were built-up (urban) land.

State of Israel

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/PikiWiki_Israel_17679_Geography_of_Israel.jpg" caption="Sakhnin in the autumn"] ::

During the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, Sakhnin surrendered to Israeli forces on July 18, 1948, during Operation Dekel, but was re-captured by Arab forces shortly afterwards. It finally fell without battle during Operation Hiram, 29–31 October 1948. Many of the inhabitants fled north but some stayed and were not expelled by the Israeli soldiers. The town remained under martial law until 1966.

In 1976, it became the site of the first Land Day marches, in which six Israeli Arabs were killed by Israeli forces during violent protests of government expropriation of 5000 acre of Arab-owned land near Sakhnin. Later that same year, three more civilians were killed during clashes with the police. Two natives of the city were killed in Jerusalem during the al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000.

The Israeli transcription of the Arabic toponym is an orthographic error, writing Sakhnas instead of Sakhnin.

Sports

thumb|[[Doha Stadium]] In 2003, the town's football club, Bnei Sakhnin, became one of the first Arab teams to play in the Israeli Premier League, the top tier of Israeli football. The following year, the club won the State Cup, and was the first Arab team to do so; consequently, it participated in the UEFA Cup the following season, losing out to Newcastle United. The team received a new home with the 2005 opening of Doha Stadium, funded by the Israeli government and the Qatar National Olympic Committee, whose capital it is named after. The stadium has a capacity of 5,000.

Sakhnin is also the hometown of Abbas Suan, an Israeli international footballer who previously played for Bnei Sakhnin. The town and their soccer team are the subject of the 2010 documentary film After The Cup: Sons of Sakhnin United

On 19 September 2008, Bnei Sakhnin played a game with the Spanish team Deportivo de La Coruña.

Shrines

Sakhnin is home to two shrines:

A-Sheikh Siddiq () is a shrine located in Sakhnin's historical core, close to the Christian cemetery. It features a Roman-period sarcophagus. The Arabs of Galilee, and the Bedouin of Arab el-Na'im in particular, used to conduct pilgrimages to the shrine in order to make vows and seek for health for themselves and their progeny. The residents of Sakhnin used to beg the saint's forgiveness whenever they went near it out of fear, especially at night. According to a local legend, a-Sheikh Siddiq fought both the Romans and pagans. He was burned by the Romans together with his daughters as he was holding a Torah book. Guerin also referenced another tradition, that claims a-Sheikh Siddiq was interred here next to his wife. Jewish tradition attributes this site to Rabbi Joshua of Sakhnin, an amora who lived in the village in the 4th century CE. Since the 13th century, the shrine has attracted Jewish and Muslim pilgrims alike.

A second shrine, a-Sheikh Ismai'l, is located in the Al-Khalaila clan cemetery in the heart of Sakhnin's western district. This location most likely refers to a local saint rather than the biblical and Quranic Isma'il. Residents of the village claim that one of them had a dream in which the sheikh complained that the sewage water was polluting his tomb. Then, to stop the pollution, this resident constructed a drainage. Every Friday, the women of the Al-Khalaila clan light candles in the tomb.

Notable people

References

Bibliography

References

  1. Palmer, 1881, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp00conduoft#page/116/mode/1up 116]
  2. Dauphin, 1998, pp. 663-664
  3. Tsafrir et al, 1994, p. 235
  4. Tahan, 2005, [http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=281&mag_id=110 Sakhnin]
  5. Joshua Schwartz, Peter J. Tomson,[https://www.academia.edu/8164853/pdf_WHEN_RABBI_ELIEZER_WAS_ARRESTED_FOR_HERESY?email_work_card=view-paper 'When Rabbi Eliezer was arrested for heresy],' Jewish Studies, an Internet Journal 2012, vol.10, pp.1-37 p.20, n.59
  6. Schwartz, Tomson, 'When Rabbi Eliezer was arrested for heresy,' 2012 p.6 n.15.
  7. 978-1-474-23047-6 p.116.
  8. Frankel, 1988, p. 255
  9. Strehlke, 1869, p. [https://archive.org/stream/tabulaeordinist00stregoog#page/n24/mode/1up 8], No. 7; cited in Röhricht, 1893, RHH, p. [https://archive.org/stream/regestaregnihie00rhgoog#page/n143/mode/1up 137], No. 517; cited in Ellenblum, 2003, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=riHMZiH_Te4C&pg=PA109 109], note 16 and Frankel, 1988, p. 255
  10. Strehlke, 1869, p. [https://archive.org/stream/tabulaeordinist00stregoog#page/n80/mode/1up 64], No.81; cited Röhricht, 1893, RHH, p. [https://archive.org/stream/regestaregnihie00rhgoog#page/n285/mode/1up 269], No. 1069; cited in Frankel, 1988, p. 265
  11. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah 1977, p. 191
  12. Note that Rhode 1979, p. [https://www.academia.edu/2026845/The_Administration_and_Population_of_the_Sancak_of_Safed_in_the_Sixteenth_Century 6] {{Webarchive. link. (2019-04-20 writes that the Safad register that Hütteroth and Abdulfattah studied was not from 1595/6, but from 1548/9)
  13. Robinson and Smith 1841, vol. 3, 2nd appendix, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/133/mode/1up 133]
  14. Conder and Kitchener 1881, SWP I, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp01conduoft#page/286/mode/1up 286]
  15. Guérin 1880, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongogr01unkngoog#page/n482/mode/1up 469]- 471
  16. Conder and Kitchener 1881, SWP I, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp01conduoft#page/285/mode/1up 285]–286
  17. Schumacher 1888, p. [https://archive.org/stream/quarterlystateme19pale#page/n199/mode/1up 174]
  18. Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Acre, p.[https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n39/mode/1up 37]
  19. Barron, 1923, Table XVI, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n52/mode/1up 50]
  20. Mills, 1932, p. [https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas 102]
  21. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. [http://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/VSpages/VS1945_p04.jpg 4]
  22. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945''. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20I/Acre/Page-041.jpg 41]
  23. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20II/Acre/Page-081.jpg 81]
  24. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20III/Acre/Page-131.jpg 131]
  25. [[Benny Morris. Morris]], 1987, p. 226
  26. Liora Bigon, Amer Dahamshe, [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Amer_Dahamshe/publication/277683842_An_anatomy_of_symbolic_power_Israeli_road-sign_policy_and_the_Palestinian_minority/links/5c647a6792851c48a9d24c83/An-anatomy-of-symbolic-power-Israeli-road-sign-policy-and-the-Palestinian-minority.pdf?origin=publication_detail 'An anatomy of symbolic power: Israeli road-sign policy and the Palestinian minority,'] Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 2014, volume 32, pages 606 – 621 p.613.
  27. [http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/15/sports/soccer.php Soccer: In Israel and Italy, storied teams rise] International Herald Tribune, 15 April 2007
  28. "After the Cup: Sons of Sakhnin United (2009) - IMDb".
  29. [https://elpais.com/deportes/2008/07/26/actualidad/1217056922_850215.html El Deportivo de La Coruña vuelve a Europa] EL PAÍS, 26 July 2008
  30. Tal, Uri. (2023). "Muslim Shrines in Eretz Israel: History, Religion, Traditions, Folklore". [[Yad Ben Zvi.

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arab-localities-in-israelarab-christian-communities-in-israelcities-in-northern-district-(israel)ancient-jewish-settlements-of-galilee