Abu Shukheidim

Abu Shukheidim was a Palestinian village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate.

In 2005 it merged with the village of Al-Mazra'a al-Qibliya  to form the town of Al-Zaitounah.

History
Abu Shukheidim does not appear in records from the 16th century. By the 19th century, it was a small village. The village, founded when the area was under Ottoman rule, likely grew into a permanent settlement as a result of the local Qays–Yaman war.

Pottery sherds from the Hellenistic/Roman, Byzantine, Crusader/Ayyubid and the Mamluk eras have been found here.

Ottoman era
Sherds from the early Ottoman era has also been found here. The historical core of the village is predominantly uninhabited.

In 1838, it was noted as a Muslim village, Abu Shukheidim, in the Bani Harith district, north of Jerusalem.

In 1863 Victor Guérin found it consisting of a dozen houses. A birket (artificial pond) was lined on the inside with good cement, but needed repairs. Near the birket were several very old buildings. The villagers were compelled to stock up on water at a well located at the bottom of the mountain whose village occupies the summit.

An Ottoman village list of about 1870 showed that Abu Schechedim had 14 houses and a population of 76, though the population count included men, only.

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Abu Shukheidim as a village resembling Abu Qash, and supplied by the same well.

In 1896 the population of 'Abu schechedim was estimated to be about 204 persons.

British Mandate era
In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, the population of Abu Iskhajdam was 139 Muslims, increasing in the 1931 census  to  201 Muslims, in 47 houses.

In 1945 statistics Abu Shukheidim had a population of 250 Muslims,  and a total land area of 1,430  dunams. Of this, 781 dunams were   for plantations and irrigable land,  178 were for cereals, while 23 dunams were built-up areas.

Jordanian era
In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Abu Shukheidim came  under Jordanian rule.

The Jordanian census of 1961 found 1,358 inhabitants.

Post-1967
Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Abu Shukheidim  has been under Israeli occupation.

After the 1995 accords, 54.2% of Al-Zaitounah land was defined as Area B, while the remaining 45.8% was defined as Area C. Israel has confiscated 308 dunams of land from Al-Zaitounah in order to construct two Israeli settlements, Talmon and Nahl'iel.

Population
Abu Shukheidim's population in 1922 was estimated at 139 people, and in 1945, 150 people. After an influx of refugees in 1967, the number reached about 5,069 people; in 1987 it became 773 people, and in 1996 the number reached 1,025. The population was 2,438 in 2017.

Most of the village's residents have roots in Deir Dibwan, although the original settlers came from Hebron. There's an old ruin nearby sharing the same name, and a family with the same name in Hebron.