Saffa, Ramallah

In the early Ottoman census of 1525-1526, it was not mentioned, but in 1538-1539, Saffa was located in the nahiya of Quds, and named as Mazra, or cultivated land.[5]

In 1838 it was noted as a Muslim village, located in the Beni Harith district, west of Jerusalem.[6][7]

In 1870, Victor Guérin noted that: "This village occupies a high plateau; it contains four hundred inhabitants. Some stones, scattered or embedded in Arab buildings, and numerous excavations in the rock, such as cisterns, tombs, quarries and subterranean vaults, proves that the present Saffa succeeded an ancient locality."[8] An Ottoman village list of about the same year showed that Saffa had 200 inhabitants with 67 houses, though the population count included only the men.[9][10]

In 1883 the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Suffa: "A small village standing high on a ridge, with a well to the east and a sacred place to the south."[11]

In 1896 the population of Safa was estimated to be about 564 persons.[12]

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Saffa had a population of 495 Muslims,[13] increasing in the 1931 census to 644 Muslims, in 143 houses.[14]

In the 1945 statistics the population was 790 Muslims,[15] while the total land area was 9,602 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[16] Of this, 2,536 were used for plantations and irrigable land, 2,975 for cereals,[17] while 99 dunams were classified as built-up areas.[18]

• 
  Saffa 1944 1:20,000 from 1919 survey
• 
  Saffa 1945 1:250,000

In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Saffa came under Jordanian rule. It was annexed by Jordan in 1950.

In 1961, the population of Saffa was 1,364.[19]

After the Six-Day War in 1967, Saffa has been under Israeli occupation.

After the 1995 accords, 12.9% of village land was classified as Area B, and the remaining 87.1% as Area C.[20]

Israel has confiscated land from Saffa in order to construct six Israeli settlements:

• 814 dunams for Kfar Rut,[21]
• 781 dunams for Shilat,[21]
• 682 dunams for Menora,[21]
• 471 dunams for Makkabim,[21]
• 441 dunams for Lapid,[21] and
• 5 dunams for Hashmona'im.[21]