Sarafand al-Amar
village in Ramle, Mandatory Palestine
Sarafand al-Ammar (Arabic: صرفند العمار) was a Palestinian Arab village situated on the coastal plain of Palestine, about 5 kilometers (3.1 mi) northwest of Ramla. It had a population of 1,950 in 1945 and a land area of 13,267 dunams.
In December 1918, the village's adult male population was killed by New Zealand forces in the aftermath of the Sinai and Palestine campaign, in an illegal retribution for the killing of a New Zealand soldier. It was then depopulated entirely during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
Today it is part of the Israeli area of Tzrifin.
Etymology
Sarafand or Sarafend (Ṣarafand / صرفند) is an Arabic rendition of the Aramaic place-name Ṣrifin. Al-Ammar means "the built, inhabited".
History
The Samaritan chronicle known as the Tolidah records the ancestry of the "Benē Marḥīb that descended from Benē Bakr b. Ur" from Sarafand.
Ottoman period
Sarafand al-Amar was also known as Sarafand al-Kubra ("the larger Sarafand") to distinguish it from its nearby sister village, Sarafand al-Sughra ("the smaller Sarafand").
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Sarafand al-Amar” as village in Ramle, Mandatory Palestine. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as village in Ramle, Mandatory Palestine. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7421982. Authority coordinates are 31.959, 34.849. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1945, 1918 and 1948.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Sarafand al-Amar”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Sarafand al-Amar primary sources, Sarafand al-Amar archive and Sarafand research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Sarafand al-Amar”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Sarafand al-Amar” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.