The town is an ancient one, where two
columns and two
capitals have been reused at the door of the
mosque.
Potsherds from the early and late
Roman,
Byzantine, early
Muslim and the Middle Ages have been found here.
Ottoman era In 1517 al-Yamun was incorporated into the
Ottoman Empire with the rest of Palestine. During the
16th and
17th centuries, it belonged to the
Turabay Emirate (1517-1683), which encompassed also the
Jezreel Valley,
Haifa,
Jenin,
Beit She'an Valley, northern
Jabal Nablus,
Bilad al-Ruha/Ramot Menashe, and the northern part of the
Sharon plain. In the
census of 1596, the village appeared as “Yamoun”, located in the
nahiya of Sha'ara in the
liwa of
Lajjun. It had a population of 28 households, all
Muslim. They paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues; a total of 15,000
akçe. Potsherds from the Ottoman era have also been found here. In 1799, al-Yamun was named the village
Ellamoun on the map
Pierre Jacotin made during the
French campaign in Egypt and Syria. In 1838
Edward Robinson noted it on his travels, and in 1870
Victor Guérin found that Yamun had 500 inhabitants, and was divided into two quarters, each commanded by its own
sheikh. In 1870/1871 (1288
AH), an Ottoman census listed the village in the
nahiya of Shafa al-Gharby. In 1882 the
PEF's
Survey of Western Palestine described it as “A large village, with olives round it, standing on high ground, with a
well on the east. This appears to be the 'Janna of the
Onomasticon,’ 3 miles south of
Legio; does not exactly agree, being 7 English miles."
British Mandate era In the
1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the
British Mandate authorities, Yamun had a population of 1,485; all Muslims except one Christian who was Orthodox. The population increased in the
1931 census to 1,836; all Muslim, in a total of 371 houses. In the
1945 statistics the population was 2,520; all Muslims, with 20,361
dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey. 6,036 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 11,121 dunams for cereals, while a total of 58 dunams were built-up, urban land.
Jordanian era In the wake of the
1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the
1949 Armistice Agreements, al-Yamun came under
Jordanian rule. Some of al-Yamun inhabitants descended from Abu-Hija, a commander who came to Palestine with
Saladin. After 1948, al-Yamun received fellow Abu-Hija descendants from the depopulated village of
Ein Hod, presently in Israel. In 1961, the population of al-Yamun was 4,173.
Post-1967 Since the
Six-Day War in 1967, al-Yamun has been under
Israeli occupation. According to the 1967 Census, the town had a population of 4,384, of whom 267 originally came from Israel territory. On October 29, 2008, Muhammad 'Abahra, a farmer in the town was killed by the
IDF. 'Abahra had a shotgun in his possession leading the IDF to believe he would fire at them. 'Abahra's son, however, alleged, that his father was guarding his sheep from suspected thieves. == Folklore ==