Sajur is identified with Shazur, an ancient village associated with
Simeon Shezuri. According to
Jewish traditions,
Ishmael ben Elisha ha-Kohen,
Simeon Shezuri and
Simeon ben Eleazar are buried in Sajur. Excavations in 1951, 1980 and 1993, on behalf of the
Israel Antiquities Authority revealed, respectively, a tomb with 13 loculi that dated to the Roman–Byzantine periods, a tomb with eight or nine loculi dating to the end of the second century CE and a small tomb with a single room dating to the first–second centuries CE. A
salvage dig in January 2002, prior to building a car park, revealed a bedrock-hewn cave, devoid of finds, which may have been a tomb, and various unremarkable finds, although the presence of many finds at the bottom of the stratigraphic sequence is evidence of Iron Age occupation at Sajur. In the
Crusader era Sajur was known as
Seisor or
Saor. In 1249
John Aleman transferred land, including the
casalia of
Beit Jann, Sajur,
Majd al-Krum and
Nahf to the
Teutonic Knights. In 1322
Marino Sanuto the Elder showed Sajur on his map, named
Seggori.
Ottoman Empire Sajur was mentioned as a village in the
Ottoman defter for the year 1555-6, located in the
Nahiya of
Acre of the
Liwa of
Safad. The land was designated as
Sahi land, that is, land belonging to the
Sultan. In 1875,
Victor Guérin noted that "It is today a small village, inhabited by Druze; it is located on a hill that was once completely covered with houses. At the bottom, some gardens are planted with fig, olive, pomegranate and mulberry trees." In 1881, the
PEF's
Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described it as: "A village, built of stone, containing about 100 Druzes; in the plain, with olives and arable land; water from
cisterns and spring near". A population list from about 1887 showed that Sejur had 190 inhabitants; all Druze.
British Mandate In the
1922 census of Palestine conducted by the
British Mandate authorities, Sajur had a population of 196; 176 Druze, 17 Muslims and 3 Christians, where the Christians were all Orthodox. The population increased in the
1931 census to 254; 141 Druze, 11 Muslims and 2 Christians, in a total of 53 houses. In the
1945 statistics, Sajur had 350 inhabitants; 10 Muslims and 340 classified as “others” (=Druze). They owned a total of 8,172
dunams of land, while 64 dunams were public. 4 dunams were used for citrus and bananas, 1,380 for plantations and irrigable land, 1,933 for cereals, while 7 dunams were built-up (urban) land.
Israel In 1992, Sajur was recognized as a local council. ==Demographics==