Sanniriya was founded in the 14th century by Issa as-Saniri, a holy man from
Syria, who is buried in the village. Because of his tomb which is venerated by the local inhabitants, religious festivals were held in the village and the
Sanniriya Mosque was built adjacent to it also in the 14th century. The prominent clans of the immediate area today—Sheikh, Omar, Ahmad, and Younis—are descendants of as-Saniri. The Abu Hadgi clan migrated to Sanniriya from
Deir Istiya.
Potsherds from the
Mamluk era has been found in the village, and the mosque has a
vaulted burial chamber, and an Arabic inscription from AH 876 (1460 C.E.).
Ottoman era During the 16th century, Sanniriya either functioned as a seasonal settlement or was deserted. In 1838, during the late
Ottoman era, it was noted as a Muslim village,
Senirieh, in
Jurat Merda, south of
Nablus. In 1870 the French explorer
Victor Guérin visited the village, which he found situated on the top of a hill, with about 700 inhabitants. Many of the houses appeared newly built, only some
cisterns appeared old. At the highest point of the hill was a small mosque. In 1870/1871 (1288
AH), an Ottoman census listed the village with a population of 52 households in the
nahiya (sub-district) of Jamma'in al-Awwal, subordinate to Nablus. In 1882 the
PEF's
Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) the village (called "Senirieh"), was described as a "small stone village, on a ridge, surrounded with olives, supplied by cisterns."
British Mandate era In the
1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the
British Mandate authorities, Sanniriya (called "Sainiriyeh") had a population of 529, all Muslims, increasing in the
1931 census when Sannirya (including Khirbat Azztun) had 165 occupied houses and a population of 722, again all Muslim. In the
1945 statistics the population of Sanniriya was 990 Muslims, while the total land area was 12,685
dunams, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 2,895 were allocated for plantations and irrigable land, 4,432 for cereals, while 45 dunams were classified as built-up areas. File:Sanniriya 1943.jpg|Sanniriya 1943 1:20,000 File:Azzun 1945.jpg|Sanniriya 1945 1:250,000
Jordanian era In the wake of the
1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the
1949 Armistice Agreements, Sanniriya came under Jordanian rule. The Ahmad and Omar clans began to work the fields west of the village where the land was suitable for agriculture in the 1930s. However, in the 1950s, to avoid continuous long-distance travels, the Ahmad and Omar clans established the villages of
Azzun Atma and
Beit Amin, respectively. Because of the migration of the two clans, Younis and Sheikh became the dominant families of Sanniriya. Initially, at the beginning of Jordanian rule in the 1950s, water for domestic use was obtained from the nearby Wadi al-Qana. After receiving funds from residents living in the
Persian Gulf States, the village economy substantially improved which included a boost in agricultural production, leading to the export of oranges and other products to the Gulf States. Increased income in the village allowed for the inhabitants to dig the first public
well in Sanniriya in 1964.
Post-1967 Since the
Six-Day War in 1967, Sanniriya has been under
Israeli occupation. In 1969, several residents participated in a battle against Israeli forces in the
Jordan Valley. Between the late 1970s to 2000, the
Israeli settlements of
Etz Efraim and
Elkana were built on Sanniriya's lands. During the
First Intifada that began in 1987, a number of residents were imprisoned for participation in the uprising and two homes were demolished. The
West Bank barrier was constructed near Sanniriya, separating them from their former land. ==References==