Zarzir

This article is about the town in Israel. For the village in northern Syria, see Zarzur.

Zarzir זַרְזִיר زرزير
Local council (from 1997)
Hebrew transcription(s)
• ISO 259	Zarzir
• Also spelled	Bet Zarzir (official)
Council headquarters
Zarzir Location within Jezreel Valley region of Israel
Coordinates: 32°43′38″N 35°13′29″E
Country	Israel
District	Northern
Subdistrict	Jezreel
Natural Region	Nazareth-Tir'an Mountains
Area
• Total	3,889 dunams (3.889 km2; 1.502 sq mi)
Population  (2024)
• Total	9,149
• Density	2,353/km2 (6,093/sq mi)

Zarzir (Arabic: زرزير, Hebrew: זַרְזִיר), also known as Beit Zarzir, is an Arab local council located 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) west of the city of Nazareth in the Northern District of Israel. The residents are primarily Bedouin, made up of five Bedouin tribes, Mazarib, Grifat, Haib, Jawamis, and Eyadat. It was granted the status of a local council in 1996. .

Ataf Grifat is the current head of the local council.

In March 2026 sixty residents of the town were injured during an Iranian ballistic missile attack. Over 300 homes were also damaged.

Population

In 2024, it had a population of 9,149

Mazarib tribe

The Mazarib tribe is the largest tribe with a population of 2700 residents. Most of the members are involved in the security forces, including the IDF, police force and general security forces. Abed al Magid Mazarib was the first Bedouin officer in the IDF. They are also involved in agriculture and the building industry. They tend to live independently within Zarzir and run their town elementary school, mosque, and cemetery.

Grifat tribe

The Grifat tribe is made up of 2500 people who are all related with clear genealogical ties to each other. They all live in one place. Ataf Grifat, the head of the local council since 2013 is a descendant of the founders of the Zarzir Grifats.

Many of the tribe members are academics and serve in the security forces and education system. Others raise cattle and trade them or are involved in agriculture.

Haib tribe

A breakaway group of this tribe settled on the hilltop of Abu Siah of Zarzir in 1943 and remains there since then. In 1946 70 members of the tribe joined the Palmach. The "Pal Haib" unit was renown for its fierce fighting abilities. Hussein Ismail Abu Yosef Haib became the first Bedouin to receive the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He was the head of the Zarzir local council from 1996 until 2013.

The Haib tribe, located in other communities in the North of Israel are considered the largest Bedouin tribe in the North.

Jawamis tribe

There are 1200 members of the Jawamis tribe in Zarzir, and all are related. They are primarily in the security forces, agriculture and building. They have their own elementary school, mosque, cemetery and internal leadership committee.

Eyadat tribe

This tribe has 1000 members and has a high level of academics. They are originally from the nomadic tribes in Syria and Lebanon and settled in Zarzir in 1974. Many are in the security forces and others work in education or the local industries.

Zarzir mosque

Monument to the Bedouin Soldier

A few kilometres away, at HaMovil Junction, there is a memorial to the Bedouin soldiers of the IDF killed since 1948, 230 of them by 2022. The Monument to the Bedouin Soldier (sometimes translated a Fighter or Warrior), established at a site close to Bedouin and other Israeli Arab towns, was inaugurated on Independence Day in 1993 by then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The memorial includes a museum of Bedouin heritage and a garden with medicinal herbs.

Demographics

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
1983	3,100	—
1995	4,700	+51.6%
2008	6,200	+31.9%
2022	8,836	+42.5%
2024	9,149	+3.5%

Voting Patterns

In the 2022 election, 83 percent of voters in Zarzir voted for the Arab parties, while 13 percent voted for the parties of the center-left coalition led by Yair Lapid and 4 percent voted for the parties of the right-wing coalition led by Benjamin Netanyahu. Among the voters for the Arab parties, 89 percent voted for Ra'am, while 6 percent voted for Balad and 5 percent voted for the Hadash–Ta'al list.

See also

• Arab localities in Israel
• Israeli Bedouin

References

• Dr. Tomer Mazarib, The Integration Process of the Bedouin population into Arab Villages and Towns in the Galilee: Historical, Social and Cultural Aspects from the beginning of the 18th Century to the end of the 20th Century (Haifa: University of Haifa Press, 2016).

External links

• Welcome To Zarazir.