Abwein's main agricultural products are olives, figs, grapes, apples, peaches, pears, and vegetables.[citation needed] There are three schools in the town with about 1,200 students and about 200 students are enrolled in various Palestinian universities. Abwein also has three mosques, the largest of which is the Farouk Mosque.[3]
Reinhold Röhricht identified Abwein as the Crusader village of Casale Bubil or Casale Bubin.[6]
In the village is an old maqam (holy man's tomb) called ash-Shaykh Ya'qub. According to Moshe Sharon, the tomb has been neglected. The tombstone was in secondary use in a terrace. It had an inscription dating to September 1339 in Mamluknaskhi script dedicated to a Hajji Ya'qub, son of Shaikh Dawud ibn Ahmad, who died that year. It also refers to the Mamluk sultan of that time period, al-Nasir Muhammad.[7] Pottery sherds from the Mamluk era[5] and a hoard of 406 silver coins, mostly from the period of Sultan Baibars, have also been found.[8]
Ottoman era
The village was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of Palestine, and in 1596 it appeared in the Ottoman tax registers as being in the nahiya (subdistrict) of Quds, part of the liwa (district) of Quds. It had a population of 53 households, all Muslims. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33.3% on wheat, barley, olive trees, vineyards, fruit trees, goats and/or beehives; a total of 8,750 akçe. All of the revenue went to a Waqf.[9]
In 1838 it was noted as a Muslim village in the Bani Zeid administrative region.[10] During this time, residents from Abwein settled in Sarafand al-Kharab near al-Ramla.[11]
In 1870 Victor Guérin visited the village, which he called "A'youein", and estimated it to have about 300 inhabitants. He described it as having abundant water-sources, beautiful walnut trees, and gardens with figs, olives and pomegranates.[12] An Ottoman village list of about the same year, 1870, showed that Abwein had 158 houses and a population of 429, though the population count included men only.[13][14]
In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Abwein as a village situated on the slope of a hill, with a well to the south, and olive trees on its lower north side.[15]
In 1896 the population of Abwain was estimated to be about 933 persons.[16]
In the 1945 statistics the population was 880 Muslims,[19] while the total land area was 16,205 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[20] Of this, 1,863 were allocated for plantations and irrigable land, 8,296 for cereals,[21] while 36 dunams were classified as built-up areas.[22]
The Sahweil Castle in Abwein was renovated in 1996.[24] In 2005, a 13-member municipality was established by the Palestinian National Authority to administer the town's civil affairs.[4] In the December 2004 Palestinian municipal elections, 28 candidates competed for the mayoral seat and despite strong opposition from religious parties, Fatima Sahweil, a member of Fatah and principal of a local girls' high school, won. The Fatah list won a total of 12 of Abwein Municipality's 13 seats.[25]
Demography
Most of Abwein's current inhabitants belong to the Sahweil and Mazahim families. According to the 'Abwein Municipal Council, the town's inhabitants are descendants of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari tribe.[4]
