Jarrar clan

Jarrar (Arabic: جرار‎‎) is a large Palestinian clan that served as rural landlords and tax-collectors (mutasallims) in the Jenin area during Ottoman rule in Palestine. During this era, they were the most powerful of the rural clans in Palestine's central highlands.

The Jarrar clan migrated to Marj Ibn Amer (Jezreel Valley) in the Lajjun district from the Balqa region of Transjordan in 1670. They became an economic power and gained control over what would become Sanjak Jenin in the early 19th century. The area was known for its grain, tobacco and cotton production. It also marked the border between Galilee and Jabal Nablus, linked the coast to the interior and contained the market town of Jenin, which also served as a storage for collected taxes from the district. The Jarrars' political power was punctuated by their peasant militia and their heavily fortified, hilltop throne village of Sanur. Sanur was built by a branch of the Jarrar family, that moved there from nearby Jaba', which was another fortified village of the Jarrars.

In the 18th century, the Jarrar clan was at the forefront of various conflicts between the governors of Acre and the rural clans and urban notables of Jabal Nablus. Acre was a rising power and as its successive governors attempted to expand their zone of influence, they entered into conflict with the Jarrar clan because of the proximity of Marj Ibn Amer to Acre. The first serious battle occurred in 1735 with Sheikh Zahir al-Umar over control over Nazareth, a principal center of trade in the interior between Jabal Nablus and the Levantine regions north of it. The town had for decades paid taxes to the Jarrar clan, but Zahir al-Umar attempted to covet it. His forces defeated the Jarrar clan and the latter's leader, Sheikh Ibrahim Jarrar, was slain.

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