Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya () is a Palestinian village in the northern West Bank, 20 kilometers south of Nablus, in the Nablus Governorate of the State of Palestine. The town has a total land area of 12,075 dunams of which 200 dunams is built-up area. The village is just north of the historic Khan al-Lubban caravansary.
In 2012, the nearby village of Ammuriya was joined with Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya into one Municipal Council, also called Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya. The union has since been desolvedAl Lubban ash Sharqiya Village Profile (including ‘Ammuriya Locality), ARIJ, p. 5
Location Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya is bordered by Qaryut and As Sawiya to the east, As Sawiya, Iskaka and Salfit to the north, Khirbet Qeis to the west, and 'Abwein and Sinjil to the south.Al Lubban ash Sharqiya Village Profile (including ‘Ammuriya Locality), ARIJ, p. 4
History Iron Age through Abbasid period Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya has been identified with biblical Lebonah.Easton, Matthew George (1897). "Lebonah". Easton's Bible Dictionary (New and revised ed.). T. Nelson and Sons.
Pottery and sherds from Iron Age II, Hellenistic, Hellenistic/RomanFinkelstein et al. (1997), p. 616. and Byzantine period have been found,Dauphin (1998), p. 816. as have sherds from the Umayyad/ Abbasid periods.
Crusaders, Ayyubids, and Mamluks The village was known as "Lubanum" to the Crusaders,Pringle (1997), p. 119.Röhricht (1893), RHH, p. 82, No. 321; cited in Pringle (1998), p. 105. and sherds from the Crusader/Ayyubid period have also been found there.
Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahid al-Makhzumi al-Lubanni (d. 1260), a qadi (Islamic judge) in Baalbek, was born in the village in AH 593/1196 CE.Ellenblum (2003), p. 245. In the 1320s, it was marked as Casale Lepna on the map of Marino Sanuto.Finkelstein et al., 1997, p. 617
Sherds from the Mamluk period have also been found there.
Ottoman period In 1517, the village was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire with the rest of Palestine. Under the name "Lubban as-Sawi", the village appeared in the 1596 Ottoman tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Jabal Qubal of the liwa of Nablus. It had a population of 75 Muslim households. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 33.3% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, olives, and goats or beehives; a total of 15,454 akçe. Half of the revenue went to a Waqf.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah (1977), p. 131.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the village formed part of the highland region known as Jūrat ‘Amra or Bilād Jammā‘īn. Situated between Dayr Ghassāna in the south and the present Route 5 in the north, and between Majdal Yābā in the west and Jammā‘īn, Mardā and Kifl Ḥāris in the east, this area served, according to historian Roy Marom, "as a buffer zone between the political-economic-social units of the Jerusalem and the Nablus regions. On the political level, it suffered from instability due to the migration of the Bedouin tribes and the constant competition among local clans for the right to collect taxes on behalf of the Ottoman authorities."
In 1838, it was noted as el-Lubban, a village in the Jurat Merda district, south of Nablus.Robinson and Smith (1841), vol 3, 2nd appendix, p. 127. It was also noted that it was inhabited, having the appearance of an old place, with rock cut tombs above it. French explorer Victor Guérin visited the village in 1863, and found it to be in a poor state, but with beautiful old elements as part of the houses. The population was estimated to be 300.Guérin (1875), pp. 164-5
In 1870/1871 (AH 1288), an Ottoman census listed the village in the nahiya (sub-district) of Jamma'in al-Thani, subordinate to Nablus. In the 1882 PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP), the village was described as being perched on a terrace on the hill, with ancient tombs close by.Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 286
British Mandate In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya (called Lubban Sharqi) had a population of 356, all Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Nablus, p. 25 increasing in the 1931 census to a population of 474 Muslims and one Christian, in a total of 116 houses.Mills, 1932, p. 62
In the 1945 statistics Lubban Sharqiya had a population of 620, all Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 18 with 12,545 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 60 Of this, 2,424 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 5,605 used for cereals,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 107 while 34 dunams were built-up land.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 157
Jordanian period In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya came under Jordanian rule. It was annexed by Jordan in 1950.
In 1961 the population of Lubban Sharqiye was 984.Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 26
1967 war to Oslo Accords Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya has been under Israeli occupation. The population of Lubben Sharqiya in the 1967 census conducted by Israel was 823, of whom 37 originated from the Israeli territory.
Since Oslo Accords Under the Oslo Accords of 1995, 33% of village land was classified as Area A (full Palestinian control), 25% as Area B (partial Palestinian control), and the remaining 40% as Area C (full Israeli control). Israel has confiscated 1,144 dunums of land from Al Lubban ash Sharqiya for the establishment of the Israeli settlements of Alie and Ma’ale Levona, and additional land for service roads.Al Lubban ash Sharqiya Village Profile (including ‘Ammuriya Locality), ARIJ, pp. 17–18
On 5 November 1990 at Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya, a local villager, Ali el Khatib, aged 65 was gunned down while riding his donkey to an olive grove, and a few second later, gunfire from the same Israeli Peugeot killed Miriam Salman Rashid while she was standing outside her home. The car then sped off towards Eli. On the basis of evidence collected in an intensive investigation, police concluded that it was an operation undertaken by members of the Kach militant organization in retaliation for Meir Kahane's murder in New York earlier that day. Three Kach activists, among them David Ha'ivri, were arrested on suspicion, but the case never came to trial due to lack of evidence.Pedahzur and Perliger, 2011, pp. 95–96
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya had a population of 2,465 in the 2007 census and 2,640 by 2017.2007 PCBS Census. Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. p. 110. The population is primarily made up of two clans, the Daraghmeh and Awaysa.
Israeli Settler Violence In 2009 two members of Yesh Din wrote in Haaretz about settlers from Eli who had taken control over land in the area, which had seriously damaged the ability of the villagers from Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya to work their land. According to the writers, this was part of a systematic strategy to remove all Palestinians from Area C, and the authors concluded that "an infrastructure of Jewish terror is being created in the West Bank."An infrastructure of Jewish terror Since the very beginning of the settlement enterprise, more than four decades ago, Israel has seized West Bank lands via an orchestrated, systematic and violent system. The victims of this process lose their agricultural fields, and thus their ability to lead a normal life. By Dror Etkes and Roi Maor, 11 September 2009, Haaretz
On 4 May 2010 a fire broke out in the main mosque of al-Lubban al-Sharqiyya, destroying carpets and religious texts.Associated Press, 'Israeli firefighters: West Bank mosque fire likely arson, at Haaretz, May 06, 2010. Police forensics officers were called in to determine whether it was arson or an electrical failure, while the PA said the fire was started by settlers in a price tag attack. Israel firefighters later said the fire seemed to was deliberately set, and that the likely cause was arson. Later the same year, the olive harvest became one of the most violent for years on the West Bank, and olive trees belonging to the village, and situated near the Israeli settlement of Eli, were torched, though Eli residents say it was a "pruning fire that got out of control."Chaim Levinson,Current West Bank olive harvest most violent in years, defense document reveal,' at Haaretz, 19 October 2010. The family of Rasmia Awase found 40 olive trees they had planted two decades earlier on their plot near the settlement of Eli chopped down when they came to harvest the fruits. They blamed the destruction on Eli settlers.Harriet Sherwood, 'West Bank Olive Groves become battleground,' at The Guardian, 24 October 2010.
In February 2012 an IDF soldier from the Golani Brigade, together with two women were arrested for defacing a village home with graffiti "Mohammed is a Pig". Security cameras in the village showed one of them destroying construction material.'IDF soldier linked to 'price tag' attack in West Bank Palestinian village,', at Haaretz, 10 February 2012
In March 2012 the UN published a report about the take-over by Israeli settlers of water resources on the West Bank, including the spring Ein El Mukheimer near al-Lubban al-Sharqiyya, traditionally used by villagers for irrigation and domestic purposes. How dispossession happens. The humanitarian impact of the takeover of Palestinian springs by Israeli settlers, March 2012, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs occupied Palestinian territory
According to the village head of Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya, the villagers were only allowed near another local spring, Ain Arik, for a few days of the year during harvest time. The rest of the year they would be stopped by the Israeli military.Zafrir Rinat,'Report: Jewish settlers now control dozens of West Bank springs,' at Haaretz, 20 March 2012.Zafrir Rinat,'Springwater flows in the West Bank, but who controls it?,' at Haaretz, 5 April 2012.
One family, the Daraghmehs, have repeatedly complained of harassment from Israeli settlers, saying that both animals and crops have been destroyed. In response, both local and international supporters have come to their aid.Palestine olive farmers cultivate resistance, Dalia Hatuqa, 28 October 2012, Al Jazeera
In October 2025, Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission reported that Israeli authorities issued a military order to seize approximately 70 dunams of privately owned land from Qaryut, Al-Lubban Al-Sharqiya, and Al-Sawiya. The land is designated for a "buffer zone" around the nearby settlement of Eli.
On 6 January 2026, Israeli forces requisitioned an inhabited two-storey house in Al Lubban and used it as a military position for three days. During this period, the Palestinian family living in the building was confined to a single room while soldiers operated from the premises.
On 5 July 2026, over 100 Israeli settlers Lubban al-Sharqiya and Ammuriya, vandalizing vehicles and setting fire to a café, stealing money and causing over one million shekels.
Khan al-Lubban