In 1265, after the
Mamluks had defeated the
Crusaders, Iktaba (Sabahiya) was mentioned among the estates which Sultan
Baibars granted his followers. The village was given to the
emirAlam al-Din Tardaj al-Amadi.[5]
Ottoman era
Iktaba was incorporated into the
Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of
Palestine, and in 1596 it appeared in the
tax registers under the name of Staba, being in the Nahiya of
Qaqun of the Liwa of
Nablus. It had a population of 21 households, all
Muslims. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on various agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and/or beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues" and a press for olive oil or grapes; a total of 4,100
akçe.[6]
In 1870, the French explorer
Victor Guérin noted that village, which he called Astaba, was a "Small
hamlet located on a high hill. Ancient
cisterns testify to the existence here of an ancient locality. Fig trees and pomegranates grow around the dwellings."[7]
In 1882, the
PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described it as: "A place to which a certan
effendi of
Nablus comes down in spring, a sort of 'Azbeh or spring grazing-place for horses"[8]
In the
1945 statistics, the combined population of
Anabta and Iktaba was 3,120; 3,080 Muslims and 40 Christians,[11] with a total of 15,445
dunams of land according to an official land and population survey.[12] Of this, a total of 5,908 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 5,842 were used for cereals,[13] while 84 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[14]