Zawata, like all of Palestine was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517. In the 1596 tax registers, it was part of the nahiya ("subdistrict") of Jabal Sami, part of the larger Sanjak of Nablus. It had a population of 11 households, all Muslims. The inhabitants paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues and a press for olive oil or grape syrup, and a fixed tax for people of Nablus area; a total of 6,944 akçe.[6]
According to Jaussen, Zawata was resettled in the 19th century. Some of its residents have origins in Ni'ilin.[7]
In 1838, Edward Robinson noted Zawata ‘’on the hill-side,’’[8] part of the Jurat 'Amra district, south of Nablus.[9]
In 1870, Victor Guérin noted Zaouata as "a village on a high hill with white limestone slopes, some used for quarrying. The number of the inhabitants is 300. Below the hill a rich spring, 'Ain Zawata, supplies water to the village and irrigates a small valley. During our visit large herds of sheep were crowding around the spring."[10]
In 1870/1871 (1288 AH), an Ottoman census listed the village in the nahiya (sub-district) of Wadi al-Sha'ir.[11]
In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Zawata as: "a village of moderate size, on a hill, with springs in the valley to the north."[12]
In the 1945 statistics the population was 330 Muslims,[15] while the total land area was 3,558 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[16]
Of this, 13 dunams were for citrus and bananas, 334 for plantations and irrigable land, 1,842 for cereals,[17] while 31 dunams were classified as built-up areas.[18]
Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Zawata has been under Israeli occupation, and according to the Israeli census of that year, the population of Zawata stood at 591, of whom 28 were registered as having come from Israel.[20]
After the 1995 accords, 31% of Zawata land is defined as Area A land, 32% is Area B land, while the remaining 37% is defined as Area C. Part of the village land has been confiscated for the construction of an Israeli military road. This road also cuts off Zawata from its northernmost land.[21]
^Grossman, D. (1986). "Oscillations in the Rural Settlement of Samaria and Judaea in the Ottoman Period". in Shomron studies. Dar, S., Safrai, S., (eds). Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House. p. 351