The name of Kafr Zibad as thought originally from Zabad, it's Semite name which means generosity. E. H. Palmer noted that the name meant the village of Zebed.
History
Ceramics from the Byzantine era have been found here.
Ottoman era
Kafr Zibad was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of Palestine, and in 1596 it appeared under that name in the tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Bani Sa'b of the Liwa of Nablus. It had a population of 50 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 grape syrup; a total of 10,280 akçe. In 1838, Robinson noted Kefr Zibad as a village in Beni Sa'ab district, west of Nablus. In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine noted at Kafr Zibad: "A village of moderate size on a small plateau, overhanging the valley on the north of it. It is of stone. A steep ascent, with a cistern on the north, on the south a fig-garden, and beyond this a few olives, where the tents of the Survey party were pitched. Near them was a rock-cut tomb. The water supply is from cisterns."
In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Kufr Zaibad had a population of 260 Muslims, increasing in the 1931 census to 469 Muslims, in 96 houses. In the 1945 statistics the population of Kafr Zibad was 1,590 Muslims, with 7,085 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 2,266 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 1,434 were used for cereals, while 22 dunams were built-up land.
After the Six-Day War in 1967, Kafr Zibad came under Israeli occupation. 19% of the population of Kafr Zibad were refugees in 1991. The healthcare and education facilities for the surrounding villages are based in Kafr Zibad, Kafr Zibad secondary schoolone of the best school in the region. There is historical mosque from Khalifa Omar Ibn Alkhattab period, further more there are police center and Sport club. The facilities are designated as MOH level 2. Kafr Zibad had a population of approximately 1,306 inhabitants in mid-year 2006. After Israel build the Israeli West Bank barrier, 175 acres of irrigated land, owned by Kafr Zibad villagers was isolated behind the barrier. Access to this land is dependent on Israeli cumbersome permitting process.
