Wikipedia

Surif

Surif (Arabic: صوريف) is a Palestinian City in the Hebron Governorate located 25 km northwest of the city of Hebron. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics census, Surif had a population of 17,287 in 2017.[1] The population is entirely Muslim.

Surif
Municipality type A (City)
Arabic transcription(s)
 • Arabicصوريف
Pastoral scene near Surif village
Pastoral scene near Surif village
Surif is located in State of Palestine
Surif
Surif
Location of Surif within Palestine
Coordinates: 31°39′02″N 35°03′58″E / 31.65056°N 35.06611°E / 31.65056; 35.06611
Palestine grid156/117
StateState of Palestine
GovernorateHebron
Government
 • TypeCity
 • Head of MunicipalityAhmad Lafi
Area
 • Total
15,034 dunams (15.0 km2 or 5.8 sq mi)
Population
 (2017)[1]
 • Total
17,287
 • Density1,200/km2 (3,000/sq mi)
Name meaningfrom personal name[2]

Most of the town's 15,000 dunams is used for agriculture, in particular, olives, wheat and barley.[3] There are seven mosques and four schools located in its vicinity.

Ahmad Lafi is the mayor.[4]

History

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Ottoman period

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Oral tradition suggests that Surif was founded after the 16th century.[5] In 1838 Surif was noted as a Muslim village, located between Hebron and Gaza, but subjected to the government of Hebron.[6]

In 1863 Victor Guérin found Surif to be a village with 700 inhabitants. He further noted that beside a birket in the rock, a few cisterns and an ancient column shaft which was placed near a small mosque, all of Surif's constructions seemed more or less modern.[7] An official Ottoman village list from about 1870 showed 87 houses and a population of 265, counting men only.[8][9] In 1883, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Surif as "A small village on a low hill, with olives to the south."[10] In 1896 the population of Surif was 1,164.[11]

British Mandate

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According to the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Surif had a population of 1,265 inhabitants, all Muslims,[12] increasing in the 1931 census to 1,640, in 344 inhabited houses.[13]

In the 1945 statistics the population of Surif was 2,190, all Muslims,[14] with a total of 38,876 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey.[15] Of this, 3,493 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 11.325 for cereals,[16] while 54 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[17]

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    Surif, British Mandate map, 1:20,000
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    Surif 1945 1:250,000
  •  
    View of Surif
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    Example of traditional Palestinian cross-stitch from Surif (2006)

Jordanian rule

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In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Surif came under Jordanian rule.

The Jordanian census of 1961 found 2,827 inhabitants in Surif.[18]

Post-1967

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Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Surif has been under Israeli occupation.

Israel has confiscated approximately 1,213 dunams of land from Surif since 2000, and approximately 1,300 dunums of Surif lands will be behind the Israeli West Bank barrier, when it is finished.[19]

In April 2023, the village was attacked for three days by dozens of settlers who broke into the village, injured residents with stones and vandalized and burned olive trees and residences. The attack on the settlers was carried out with the backing of an army that used gunfire and tear gas against residents who tried to defend themselves from the attackers. Since 2021, six cases of settler attacks have been documented, which included destruction of crops, damage to residences and injury to residents.[20]

Demography

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Surif was originally settled by people from nearby Beit Ummar and possibly others. Some of the residents came from Salqa (a location of unknown identity near Gaza[21]), al-Majdal and Gaza. It is also known as "Kuffin a-Tahta" since its residents, as those of Beit Ummar, lived there in the 16th century.[22]

References

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  1. ^ a b Preliminary Results of the Population, Housing and Establishments Census, 2017 (PDF). Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) (Report). State of Palestine. February 2018. pp. 64–82. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
  2. ^ Palmer, 1881, p. 408
  3. ^ The Segregation Separation Wall hits the lands of Surif and Khibet Ad Deir- Hebron district Land Research Center 2004-10-24
  4. ^ "Huge new Israeli settlement in West Bank condemned by US and UK". The Guardian. 2014-09-01. Archived from the original on 2023-06-05.
  5. ^ Grossman, D. "The expansion of the settlement frontier of Hebron's western and southern fringes". Geography Research Forum, 5, 1982, p. 62.
  6. ^ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 117
  7. ^ Guérin, 1869, pp. 381-382
  8. ^ Socin, 1879, p. 161
  9. ^ Hartmann, 1883, p. 143 noted 100 houses
  10. ^ They further noted: this may perhaps be the early Christian Sariphsea mentioned in connection with Mar Saba and Bayt Jibrin. See: Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. 309
  11. ^ Schick, 1896, p. 122
  12. ^ Barron, 1923, p. 10
  13. ^ Mills, 1932, p. 33
  14. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 23
  15. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 50 Archived 2011-06-04 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 94
  17. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 144
  18. ^ Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 14
  19. ^ Surif Town Profile, ARIJ, 2006, p. 14
  20. ^ "Surif, Hebron District: Israeli settlers attack village residents for three days. Israeli soldiers and police officers escorting them fire tear gas canisters and live rounds at the defending villagers". btselem.org. 11 June 2023.
  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. 385
  22. ^ 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. 368

Bibliography

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