Surif

Coordinates: 31°39′02″N 35°03′58″E / 31.65056°N 35.06611°E / 31.65056; 35.06611
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Surif
City
 • Head of MunicipalityAhmad Lafi
Area
 • Total15,034 dunams (15.0 km2 or 5.8 sq mi)
Population
 (2017)[1]
 • Total17,287
 • Density1,200/km2 (3,000/sq mi)
Name meaningfrom personal name[2]

Surif (

Muslim
.

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

Ottoman period

Oral tradition suggests that Surif was founded after the 16th century.

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

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]

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

Jordanian rule

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

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]

Demography

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[20]), 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.[21]

References

  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. 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. ^ 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
  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. 368

Bibliography

External links

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