Ein Samiya, also known as Ain Samia (, meaning "the lofty spring"), was a Palestinian village in

Area C Area C (; ) is the fully Israeli-controlled territory in the West Bank, defined as the whole area outside the Palestinian enclaves (Areas A and B). Area C constitutes about 61 percent of the West Bank territory, containing most Israeli settle ...

of the

Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate The Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate () is one of 16 governorates of Palestine. It covers a large part of the central West Bank, on the northern border of the Jerusalem Governorate. Its district capital or ''muhfaza'' (seat) is the city of ...

, on the eastern plains of the village of

Kafr Malik Kafr Malik () is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate of the State of Palestine, located 17 kilometers Northeast of Ramallah in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the t ...

. Due to its large water spring, considered to be the strongest and purest in the region, the Ein Samiya valley is an important archaeological area containing the remains of settlements dating back to the ancient Bronze Age/Canaanite era, as well as Roman and Islamic periods. In modern times, Ein Samiya's spring water is the main local ingredient of Taybeh beer, Palestine's first local beer. Ein Samiya after evacuation

In May 2023, Israeli authorities ethnically cleansed the village with its 178 residents. Acting Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Yvonne Helle, noted that: "These families are not leaving by choice; the Israeli authorities have repeatedly demolished homes and other structures they own and have threatened to destroy their only school. At the same time, land available for the grazing of livestock has decreased due to settlement expansion and both children and adults have been subjected to settler violence... We are witnessing the tragic consequences of longstanding Israeli practices and settler violence." The persistent harassment of the Palestinian villagers, leading to their evacuation in 2023, is considered to be part of the

Israeli expropriation of Palestinian springs in the West Bank Israeli may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel * Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel * Modern Hebrew, a language * ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008 * Guni Israeli (b ...

Location

The town is located on the eastern slopes of the Ramallah mountains, and the town's territory reaches Al-Auja in the Jordan Valley in the east of the West Bank.

Economy

Ein Samiya is a prominent water spring, renowned for being the strongest and purest in the region. It supplies water to the cities of Ramallah and Al-Bireh. Historically, extensive networks of water channels were constructed around it. The village serves as the food basket of the town of Kafr Malik, where grains, thyme, citrus fruits, and vegetables are grown.

Population

Most of the population is from the Bedouin Ka'abneh () clan, primarily employed in the government and agriculture sectors.

History and archaeology

Dating back more than 7,000 years, Ein Samiya contains what is considered one of the oldest historical ruins in the world. It also includes more than 150 rock-carved Roman tombs and related tunnels. Numerous archaeological expeditions took place in 1941-42 and in 1963. The area includes many historical symbols that indicate the cultural diversity in the place, and the site of "Tel Al-Marzbanah" north of Ein Samia is one of the most prominent archaeological sites in it, and it is a small high site that extends from north to south. The origin of the name goes back to the Persian language, as Marzipan means minister. The

'Ain Samiya goblet The 'Ain Samiya Goblet is a silver cup from the Middle Bronze Age I (2300-2000 BC), found in a tomb at Ein Samiya, Ain Samiya near modern Ramallah. It was discovered in 1970 at Khirbet el-'Aqibat, located just before Ein Samiya on the road to K ...

was found here.

Sherds This page is a glossary of archaeology, the study of the human past from material remains. A B C D E F ...

, dating to the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

,Finkelstein et al., 1997, p. 734

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

and

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...

eras have been found here. A column dating from year 557 in the Byzantine era, mentioning

Justinian I Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...

and bishop Eustochius, have been found here.

Denys Pringle Reginald Denys Pringle (born 20 September 1951) is a British archaeologist and medievalist. He is best known for his numerous publications regarding Crusader castles and Crusader-era churches in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the 12th–13th century C ...

, citing information from

Ronnie Ellenblum Ronnie Ellenblum (; born June 21, 1952, Haifa, Israel; died January 7, 2021, Jerusalem, Israel) was an Israeli professor at the department of geography at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Human ...

, writes in 1997 that there are buildings at Ain Samiya'' (grid: 1817/1550), that could date to the Crusader era.

Ottoman era

The village is not mentioned in the first Ottoman

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

, in 1525-1526 CE (AH 932), but is mentioned (taxed) in the 1538-1539 (949) census. In the 1596

, the village had a population was 4 households, all

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on various agricultural products, such as wheat (400

akçe The ''akçe'' or ''akça'' (anglicized as ''akche'', ''akcheh'' or ''aqcha''; ; , , in Europe known as '' asper'') was a silver coin mainly known for being the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. It was also used in other states includi ...

), barley (560), olive trees (120), in addition to "occasional revenues" (80) and goats and bee hives (40); a total of 1,200

. Sherds, dating from the early Ottoman ra have also been found here. In 1838, ''es-Samieh'' was noted as a Muslim village in the District of Beni Salim; located east of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. In 1870,

Victor Guérin Victor Guérin (; 15 September 1821 – 21 September 1890) was a French people, French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included ...

described the ruins there: "The ruin is close to the 'Ain el Samieh. This spring flows under a chamber with circular vaulting and built of large blocks : near it lie several fragments of

columns A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...

in stone and

capitals Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

imitating the

Doric style The Doric order is one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of the ...

. To the north and above the spring I remarked the ruins of a considerable building, intended perhaps to protect it, and constructed of gigantic blocks rudely hewn. On the lower slopes of the mountain a great many grottoes have been cut in the rock". He also noted that the fields were cultivated with lentils, beans and wheat by the

fellahin A fellah ( ; feminine ; plural ''fellaheen'' or ''fellahin'', , ) is a local peasant, usually a farmer or agricultural laborer in the Middle East and North Africa. The word derives from the Arabic word for "ploughman" or "tiller". Due to a con ...

from

. At the time of sowing and harvesting, several of the caves at Ein Samiya served as temporary refuge for these families. In 1882, the PEF's ''

Survey of Western Palestine The PEF Survey of Palestine was a series of surveys carried out by the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) between 1872 and 1877 for the completed Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) and in 1880 for the soon abandoned Survey of Eastern Palestine. The ...

'' described ''Khurbet Samieh'': "Ruined village, with a tower and springs ; appears to have been inhabited within the present century. The ruins occur close to 'Ain Samieh as marked on the map. There are remains of two

mills Mills is the plural form of mill, but may also refer to: As a name * Mills (surname), a common family name of English or Gaelic origin * Mills (given name) *Mills, a fictional British secret agent in a trilogy by writer Manning O'Brine Places U ...

, and the ruins of foundations, walls and caves, cover a large area. A copious spring issues on the north-west side of the valley from a strongly-built wall forming a tank. A fragment of a column and some drafted stones are built into this wall".Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p
394
/ref>

Gallery

File:הגביע מעין סמיה - ימין.jpg,

, from

Middle Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

I (2300-2000 BC) File:The chalice from Ain Samia - flat rendering.jpg, A flat rendering of the scenes depicted on the Ain Samiya Goblet File:Kafr Malik and Ein Samiya 01.png, Kafr Malik and Ein Samiya in the 1880s File:Kafr Malik and Ein Samiya 02.png, Kafr Malik and Ein Samiya in the 1940s File:Oasis of Ein Samia - panoramio (1).jpg, Oasis of Ein Samia - panoramio, 2010 File:Ein Samia - panoramio (1).jpg, Cultivated fields at Ein Samiya, 2010 File:Oasis of Ein Samia - panoramio.jpg, Oasis of Ein Samiya, 2010 File:School in Ein Samiya.jpg, School in Ein Samiya, 2 May 2023 File:Evacuation of Ein Samiya.jpg, Evacuation of Ein Samiya, 25 May 2023 File:Ein Samiya after evacuation.jpg, Ein Samiya after evacuation, 25 May 2023

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 15:
IAA Wikimedia commons
{{Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate Villages in the West Bank Forcibly depopulated communities of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict Populated places disestablished in 2023 Former populated places in Palestine