An-Nabi Samwil, also called al-Nabi Samuil ( ''an-Nabi Samu'il'', translit: "the prophet

Samuel Samuel is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the biblical judges to the United Kingdom of Israel under Saul, and again in the monarchy's transition from Saul to David. He is venera ...

"), is a

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

village in the Quds Governorate of the

State of Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

, located in the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

( Area C), four kilometers north 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 ...

. The village is built up around the Mosque of Nabi Samwil, containing the Tomb of Samuel; the village's Palestinian population has since been removed by the Israeli authorities from the village houses to a new location slightly down the hill. The village had a population of 234 in 2017. A tradition dating back to the

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 ...

period places here the tomb of

Prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divinity, divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings ...

. In the

6th century The 6th century is the period from 501 through 600 in line with the Julian calendar. In the West, the century marks the end of Classical Antiquity and the beginning of the Middle Ages. The collapse of the Western Roman Empire late in the prev ...

, a monastery was built at the site in honor of Samuel, and during the early Arab period the place was known as ''Dir Samwil'' (the Samuel Monastery). In the

12th century The 12th century is the period from 1101 to 1200 in accordance with the Julian calendar. In the history of European culture, this period is considered part of the High Middle Ages and overlaps with what is often called the Golden Age' of the ...

, during the Crusader period, a fortress was built on the area. In the

14th century The 14th century lasted from 1 January 1301 (represented by the Roman numerals MCCCI) to 31 December 1400 (MCD). It is estimated that the century witnessed the death of more than 45 million lives from political and natural disasters in both Euro ...

, during the Mameluk period, a mosque was built over the ruins of the Crusader fortress. The purported tomb itself is in an underground chamber of the mosque, which has been repurposed after 1967 as a

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

, today with separate prayer areas for Jewish men and women.

Geography

Nabi Samwil is situated atop of a mountain, 890 meters above sea level, in the

Seam Zone Seam Zone () is a term used to refer to a land area in the Israeli-occupied West Bank located east of the Green Line and west of Israel's separation barrier, populated largely by Israelis in settlements such as Alfei Menashe, Ariel, Beit A ...

, four kilometers north of the Jerusalem neighborhood of

Shuafat Shuafat (), also ''Shu'fat'' and ''Sha'fat'', is a mostly Palestinian Arab neighborhood of East Jerusalem, forming part of north-eastern Jerusalem. Located on the old Jerusalem–Ramallah road about three miles north of the Old City, Shu'fat ...

and southwest of

Ramallah Ramallah ( , ; ) is a Palestinians, Palestinian city in the central West Bank, that serves as the administrative capital of the State of Palestine. It is situated on the Judaean Mountains, north of Jerusalem, at an average elevation of abov ...

.Jacobs, Daniel. (1998).
Israel and the Palestinian territories
'. Rough Guides, p.429. Nearby localities include Beit Iksa to the south,

al Jib Al Jib or al-Jib () is a Palestinian territories, Palestinian village in the Jerusalem Governorate of the State of Palestine, located ten kilometers northwest of Jerusalem, partially in the Seam Zone, seam zone of the West Bank. The surrounding l ...

to the north, Beit Hanina to the east and

Biddu Biddu Appaiah (born 8 February 1945) is a British-Indian singer-songwriter, composer, and music producer who composed and produced many worldwide hit records during a career spanning five decades. Considered one of the pioneers of disco, Euro ...

to the west. The village consisted of 1,592

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; ; ; ), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area analogous in role (but not equal) to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amo ...

s of which only 5 dunams were built-up.Welcome to al-Nabi Samwil
Palestine Remembered.

Tomb of Samuel tradition

A 6th-century Christian author identified the site as Samuel's burial place, and it has been traditionally associated as such by Jews, Christians and Muslims. According to the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Ramah (), a view repeated by

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

(''

Antiquities Antiquities are objects from antiquity, especially the civilizations of the Mediterranean such as the Classical antiquity of Greece and Rome, Ancient Egypt, and the other Ancient Near Eastern cultures such as Ancient Persia (Iran). Artifact ...

'' 6.13.5.). According to some scholars, since Samuel is buried at Nabi Samwil, hence it follows that Nabi Samwil is the biblical Ramah. Others, namely, Edward Robinson, disputed this view, saying that Nabi Samwil was to be identified with Mizpeh, a view supported by

Gleichen Gleichen () is the name of two groups of castles in Germany, thus named from their resemblance to each other (). Castles in Thuringia between Gotha and Erfurt The first is a group of three (hence called "die drei hreeGleichen"), each situated o ...

. As Judas Machabeus, preparing for war with the Syrians, gathered his men "to Maspha , over against Jerusalem: for in Maspha was a place of prayer heretofore in Israel". The 12th-century Jewish traveller

Benjamin of Tudela Benjamin of Tudela (), also known as Benjamin ben Jonah, was a medieval Jewish traveler who visited Europe, Asia, and Africa in the twelfth century. His vivid descriptions of western Asia preceded those of Marco Polo by a hundred years. With his ...

visited the site in 1173. According to him, the Christian Crusaders had found the bones of Samuel "close to a Jewish synagogue" in

Ramla Ramla (), also known as Ramle (, ), is a city in the Central District of Israel. Ramle is one of Israel's mixed cities, with significant numbers of both Jews and Arabs. The city was founded in the early 8th century CE by the Umayyad caliph S ...

on the coastal plain (which he misidentified as biblical Ramah), and reburied them at present-day Nabi Samwil. He wrote that a large church dedicated to St. Samuel had been built over the reburied remains.

History: shrine and village

An old tradition holds that the village contains the

tomb A tomb ( ''tumbos'') or sepulchre () is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called '' immurement'', alth ...

of the prophet

, whose Arabic name is ''Nabi Samwil'', hence the name of the Arab village.

Byzantine period

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

was built by the Byzantines at Nabi Samwil, serving as a hostel for

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem. The monastery was restored and enlarged during the reign of

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 ...

in the mid-6th-century CE. Since then, the site has been a place of pilgrimage for

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

s, Christians and

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 ...

s alike.

Early Muslim period

The tomb continued to be in use throughout the Early Muslim period in Palestine from the 7th to the 10th century. Jerusalem-born geographer

al-Muqaddasi Shams al-Din Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Abi Bakr, commonly known by the '' nisba'' al-Maqdisi or al-Muqaddasī, was a medieval Arab geographer, author of ''The Best Divisions in the Knowledge of the Regions'' and ''Description of Syri ...

recounted in 985 CE, a story which he had heard from his uncle concerning the place: A certain sultan wanted to take possession of Dayr Shamwil, which he describes as a village about a ''farsakh'' from Jerusalem. The Sultan asked the owner to describe the village, at which the owner enumerated the ills of the place ("hard is the labour,/the profit is low./Weeds are all over,/almonds are bitter,/one bushel you sow,/one bushel you reap.") After hearing this the ruler exclaimed "Begone! We have no need for your village!" 13th-century Syrian geographer

Yaqut al-Hamawi Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn-ʿAbdullāh al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (1179–1229) () was a Muslim scholar of Byzantine ancestry active during the late Abbasid period (12th–13th centuries). He is known for his , an influential work on geography con ...

, describes ''"Mar Samwil"'' or "''Maran Samwil"'' as "a small town in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem. Mar in Syriac signifies ''al-Kass'', 'the priest', and Samwil is the name of the Doctors of Law." During Islamic times, Nabi Samwil became a centre for

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

production,Sharon, 2004, p
118
/ref> supplying nearby Jerusalem, as well as

and

Caesarea Caesarea, a city name derived from the Roman title " Caesar", was the name of numerous cities and locations in the Roman Empire: Places In the Levant * Caesarea Maritima, also known as "Caesarea Palaestinae", an ancient Roman city near the modern ...

Crusader/Ayyubid period

In 1099, the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

conquered

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

from the

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

Fatimid The Fatimid Caliphate (; ), also known as the Fatimid Empire, was a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries CE under the rule of the Fatimid dynasty, Fatimids, an Isma'ili Shi'a dynasty. Spanning a large area of North Africa ...

s and received their first view of Jerusalem from the mountain upon which Nabi Samwil is built, thus naming it ''Mont Joie'' ("Mountain of Joy"). They soon constructed a fortress there to fend off Muslim raiding of Jerusalem's northern approaches as well as to shelter pilgrim convoys. In 1157, the Crusaders constructed a church at Samuel's tomb. King Baldwin II of the Latin

Kingdom of Jerusalem The Kingdom of Jerusalem, also known as the Crusader Kingdom, was one of the Crusader states established in the Levant immediately after the First Crusade. It lasted for almost two hundred years, from the accession of Godfrey of Bouillon in 1 ...

entrusted Nabi Samwil to

Cistercians The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

religious order, who built a monastery there and then handed it over to the

Premonstratensians The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in United Kingdom, Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their religious habit, habit), is a religious order of cano ...

in the 1120s. The 12th-century Jewish traveller, Rabbi

, visited the site when he travelled the land in 1173, noting that the Crusaders had found the bones of Samuel in a Jewish cemetery in

on the coastal plain and reburied them here, overlooking the Holy City. He wrote that a church dedicated to St. Samuel of Shiloh had been built on the hill. This may refer to the abbey church of St. Samuel built by

Premonstratensian The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular in the Catholic Chur ...

canons and inhabited from 1141 to 1244. After the

Ayyubid The Ayyubid dynasty (), also known as the Ayyubid Sultanate, was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egyp ...

s under

Saladin Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, h ...

conquered much of interior

in 1187, the church and monastery were turned into a

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

and since then remained in Muslim hands. in 1192,

Richard the Lionheart Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...

reached Nabi Samwil, but did not take it. Jewish pilgrimage, which favoured visits in April and May each year, resumed after the Ayyubids conquered the area, and it became an important center for Muslim-Jewish interaction.Mahmoud Yazbak, 'Holy shrines (''maqamat'') in modern Palestine/Israel and the politics of memory,' in Marshall J. Breger, Yitzhak Reiter, Leonard Hammer (eds.)
''Holy Places in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Confrontation and Co-existence,''
Routledge 2010 pp. 231-246 p.237.

Mamluk period

During the

Mamluk Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-so ...

period, Christian pilgrims continued to visit the site, including the traveller known as

John Mandeville ''The Travels of Sir John Mandeville'', commonly known as ''Mandeville's Travels'', is a book written between 1357 and 1371 that purports to be the Travel literature, travelogue of an Englishman named Sir John Mandeville across the Near East as ...

, and

Margery Kempe Margery Kempe ( – after 1438) was an English Catholic mystic, known for writing through dictation '' The Book of Margery Kempe'', a work considered by some to be the first autobiography in the English language. Her book chronicles her domes ...

. In the 15th-century, Jews built a synagogue adjacent to the mosque and resumed pilgrimages to the site after losing that privilege during the Crusader period. Though they occasionally encountered difficulties with local notables, the Jews' right to visit the shrine was reaffirmed twice by the Ottomans, and the sultan asked the

qadi A qadi (; ) is the magistrate or judge of a Sharia court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and minors, and supervision and auditing of public works. History The term '' was in use from ...

of Jerusalem to punish anyone who might obstruct their right and the long tradition of Jewish pilgrimage. Mujir ad-Din referring to Jerusalem's size writes "From the north it reaches the village wherein is the tomb of the prophet Shamwil, may

Allah Allah ( ; , ) is an Arabic term for God, specifically the God in Abrahamic religions, God of Abraham. Outside of the Middle East, it is principally associated with God in Islam, Islam (in which it is also considered the proper name), althoug ...

bless him and give him peace."

Ottoman period

In 1517, Palestine incorporated into the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

after it was captured from the

s, and by 1596, Nabi Samwil appeared in the Ottoman tax registers as being in the ''

nahiya A nāḥiyah ( , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiyeh, nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level divisi ...

'' of Quds in the '' liwa'' of

Al-Quds Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the oldest cities in the world, and is considered holy to the three major Abrahamic religions—Jud ...

. It had a population of 5 households, all

. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on various agricultural products, including wheat, barley, olive trees, vineyards, fruit trees, occasional revenues, goats and/or beehives; a total of 2,200

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 ...

. The Crusader church was incorporated into the village mosque, built in 1730 under the

. In 1838 Edward Robinson noted ''en-Neby Samwil'' as a Muslim village, part of the '' El-Kuds'' district.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p
121
/ref> He further noted that the " mosk is here the principal object; and is regarded by Jews, Christians, and Muhammedans, as covering the tomb of the prophet Samuel." An Ottoman village list of about 1870 showed that Nabi Samwil had 6 houses and a population of 20, though the population count included only men. In 1883, the

Palestine Exploration Fund The Palestine Exploration Fund is a British society based in London. It was founded in 1865, shortly after the completion of the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem by Royal Engineers of the War Department. The Fund is the oldest known organization i ...

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 ...

(SWP) described it as small

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

adobe Adobe (from arabic: الطوب Attub ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for mudbrick. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is use ...

huts, perched on top of the ridge, amid the remains of the Crusader ruins. There was a spring to the north. Site_of_Nabi_Samwil_village_1900px

In 1896 the population of Nebi Samwil was estimated to be about 81 persons.

World War and British Mandate period

Nabi Samwil was heavily damaged by Turkish shells in 1917 while fighting

British forces The British Armed Forces are the unified military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, support international peacekeeping ef ...

, but the village was rebuilt and resettled in 1921. The Ottoman mosque, destroyed in war, was restored by the

Supreme Muslim Council The Supreme Muslim Council (SMC; ) was the highest body in charge of Muslim community affairs in Mandatory Palestine under British control. It was established to create an advisory body composed of Muslims and Christians with whom the High Comm ...

during the British Mandate period.Nabi Samuel - Jerusalem
Jerusalem Media and Communications Centre.Nebi Samwil - Site of a Biblical Town and a Crusader Fortress

Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs (; ) is one of the most important Cabinet of Israel, ministries in the Government of Israel, Israeli government. The ministry's role is to implement Israel's foreign policy, and promote economic, cultural ...

. 2001-09-01. In the

1922 census of Palestine The 1922 census of Palestine was the first census carried out by the authorities of the British Mandate of Palestine, on 23 October 1922. The reported population was 757,182, including the military and persons of foreign nationality. The divis ...

conducted by the British Mandate authorities, ''Nabi Shemweil'' had a population 121, all Muslims.Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Jerusalem, p
14
/ref> increasing slightly in the 1931 census to 138, one Christian and the rest Muslim, occupying a total of 117 houses.Mills, 1932, p
41
/ref> In the 1945 statistics Nabi Samwil had a population of 200, all Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p
25
/ref> with 2,150

s of land, according to an official land and population survey.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
57
/ref> Of this, 293 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 986 used for cereals, while 3 dunams were built-up land.

1948 war and Jordanian period

On April 23, 1948, during the

1948 Arab-Israeli War Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

, a

Palmach The Palmach (Hebrew: , acronym for , ''Plugot Maḥatz'', "Strike Phalanges/Companies") was the elite combined strike forces and sayeret unit of the Haganah, the paramilitary organization of the Yishuv (Jewish community) during the period of th ...

division attacked Nabi Samwil with the intention of capturing the village for Israel. The

operation Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

failed, since its local defenders had been notified that nearby Beit Iksa was attacked and thus prepared for a Jewish assault. Over 40 Palmach troops were killed in the battle with minimal Arab casualties. From 1948 to 1967, Nabi Samwil was used by the

Arab Legion The Arab Legion () was the police force, then regular army, of the Emirate of Transjordan, a British protectorate, in the early part of the 20th century, and then of the Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, an independent state, with a final Ar ...

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

as a military post guarding access to Jerusalem. In 1961, the population of Nabi Samwil was 168.

1967, aftermath

Since the 1967

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

, Nabi Samwil has been under

Israeli occupation Israel has occupied the Golan Heights of Syria and the Palestinian territories since the Six-Day War of 1967. It has previously occupied the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt and southern Lebanon as well. Prior to 1967, control of the Palestinian terr ...

. After Israel's victory and occupation in the war, during which most of the village's 1,000 inhabitants had fled, the shrine became predominantly Jewish, and settlers attempted to wrest control of the area. Throughout the 1970s, the Israeli authorities demolished the historic village built around the shrine, forcing its inhabitants into ramshackle buildings further down the hill.'Palestinian village imprisoned in holy shrine of Nabi Samuel,'

Ma'an News Agency Ma'an News Agency (MNA; ) is a large wire service created in 2005 in the Palestinian territories. It is part of the Ma'an Network, a non-governmental organization media network created in 2002 in the Palestinian territories among independent journ ...

12 February 2015. Nabi Samwil was drawn in good part within Jerusalem's municipal boundaries, while the inhabitants themselves were excluded, and its inhabitants were defined in their identity cards as West Bankers, and are prohibited by the Israeli military administration from leaving the village in any direction without authorisation. Since the mid-2000s, Nabi Samwil, excluding the shrine, became part of an area known as the "

", which denotes the land between the

separation barrier A separation barrier or separation wall is a Barricade, barrier, wall or fence, constructed to limit the movement of people across a certain line or border, or to ethnic segregation, separate peoples or cultures. A separation barrier that runs a ...

erected during the

Second Intifada The Second Intifada (; ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, was a major uprising by Palestinians against Israel and its Israeli-occupied territories, occupation from 2000. Starting as a civilian uprising in Jerusalem and October 2000 prot ...

, and the borders of Jerusalem municipality.Tourist sites in the West Bank: Wish you were here?
''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

''. 2014-01-06. The only exit from the village is to nearby Bir Nabala via an Israeli checkpoint. NABI SAMUEL 3

The village, which is not recognized as such by Israel, was designated as a

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

in the 1990s and the remains of former homes adjacent to the mosque form part of an archaeological site in the park. The mosque has been cordoned off and the section containing Samuel's tomb has been converted into a

. Partly due to Israeli military restrictions, Palestinian construction in the village is banned. Economic activity is also significantly restricted and residents live in poverty, with many young residents leaving for jobs in nearby

. Israel states its policies are intended to preserve the site of Nabi Samwil.

Demographics

In 1922, Nabi Samwil had 121 inhabitants, rising to 138 in 1931. In Sami Hadawi's land and population survey in 1945, 200 people resided there. By 1981 the number dropped to 66 inhabitants but was up to 136 within five years. According to the 2007 census by the

Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS; ) is the official statistical institution of Palestine. Its main task is to provide credible statistical figures at the national and international levels. It is a state institution that provid ...

, Nabi Samwil had a population of 258 inhabitants in 2007. About 20 Muslim families live there. A group of 90

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...

s living in al Jib who had been evicted from Nabi Samwil were refused permission to move back because the village lies in Area C and it would be difficult for them to acquire building permits.Protection of Civilians Weekly Report

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is a United Nations (UN) body established in December 1991 by the General Assembly to strengthen the international response to complex emergencies and natural disaster ...

, p.7. January 2008.

References

Bibliography

* p
26
* * (pp
149

150
* (p. 893) * * * * (pp
362
384) * (pp
4
5) * * * * * * * ( p
283
) * (p
85
-) * * * * (pp
114
-134) * * * (p
174
quoted in SWP)

External links

*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 17:
IAAWikimedia commonsAn Nabi Samwil Village (Fact Sheet)

Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem The Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem (ARIJ; ) is a Palestinian NGO founded in 1990 with its main office in Bethlehem in the West Bank. ARIJ is actively working on research projects in the fields of management of natural resources, water m ...

(ARIJ)
An Nabi Samwil Village Profile
ARIJ
An Nabi Samwil Aerial photo
ARIJ
Locality Development Priorities and Needs in An Nabi Samwil
ARIJ
Israel severs a-Nabi Samwil Village from rest of the West Bank
B'Tselem
Battle of Nebi Samwil
{{Authority control Villages in the West Bank Archaeological sites in the West Bank Buildings and structures in the West Bank Shrines in Palestine he:נבי סמואל