Surif ( ar, صوريف) is a Palestinian City in the

Hebron Governorate The Hebron Governorate ( ar, محافظة الخليل, Muḥāfaẓat al-Ḫalīl) is an administrative district of Palestine in the southern West Bank. The governorate's land area is and its population according to the Palestinian Central B ...

located 25 km northwest of the city of

Hebron Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a State of Palestine, Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies Above mean sea level, above sea level. The second-lar ...

. According to the

Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS; ar, الجهاز المركزي للإحصاء الفلسطيني) is the official statistical institution of the State of Palestine. Its main task is to provide credible statistical figures a ...

census, Surif had a population of 17,650 in 2016. The population is entirely Muslim. Most of the town's 15,000 dunams is used for agriculture, in particular, olives, wheat and barley. There are seven mosques and four schools located in its vicinity. Ahmad Lafi is the mayor.

History

In 1838 Surif was noted as a Muslim village, located between Hebron and Gaza, but subjected to the government of

. In 1863

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

found Surif to be a village with 700 inhabitants. He further noted that beside a ''birket'' in the rock, a few

cistern A cistern (Middle English ', from Latin ', from ', "box", from Greek ', "basket") is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by ...

s and an ancient

column 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 ...

shaft which was placed near a small mosque, all of Surif's constructions seemed more or less modern. An official Ottoman village list from about 1870 showed 87 houses and a population of 265, counting men only. In 1883, the

PEF PEF, PeF, or Pef may stand for the following abbreviations: * Palestine Exploration Fund * Peak expiratory flow * PEF Private University of Management Vienna * Pentax raw file (see Raw image format) * Perpetual Education Fund * Perpetual Emigratio ...

's '' Survey of Western Palestine'' described Surif as "A small village on a low hill, with olives to the south." In 1896 the population of Surif was estimated to be about 1164 persons.

British Mandate Era

According to 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, Surif had a population of 1,265 inhabitants, all Muslims,Barron, 1923, p
10
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census to 1,640, in 344 inhabited houses.Mills, 1932, p
33
/ref> In the 1945 statistics the population of Surif was 2,190, all Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p
23
/ref> with a total of 38,876 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 3,493 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 11.325 for cereals, while 54 dunams were built-up (urban) land. File:Surif 1944.jpg, Surif, British Mandate map, 1:20,000 File:Surif 1945.jpg, Surif 1945 1:250,000 File:Surif from Judean hills.jpg, View of Surif File:Surif cross-stitch.jpg, Example of traditional Palestinian cross-stitch from Surif (2006)

Jordanian era

In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and the

1949 Armistice Agreements The 1949 Armistice Agreements were signed between Israel and Egypt,Jordanian rule The Jordanian annexation of the West Bank formally occurred on 24 April 1950, after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, during which Transjordan occupied territory that had previously been part of Mandatory PalestineRaphael Israeli, Jerusalem divi ...

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

Post-1967

Since the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 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, S ...

in 1967, Surif has been under

Israeli occupation Israeli-occupied territories are the lands that were captured and occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967. While the term is currently applied to the Palestinian territories and the Golan Heights, it has also been used to refer ...

. 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 The Israeli West Bank barrier, comprising the West Bank Wall and the West Bank fence, is a separation barrier built by Israel along the Green Line and inside parts of the West Bank. It is a contentious element of the Israeli–Palestinian co ...

, when it is finished. Surif Town Profile
ARIJ, 2006, p. 14

References

Bibliography

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External links

Surif
Welcome to Palestine *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 21:
IAAWikimedia commons

Surif Town (Fact Sheet)

Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem The Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem (ARIJ; ar, معهد الابحاث التطبيقية - القدس) is a Palestinian NGO founded in 1990 with its main office in Bethlehem in the West Bank. ARIJ is actively working on research proje ...

, ARIJ
Surif Town Profile
ARIJ
Surif aerial photo
ARIJ
The priorities and needs for development in Surif town based on the community and local authorities’ assessment
ARIJ {{Hebron Governorate Towns in the West Bank Hebron Governorate Municipalities of the State of Palestine