Surif

History

Ottoman period

Oral tradition suggests that Surif was founded after the 16th century. In 1838, Surif was described as a Muslim village between Hebron and Gaza under the administration of Hebron.

By the nineteenth century, Ṣurīf and other Hebronite villages had extended their cultivation zones westward into the Shephelah, incorporating nearby ruined sites. This expansion reflected the combined effects of the Ottoman Land Code, local agricultural initiatives, and the stabilization of the region after the decline of Bedouin incursions.

In 1863 Victor Guérin wrote that Surif had 700 inhabitants. He further noted that beside a birket in the rock, a few cisterns and an ancient column shaft near a small mosque, all the construction was modern. An official Ottoman village list from about 1870 showed 87 houses and a population of 265, counting men only. In 1883, the PEF'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 1,164.

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, increasing in the 1931 census to 1,640, in 344 inhabited houses.

In the 1945 statistics the population of Surif was 2,190, all Muslims, 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 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.

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.

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 by 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.

Surif Pogrom (2025)

The Surif pogrom refers to a series of violent attacks perpetrated by Israeli settlers, under the protection of the Israeli military, against the Palestinian town of Surif in the southern West Bank during June and July 2025. On 19 June 2025, settlers from a newly established illegal outpost established on pribate Palestinian land opened fire on Palestinian residents attempting to extinguish fires deliberately set in farmland in the al-Qarnat area, murdering 48-year-old Mohammad Ahmad Mahmoud al-Hour and injuring eight others, some critically. The On 9 July 2025, another settler raid occurred in the al-Watwat area near the illegal settlement of Bat Ain, during which a 45-year-old Palestinian man was shot in the thigh, others were physically assaulted, and large swathes of agricultural land were set ablaze. The attacks were part of a broader escalation in settler violence across the West Bank in 2025. The Palestinian Authority's Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission reported more than 2,100 settler attacks in the first half of the year, resulting in at least four Palestinian fatalities and widespread destruction of property and farmland.

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), 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.

References

Bibliography

References

1. (February 2018). "Preliminary Results of the Population, Housing and Establishments Census, 2017". [[State of Palestine]].
2. Palmer, 1881, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp00conduoft#page/408/mode/1up 408]
3. [http://poica.org/2004/10/the-segregation-separation-wall-hits-the-lands-of-surif-and-khibet-ad-deir-hebron-district/ The Segregation Separation Wall hits the lands of Surif and Khibet Ad Deir- Hebron district] Land Research Center 2004-10-24
4. (2014-09-01). "Huge new Israeli settlement in West Bank condemned by US and UK".
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. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/117/mode/1up 117]
7. [[Orit Peleg-Barkat]], [[Roy Marom]], [[Gregg E. Gardner]], Michael Chernin, and Saleh Kharanbeh, "[https://www.academia.edu/144340995/Rural_adaptation_and_settlement_change_in_the_late_Islamic_Jabal_al_Khal%C4%B1l_Judean_Foothills_ Rural adaptation and settlement change in the late Islamic Jabal al-Khalīl (Judean Foothills)]," ''[[Journal of Historical Geography]]'' 90 (2025): 87–98.
8. Guérin, 1869, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongogr06gugoog#page/n394/mode/1up 381]-382
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10. Hartmann, 1883, p. [https://archive.org/stream/bub_gb_BZobAQAAIAAJ#page/n951/mode/1up 143] noted 100 houses
11. 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. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp03conduoft#page/309/mode/1up 309]
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17. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20II/Hebron/Page-094.jpg 94]
18. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20III/Hebron/Page-144.jpg 144]
19. Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. [http://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/JordanCensusPages/JordanCensus1961-p14.pdf 14]
20. [http://vprofile.arij.org/hebron/pdfs/Surif.pdf Surif Town Profile], ARIJ, 2006, p. 14
21. (11 June 2023). "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".
22. [https://felesteen.news/p/166714 التصعيد في الضفة.. شهيد وجرحى برصاص مستوطنين في بلدة صوريف]، الأناضول + فلسطين أونلاين، 19 حزيران/يونيو 2025.
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26. [https://felesteen.news/p/166714 إصابات في هجوم المستوطنين على بلدة صوريف غربي الخليل]، فلسطين أونلاين، 9 تموز/يوليو 2025.
27. "صوريف، محافظة الخليل: مستوطنون يهاجمون سكّان القرية على مدار ثلاثة أيّام. الجنود وعناصر شرطة حرس الحدود الذين رافقوهم أطلقوا قنابل الغاز المسيِّل للدموع والنيران الحيّة على السكّان المدافعين عن أنفسهم".
28. Alsharef, Tamer. (2023-04-02). "إصابة فلسطينيين بجروح إثر اعتداء للمستوطنين في "صوريف" غربي الخليل - وكالة قدس برس للأنباء".
29. (2025-07-09). "إصابات في هجوم المستوطنين على بلدة صوريف غربي الخليل".
30. [https://felesteen.news/p/166714 هيئة مقاومة الجدار والاستيطان: أكثر من 2153 اعتداءً للمستوطنين في النصف الأول من 2025]، فلسطين أونلاين.
31. 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
32. 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