{{Infobox settlement | name = Surif | native_name = {{lang|ar|صوريف}} | translit_lang1 = Arabic | translit_lang1_type = Arabic | translit_lang1_info = صوريف | type = Municipality type A (City) | image_skyline = Surif.jpg | image_caption = Pastoral scene near Surif village | pushpin_map = Palestine | pushpin_map_caption = Location of Surif within Palestine | image_map = | map_caption = | coordinates = {{coord|31|39|02|N|35|03|58|E|region:PS|display=inline,title}} | grid_name = Palestine grid | grid_position = 156/117 | subdivision_type = State | subdivision_name = State of Palestine | subdivision_type1 = Governorate | subdivision_name1 = Hebron | established_title = Founded | established_date = | government_footnotes = <!-- for references: use <ref> tags --> | government_type = City | leader_title = Head of Municipality | leader_name = Ahmad Lafi | unit_pref = dunam | area_footnotes = | area_total_km2 = 15.0 | area_total_dunam = 15034 | elevation_footnotes = | elevation_m = | elevation_min_m = | elevation_max_m = | population_footnotes = <ref name="PrelimCensus2017">{{cite report |date=February 2018 |title=Preliminary Results of the Population, Housing and Establishments Census, 2017 |url=https://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Downloads/book2364-1.pdf |department=Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) |publisher=State of Palestine |pages=64–82 |access-date=2023-10-24}}</ref> | population_total = 17287 | population_as_of = 2017 | population_note = | population_density_km2 = auto | blank_name_sec1 = Name meaning | blank_info_sec1 = from personal name<ref>Palmer, 1881, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp00conduoft#page/408/mode/1up 408]</ref> | website = | footnotes = }}
'''Surif''' ({{langx|ar|صوريف}}) is a Palestinian City in the Hebron Governorate located 25 km northwest of the city of Hebron. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics census, Surif had a population of 17,287 in 2017.<ref name="PrelimCensus2017" /> The population is entirely Muslim.
Most of the town's 15,000 dunams is used for agriculture, in particular, olives, wheat and barley.<ref>[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</ref> The town has seven mosques and four schools.
Ahmad Lafi is the mayor.<ref>{{cite web |title=Huge new Israeli settlement in West Bank condemned by US and UK |date=2014-09-01 |website=The Guardian |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605213044/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/01/israeli-settlement-west-bank-gvaot-condemned |archive-date=2023-06-05 |url-status=live |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/01/israeli-settlement-west-bank-gvaot-condemned}}</ref>
==History== ===Ottoman period=== Oral tradition suggests that Surif was founded after the 16th century.<ref>Grossman, D. "The expansion of the settlement frontier of Hebron's western and southern fringes". ''Geography Research Forum'', 5, 1982, p. 62.</ref> In 1838, Surif was described as a Muslim village between Hebron and Gaza under the administration of Hebron.<ref>Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/117/mode/1up 117]</ref>
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.<ref>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.</ref>
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.<ref>Guérin, 1869, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongogr06gugoog#page/n394/mode/1up 381]-382</ref> An official Ottoman village list from about 1870 showed 87 houses and a population of 265, counting men only.<ref>Socin, 1879, p. [https://archive.org/stream/zeitschriftdesde01deut#page/161/mode/1up 161]</ref><ref>Hartmann, 1883, p. [https://archive.org/stream/bub_gb_BZobAQAAIAAJ#page/n951/mode/1up 143] noted 100 houses</ref> In 1883, the PEF's ''Survey of Western Palestine'' described Surif as "A small village on a low hill, with olives to the south."<ref>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]</ref> In 1896 the population of Surif was 1,164.<ref>Schick, 1896, p. [https://archive.org/stream/zeitschriftdesde19deut#page/n229/mode/1up 122]</ref>
===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,<ref name=Census1922>Barron, 1923, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n12/mode/1up 10]</ref> increasing in the 1931 census to 1,640, in 344 inhabited houses.<ref name="Census1931">Mills, 1932, p. [https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas 33]</ref>
In the 1945 statistics the population of Surif was 2,190, all Muslims,<ref name=DoS1945>Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. [http://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/VSpages/VS1945_p23.jpg 23]</ref> with a total of 38,876 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey.<ref>Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20I/Hebron/Page-050.jpg 50] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604210408/http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20I/Hebron/Page-050.jpg |date=2011-06-04 }}</ref> Of this, 3,493 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 11.325 for cereals,<ref>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]</ref> while 54 dunams were built-up (urban) land.<ref>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]</ref>
<gallery> 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) </gallery>
===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.<ref>Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. [http://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/JordanCensusPages/JordanCensus1961-p14.pdf 14]</ref>
===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.<ref>[http://vprofile.arij.org/hebron/pdfs/Surif.pdf Surif Town Profile], ARIJ, 2006, p. 14</ref>
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.<ref>{{Cite web |date=11 June 2023 |title=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 |url=https://www.btselem.org/video/20230611_settlers_attack_surif_residents_for_three_days_soldiers_and_police_fire_at_defending_villagers#full |website=btselem.org}}</ref>
=== 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.<ref name="Anadolu2025">[https://felesteen.news/p/166714 التصعيد في الضفة.. شهيد وجرحى برصاص مستوطنين في بلدة صوريف]، الأناضول + فلسطين أونلاين، 19 حزيران/يونيو 2025.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=مستوطنون يقتلون فلسطينيا ويصيبون آخر بمحافظة الخليل |url=https://www.aa.com.tr/ar/%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84/%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%B7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%8A%D9%82%D8%AA%D9%84%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%81%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A7-%D9%88%D9%8A%D8%B5%D9%8A%D8%A8%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%A2%D8%AE%D8%B1-%D8%A8%D9%85%D8%AD%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%B8%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AE%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%84-/3604907 |access-date=2025-07-25 |website=www.aa.com.tr}}</ref><ref>Wattan News. (2024, November X). مستوطنون يهاجمون منازل المواطنين في بلدة صوريف شمال غرب الخليل. ''Wattan''. Retrieved July 25, 2025, from <nowiki>https://www.wattan.net/ar/news/448448.html</nowiki></ref><ref>{{cite web |last=التلفزيون العربي |date=19 June 2025 |title=التصعيد في الضفة.. شهيد وجرحى برصاص مستوطنين في بلدة صوريف |url=https://www.alaraby.com/news/التصعيد-في-الضفة-شهيد-وجرحى-برصاص-مستوطنين-في-بلدة-صوريف |access-date=25 July 2025 |website=العربي الجديد}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Felesteen2025">[https://felesteen.news/p/166714 إصابات في هجوم المستوطنين على بلدة صوريف غربي الخليل]، فلسطين أونلاين، 9 تموز/يوليو 2025.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=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 |url=https://www.btselem.org/arabic/video/20230611_settlers_attack_surif_residents_for_three_days_soldiers_and_police_fire_at_defending_villagers |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240601090102/https://www.btselem.org/arabic/video/20230611_settlers_attack_surif_residents_for_three_days_soldiers_and_police_fire_at_defending_villagers |archive-date=2024-06-01 |access-date=2025-07-25 |website=بتسيلم |language=ar}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Alsharef |first=Tamer |date=2023-04-02 |title=إصابة فلسطينيين بجروح إثر اعتداء للمستوطنين في "صوريف" غربي الخليل - وكالة قدس برس للأنباء |url=https://qudspress.com/37336/ |access-date=2025-07-25 |website=qudspress.com |language=ar}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-07-09 |title=إصابات في هجوم المستوطنين على بلدة صوريف غربي الخليل |url=https://felesteen.news/post/166714/%D8%A5%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%87%D8%AC%D9%88%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%B7%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%86-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%A8%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%B5%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%81-%D8%BA%D8%B1%D8%A8%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AE%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%84 |access-date=2025-07-25 |website=فلسطين أون لاين |language=ar}}</ref> 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.<ref name="CommissionStats">[https://felesteen.news/p/166714 هيئة مقاومة الجدار والاستيطان: أكثر من 2153 اعتداءً للمستوطنين في النصف الأول من 2025]، فلسطين أونلاين.</ref>
== 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<ref name=":02">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</ref>), 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.<ref>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</ref>
==References== {{reflist|25em}}
==Bibliography== {{refbegin}} *{{cite book | editor =Barron, J.B. | title = Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922|url=https://archive.org/details/PalestineCensus1922 | publisher = Government of Palestine | year = 1923}} *{{cite book|last1=Conder|first1=C.R.|author-link1=Claude Reignier Conder|last2=Kitchener|first2=H.H.|author-link2=Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener|year=1883|url=https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp03conduoft|title=The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology|location=London|publisher=Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund|volume=3}} *{{cite book | title = First Census of Population and Housing. Volume I: Final Tables; General Characteristics of the Population | author = Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics | year = 1964|url=http://cs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/JordanCensus1961bits.pdf}} *{{cite book|title=Village Statistics, April, 1945 |url=http://web.nli.org.il/sites/nli/Hebrew/library/Pages/BookReader.aspx?pid=856390|author=Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics|year=1945}} *{{cite book|last=Guérin|first=V.|author-link=Victor Guérin|title=Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine|url=https://archive.org/details/descriptiongogr06gugoog|volume=1: Judee, pt. 3|year=1869|publisher= L'Imprimerie Nationale|location=Paris|language=fr}} *{{cite book|title=Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine|url=http://www.palestineremembered.com/Articles/General-2/Story3150.html|first=S.|last=Hadawi|author-link=Sami Hadawi|year=1970|publisher=Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center}} *{{cite journal | last = Hartmann | first =M.| author-link = Martin Hartmann | title = Die Ortschaftenliste des Liwa Jerusalem in dem türkischen Staatskalender für Syrien auf das Jahr 1288 der Flucht (1871) | journal = Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins | volume = 6 | pages = 102–149 | url =https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_BZobAQAAIAAJ | year = 1883}} *{{cite book | editor = Mills, E. | title = Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas |url=https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas | publisher = Government of Palestine | location = Jerusalem | year = 1932}} *{{cite book|last=Palmer|first=E.H.|author-link=Edward Henry Palmer|year=1881|url=https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp00conduoft|title=The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer|publisher=Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund}} *{{cite book|last1=Robinson|first1=E.|author-link1=Edward Robinson (scholar)|last2=Smith|first2=E.|author-link2=Eli Smith|year=1841|url=https://archive.org/details/biblicalresearch03robiuoft |title=Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838| location=Boston|publisher=Crocker & Brewster|volume=3}} *{{cite journal | last = Schick | first =C.| author-link = Conrad Schick | title = Zur Einwohnerzahl des Bezirks Jerusalem | journal = Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins | volume = 19 | pages = 120–127 | url =https://archive.org/details/zeitschriftdesde19deut | year = 1896}} *{{cite journal | last = Socin | first =A.| author-link = Albert Socin | title = Alphabetisches Verzeichniss von Ortschaften des Paschalik Jerusalem | journal = Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins | volume = 2 | pages = 135–163 | url = https://archive.org/details/zeitschriftdesde01deut | year = 1879}} {{refend}}
==External links== {{commons category}} *[http://www.palestineremembered.com/GeoPoints/Surif_1621/index.html Welcome To Surif] *[https://www.welcometopalestine.com/destinations/hebron/surif/ Surif], Welcome to Palestine *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 21: [http://www.iaa-archives.org.il/zoom/zoom.aspx?folder_id=93&type_id=6&id=8383 IAA], [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Survey_of_Western_Palestine_1880.21.jpg Wikimedia commons] *[http://vprofile.arij.org/hebron/pdfs/Surif%20Town.pdf Surif Town (Fact Sheet)], Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem, ARIJ *[http://vprofile.arij.org/hebron/pdfs/Surif.pdf Surif Town Profile], ARIJ *[http://vprofile.arij.org/hebron/images/Surif%20Areal%20Photo.jpg Surif aerial photo], ARIJ *[http://vprofile.arij.org/hebron/pdfs/needsfordevelopment/Surif_tp_en.pdf The priorities and needs for development in Surif town based on the community and local authorities’ assessment], ARIJ {{Hebron Governorate}}
Category:Towns in the West Bank Category:Hebron Governorate Category:Municipalities of Palestine