al-Sumayriyya | |
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The aqueduct in al-Sumayriyya
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Arabic | السُميريه |
Name meaning | "Tawny" or "Brown" |
Also spelled | Someleria, Katasir |
Subdistrict | Acre |
Coordinates | 32°58′19″N 35°05′36″E / 32.97194°N 35.09333°ECoordinates: 32°58′19″N 35°05′36″E / 32.97194°N 35.09333°E |
Palestine grid | 159/264 |
Population | 760 (1945) |
Area | 8,542 dunams |
Date of depopulation | 14 May 1948 |
Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault by Yishuv forces |
Current localities | Lohamei HaGeta'ot,Shomrat |
Al-Sumayriyya (Arabic: السُميريه, Katasir in Canaanite times, Someleria during Crusader rule), was a Palestinian village located six kilometers north of Acre that was depopulated after it was captured by the Israel Defense Forces during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
Tall al-Sumayriyya contains carved stones, a mosaic floor, tombs, columns, and stone capitals. Khirbat Abu 'Ataba has an Islamic shrine and ceramic fragments.
In the Crusader era, it was mentioned in 1277 under the name of Somelaria. At the time, the village belonged to the Templars. In the hudna of 1283 between Al Mansur Qalawun and the Crusaders, Al-Sumayriyya was still under Crusader rule while in 1291 it had come under Mamluk control.
A building with a court-yard, measuring 60,5 by 57 meters, dating from the Crusader era, has been noted in the village, and a 13th-century glass-factory has been excavated.
In 1738 Richard Pococke passed by the place, which he called Semmars. He thought the name came from "St. Mary's", and noted the remains of a wall of hewn stone, which he thought had belonged to a convent.
A map by Pierre Jacotin from Napoleon's invasion of 1799 showed the place, named as El Esmerieh.
In 1875 Victor Guérin found the village had 400 Muslim inhabitants. In 1881, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine described the place as a village of "mud and stone houses, containing about 200 [..] Moslems, situated on the plain, surrounded by a few clumps of olives and figs and arable land; two or three cisterns are in the village, the aqueduct near brings good water."