| al-Sumayriyya | ||
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| Arabic | السُميريه | |
| Name Meaning | "The Samaritan" | |
| Also Spelled | Someleria, Katasir | |
| District | Acre | |
| Coordinates | 32°58′19.25″N 35°05′36.27″E / 32.9720139°N 35.0934083°ECoordinates: 32°58′19.25″N 35°05′36.27″E / 32.9720139°N 35.0934083°E | |
| Population | 760[1] (1945) | |
| Area | 8,542[1] dunums | |
| Date of depopulation | 14 May 1948[2] | |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault by Yishuv forces | |
| Current localities | Bustan HaGalil,[3] Lohamei HaGeta'ot,[4] Shomrat[5] | |
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 Defence Force during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.[6]
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Al-Sumayriyya is Arabic for "The Little Samaria". It was inhabited by Samaritans in former centuries, but they were expelled from the area by the Ottoman governor Jezzar Pasha, moving to Nablus in the 18th century, where a community of some 300 continue to live as citizens of the Palestinian National Authority.[6]
In 1881, the Survey of Western Palestine described the place as a village of "mud and stone houses, containing about 200 (Guerin says 400) 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."[7]
Al-Sumayriyya had an elementary school for boys, which was founded in 1943. In 1945, it had an enrollment of 60 students. One mosque which remains to this date, however it needs renovation.
In 1944/45 a total of 6,854 dunams were allocated to grain crops; 354 dunams were irrigated or planted with orchards.[5][8]
At the beginning of 1945, al-Sumayriyya's 760 inhabitants were all Arab Muslims. The inhabitants fled as a result of the 14 May 1948 assault on the village by the Carmeli Brigade during Operation Ben-Ami, one day prior to the official outbreak of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.[6] The village - along with those of neighbouring al-Bassa and al-Zib which were also captured in the offensive - was subsequently destroyed, with the exception of its mosque.[9]
Tall al-Sumayriyya contains carved stones, a mosaic floor, tombs, columns, and stone capitals. Khirbat Abu 'Ataba has an Islamic shrine and ceramic fragments.
Lohamei HaGeta'ot was built on its site.
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