Nabi Samwil

The Nabi Samwil tomb, 2012

The village is traditionally held to contain the tomb of the prophet Samuel (Arabic: Nabi Samwil),[2][5] from which the village receives its name. The tomb is draped by cloth and is located in a dark cellar in Nabi Samwil's large turreted mosque. A monastery was built by the Byzantines at Nabi Samwil, serving as a hostel for Christian pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem. The monastery was restored and enlarged during the reign of Justinian I in the mid-6th-century CE.[6] Since then, the site has been a place of pilgrimage for Jews, Christians and Muslims alike.[2] The tomb continued to be in use throughout the early Arab period of rule in Palestine from the 7th to 10th centuries.[6]

Jerusalem-born geographer al-Muqaddasi recounted in 985 CE, a story which he had heard from his uncle concerning the place: A certain Sultan wanted to take possession of the Dayr Shamwil, which he describes as a village about a farsakh from Jerusalem. The Sultan asked the owner to describe the village, at which the owner enumerated the ills of the place ("hard is the labour,/the profit is low./Weeds are all over,/almonds are bitter,/one bushel you sow,/one bushel you reap;") After hearing this the ruler exclaimed "Begone! We have no need for your village!"[7] 13th-century Syrian geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi, describes "Mar Samwil" or "Maran Samwil" as "a small town in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem. Mar in Syriac signifies al-Kass, 'the priest', and Samwil is the name of the Doctors of Law."[8] During Islamic times, Nabi Samwil became center for pottery production,[9] supplying nearby Jerusalem, as well as Ramla and Caesarea.[10]

In 1099, the Crusaders conquered Palestine from the Arab Fatimids and received their first view of Jerusalem from the mountain upon which Nabi Samwil is built, thus naming it Mont Joie ("Mountain of Joy"). They soon constructed a fortress there to fend off Muslim raiding of Jerusalem's northern approaches as well as to shelter pilgrim convoys.[6] A 6th-century Christian author identified the site as Samuel's burial place, and it has been traditionally been associated as such by Jews, Christians and Muslims. According to the Bible, however, the prophet is buried at his hometown, Ramah,[11] to the east of the hill which is located near Geba while this site is identified as Mizpah in Benjamin. As Judas Machabeus, preparing for war with the Syrians, gathered his men "to Maspha, over against Jerusalem: for in Maspha was a place of prayer heretofore in Israel".[12] The 12th-century Jewish traveler Benjamin of Tudela visited the site when he traveled the land in 1173, noting that the Crusaders had found the bones of Samuel in a Jewish cemetery in Ramla on the coastal plain and reburied here, overlooking the Holy City. He wrote that a church dedicated to St. Samuel of Shiloh had been built on the hill.[13] This may refer to the abbey church of St. Samuel built by Premonstratensian canons and inhabited from 1141 to 1244.[14] In 1157, they constructed a church at Samuel's tomb.[2] King Baldwin II of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem entrusted Nabi Samwil to Cistercians religious order, who built a monastery there and then handed it over to the Premonstratensians in the 1120s.[9] After the Ayyubids under Saladin conquered much of interior Palestine in 1187, the church and monastery were turned into a mosque and since then remained in Muslim hands. in 1192, Richard the Lionheart reached Nabi Samwil, but did not take it.[15] In the later Middle Ages, during the Mamluk period, Christian pilgrims continued to visit the site, including the traveller known as John Mandeville, and Margery Kempe.[16]

Jewish pilgrimage, which favoured visits in April and May each year, resumed after the Ayyubids conquered the area, and it became an important center for Muslim-Jewish interaction.[17] In the 15th-century, Jews built a synagogue adjacent to the mosque and resumed pilgrimages to the site after losing that privilege during the Crusader era. Though they occasionally encountered difficulties with local notables, the Jews' right to visit the shrine was reaffirmed twice by the Ottomans, and the sultan asked the qadi of Jerusalem to punish anyone who might obstruct their right and the long tradition of Jewish pilgrimage. Mujir ad-Din referring to Jerusalem's size writes "From the north it reaches the village wherein is the tomb of the prophet Shamwil, may Allah bless him and give him peace."[18]

In 1517, Palestine incorporated into the Ottoman Empire after it was captured from the Mamluks, and by 1596, it appeared in the Ottoman tax registers as being in the nahiya of Quds in the liwa of Al-Quds. It had a population of 5 households, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on various agricultural products, including wheat, barley, olive trees, vineyards, fruit trees, occasional revenues, goats and/or beehives; a total of 2,200 akçe.[19]

The Crusader church was incorporated into the village mosque,[2] built in 1730 under the Ottoman Empire.[6]

In 1838 Edward Robinson noted en-Neby Samwil as a Muslim village, part of the El-Kuds district.[20] He further noted that the "mosk is here the principal object; and is regarded by Jews, Christians, and Muhammedans, as covering the tomb of the prophet Samuel."[21]

An Ottoman village list of about 1870 showed that Nabi Samwil had 6 houses and a population of 20, though the population count included only men.[22][23]

In 1883, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described it as small hamlet of adobe huts, perched on top of the ridge, amid the remains of the Crusader ruins. There was a spring to the north.[24]

In 1896 the population of Nebi Samwil was estimated to be about 81 persons.[25]

Nabi Samwil was heavily damaged by Turkish shells in 1917 while fighting British forces, but the village was rebuilt and resettled in 1921.[26] The Ottoman mosque which was destroyed was restored by the Supreme Muslim Council during the British Mandate era.[5][6]

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Nabi Shemweil had a population 121, all Muslims.[27] increasing slightly in the 1931 census to 138, one Christian and the rest Muslim, occupying a total of 117 houses.[28]

In the 1945 statistics Nabi Samwil had a population of 200, all Muslims,[29] with 2,150 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.[30] Of this, 293 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 986 used for cereals,[31] while 3 dunams were built-up land.[32]

On April 23, 1948, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, a Palmach division attacked Nabi Samwil with the intention of capturing the village for Israel. The operation failed, since its local defenders had been notified that nearby Beit Iksa was attacked and thus, prepared for a Jewish assault. Over 40 Palmach troops were killed in the battle with minimal Arab casualties.[33]

From 1948 to 1967, Nabi Samwil was used by the Arab Legion of Jordan as a military post guarding access to Jerusalem.[2]

In 1961, the population of Nabi Samwil was 168.[34]

School in Nabi Samwil

Since the 1967 Six-Day War, Nabi Samwil has been under Israeli occupation.[2] After Israel's victory and occupation in the war, during which most of the village's 1,000 inhabitants had fled, the shrine became predominantly Jewish, and settlers attempted to wrest control of the area.[35][17] Throughout the 1970s, the Israeli authorities demolished the historic village built round the shrine, forcing its inhabitants into ramshackle buildings further down the hill.[36][35] Nabi Samwil was drawn in good part within Jerusalem's municipal boundaries, while the inhabitants themselves were excluded, and its inhabitants were defined in their identity cards as West Bankers, and are prohibited by the Israeli military administration from leaving the village in any direction without authorization.[36] Since the mid-2000s, Nabi Samwil, excluding the shrine, became part of an area known as the "Seam Zone", which denotes the land between the separation barrier (erected during the Second Intifada) and the borders of Jerusalem municipality.[37] The only exit from the village is to nearby Bir Nabala via an Israeli checkpoint.[36]

Archaeological excavations around the Tomb of Samuel

The village, which is not recognized as such by Israel, was designated as a national park in the 1990s and the remains of former homes adjacent to the mosque form part of an archaeological site in the park. The mosque has been cordoned off and the section containing Samuel's tomb has been converted into a synagogue. Partly due to Israeli military restrictions, Palestinian construction in the village is banned. Economic activity is also significantly restricted and residents live in poverty, with many young residents leaving for jobs in nearby Ramallah. Israel states its policies are intended to preserve the site of Nabi Samwil.[37]