| Kafr Sur | |
| Translit Lang1: | Arabic |
| Translit Lang1 Type: | Arabic |
| Translit Lang1 Info: | كفر صور |
| Type: | Municipality type C |
| Pushpin Map: | Palestine |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of Kafr Sur within Palestine |
| Coordinates: | 32.2439°N 35.0644°W |
| Grid Name: | Palestine grid |
| Grid Position: | 156/183 |
| Subdivision Type: | State |
| Subdivision Name: | State of Palestine |
| Subdivision Type1: | Governorate |
| Subdivision Name1: | Tulkarm |
| Established Title: | Founded |
| Unit Pref: | dunam |
| Population Footnotes: | [1] |
| Population Total: | 1288 |
| Population As Of: | 2017 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Blank Name Sec1: | Name meaning |
| Blank Info Sec1: | The village of the rock[2] |
Kafr Sur (Arabic: كفر صور) is a Palestinian town in the Tulkarm Governorate in the eastern West Bank, located 12 kilometers Southeast of Tulkarm. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Kafr Sur had a population of approximately 1,254 inhabitants in mid-year 2006, and 1,288 by 2017.[3] 13.5% of the population of Kafr Sur were refugees in 1997.[4]
Ceramics from the Byzantine era have been found here.[5]
Al-Ras was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of Palestine, and in a sijill (royal order) from 941/1535 an unspecified share of the village revenue was given to the waqf for Ribat al-Mansuri (com) in Jerusalem.[6]
In 1596 the village appeared in the tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Bani Sa'b of the Liwa of Nablus. It had a population of 22 households, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 33,3% on various agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and/or beehives in addition to occasional revenues, a press for olive oil or grape syrup, and a fixed tax for people of Nablus area; a total of 6,100 akçe.[7]
In 1838, Robinson noted Kefr Sur as a village in Beni Sa'ab district, west of Nablus.[8]
In the 1860s, the Ottoman authorities granted the village an agricultural plot of land called Ghabat Kafr Sur in the former confines of the Forest of Arsur (Ar. Al-Ghaba) in the coastal plain, west of the village. During this British Mandate period, this territory developed into a village called Ghabat Kafr Sur.[9] [10]
In 1870/1871 (1288 AH), an Ottoman census listed the village with 139 Household in the nahiya (sub-district) of Bani Sa'b.[11]
In 1882 the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Kefr Sur as: "A small stone village on a knoll, supplied by cisterns."[12]
Around the turn of the 20th century, Kafr Sur and its Ghaba were areas in which the Hannun Family of Tulkarm/Saffarin owned extensive estates. The Hannuns fostered close ties with the clans inhabiting Kafr Sur.[13]
In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Kufr Sur had a population of 271 Muslims,[14] increasing in the 1931 census to 559; 553 Muslims and 6 Christians, living in 128 houses. The 1931 numbers included the Bayarat Hannoun and the Arab el Balawin.[15]
In the 1945 statistics the population of Kafr Sur was 460; 450 Muslims and 10 Christians,[16] with 10,926 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey.[17] Of this, 878 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 2,644 were used for cereals,[18] while 14 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[19]
In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Kafr Sur came under Jordanian rule.
In 1961, the population of Kafr Sur was 656.[20]
Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Kafr Sur has been under Israeli occupation.
. Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine. Sami Hadawi. 1970. Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center.
. Edward Henry Palmer. 1881. 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. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
