al-Sumayriyya السُميريه Someleria, Katasir
The aqueduct in al-Sumayriyya
Etymology: "Tawny" or "Brown"[1]
1870s map 1940s map modern map 1940s with modern overlay map A series of historical maps of the area around Al-Sumayriyya (click the buttons)
al-Sumayriyya Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 32°58′22″N 35°05′36″E / 32.97278°N 35.09333°E / 32.97278; 35.09333
Palestine grid	159/264
Geopolitical entity	Mandatory Palestine
Subdistrict	Acre
Date of depopulation	14 May 1948[4]
Area [3]
• Total	8,542 dunams (8.542 km2 or 3.298 sq mi)
Population  (1945)
• Total	760[2][3]
Cause(s) of depopulation	Military assault by Yishuv forces
Current Localities	Regba, Lohamei HaGeta'ot,[5][6] Shomrat[6]

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.^[7] The ruins of the village are today in the outskirts of the Israeli moshav of Regba.

History

Tall al-Sumayriyya contains carved stones, a mosaic floor, tombs, columns, and stone capitals. Khirbat Abu 'Ataba has an Islamic shrine and ceramic fragments.^[8]

In the Crusader era, it was mentioned in 1277 under the name of Somelaria.^[9] At the time, the village belonged to the Templars.^[10] In the hudna of 1283 between Al Mansur Qalawun and the Crusaders, Al-Sumayriyya was still under Crusader rule^[11][12] while in 1291 it had come under Mamluk control.^[13]

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.^[10]

Ottoman era

It was mentioned in the Ottoman defter for the year 1555-6, named Summayriyah, located in the Nahiya of Akka of the Liwa of Safad, and with its land designated as Sahi land, that is, land belonging to the Sultan.^[14]

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.^[15]

A map by Pierre Jacotin from Napoleon's invasion of 1799 showed the place, named as El Esmerieh.^[16]

In 1875 Victor Guérin found the village had 400 Muslim inhabitants.^[17] In 1881, the PEF'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."^[18]

A population list from about 1887 showed the village to have about 270 inhabitants; all Muslims.^[19]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities Semariyeh had a population of 307; 300 Muslims and 7 Christians,^[20] where all the Christians were Maronite.^[21] This had increased in the 1931 census to 392, 390 Muslims, 1 Christian and 1 Jew, in a total of 92 houses.^[22]

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.^[8]

In 1944/1945 the village had a population of 760 Muslims,^[2] with a total of 8,542 dunams of land.^[3] Of this, 6,854 dunams were allocated to grain crops; 354 dunams were irrigated or planted with orchards,^[23] while 28 dunams were built-up (urban) land.^[24]

1948, and aftermath

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 before the official outbreak of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.^[7] The village - along with neighbouring al-Bassa and al-Zib which were also captured in the offensive - was subsequently destroyed, except its mosque.^[25]

Lohamei HaGeta'ot and Shomrat are both on village land.^[6] Morris writes that Bustan HaGalil was built near its site,^[26] however, Khalidi writes that Bustan HaGalil is on the land of Al-Manshiyya.^[27] Shavey Tziyon and Regba are close to the northern borders of Al-Sumayriyya, but were established on land that used to belong to Mazra'a.^[6]