Remains from the late
Roman (third–fourth centuries CE),
Byzantine (fifth–beginning of seventh centuries CE), and
Abbasid eras have been found here.
Columns and fragments were noted near the
well.
12 century Crusader church endowments and land deeds mention Latin settlement in Zeophir/al-Sawāfīr. However, it is not clear which village of three Sawafirs these records pertain to.
Ottoman era Al-Sawafir al-Sharqiyya was like the rest of Palestine, incorporated into the
Ottoman Empire in 1517, and in the
census of 1596, the village appeared as
Sawafir as-Sarqi under the administration of the
nahiya of Gaza, part of the
Liwa of Gaza. The place was noted as
hali, that is empty, but taxes were paid on wheat, barley, summer crops, vineyards, fruit trees and cotton; a total of 9,000
akçe. In 1838 the three Sawafir villages were noted located in the Gaza district. The western village (=
Al-Sawafir al-Gharbiyya) was noted as "in ruins or deserted", while the two others were noted as being Muslim. In 1863
Victor Guérin found it to be the largest of the three Sawafir villages. In 1882 the
PEF's
Survey of Western Palestine described it as one of three
Suafir adobe villages. Each had small gardens and
wells.
British Mandate era According to the
1922 census of Palestine conducted by the
British Mandate authorities, Al-Sawafir al-Sharqiyya had a population of 588 inhabitants, all Muslims, increasing in the
1931 census to an all-Muslim population of 787 in 148 houses. In the
1945 statistics, it had a population of 970 Muslims, while 40 dunams were classified as built-up, urban land. The village shared a school with the other two Sawafir villages, and it had an enrollment of about 280 in 1945. The village had its own mosque.
1948 War and aftermath In early May 1948, the inhabitants of the three Al-Sawafir villages were ordered not to flee by the
Al-Majdal National Committee. As of 23 May 1948, Israeli reports say that at all three Al-Sawafir villages the inhabitants slept in the fields at night, but returned to work in the villages by day. The village was destroyed as part of the
Nakba, specifically as a result of
Operation Barak. In 1992 the village site was described like so: "No houses remain on the site. New buildings stand on the spot where the Mosque used to be. Some traces of the former village are still present on the surrounding lands, however. There is a building for a water-pump in Isma'il al-Sawafiri's orchard, an old sycamore tree in the al-Buhaysi family's orchard, and an old cypress tree in an otherwise vacant field." ==References==