Roman period A marble bust of
Pan, dating from the 1st or 2nd century CE, has been found here.
Crusader and Mamluk periods Summil was founded in 1168 during the
Crusades by the
Hospitallers for the purpose of protecting the fortress in
Bayt Jibrin. Local tradition claims it was named after Samuel, one of the Crusaders who established the village. Under
Mamluk rule in the 13th-15th centuries, it was referred to as Barakat al-Khalil ("the blessing of Ibrahim (Abraham)"), because its tax revenues were used by the sultan
Barquq to endow the
Ibrahimi Mosque in
Hebron. When
Edward Robinson visited Summil in the 1838, he noted that it was a "considerable village on an elevation of the plain". He noticed a public
well over deep and in diameter. He said that there was a "portion of an ancient wall apparently once belonging to a castle." It was also noted as a Muslim village located in the Gaza district. In 1863, French explorer
Victor Guérin found the village, which he called
Soummeil el-Khalil, to have 400 inhabitants. Some of the houses were built of stone, other of
adobe. He further noted a
waly, dedicated to a
Sheikh Abdallah, which was a well built enclosure built of large stones. An Ottoman village list of about 1870 indicated 50 houses and a population of 133, though the population count included men, only. In 1882 the
PEF's
Survey of Western Palestine described Summeil as "a small village on the edge of the higher ground, of mud and stone, with cactus hedges. A pond on the south and a well on the north supply the place. Near the latter there is a pointed archway of good masonry, apparently mediæval work, and there are foundations of hewn stones in the village. [The well] Bir Summeil is south of the village, is also a well-built masonry well, and the place evidently dates back to Crusading times at least." In the late 19th century, Summil had a semi-circular plan. increasing in the
1931 census, to 692, still all Muslims, in 178 houses. In the
1945 statistics the population of Summeil consisted of 950 Muslims while 31 dunams were built-up areas. A
mosque built on the remnants of a Crusader church was maintained by the
Muslim inhabitants. Village houses were built of adobe brick and a school opened in 1936. By the mid-1940s it had an enrollment of 88 students. The community obtained domestic water from a deep well named "al-Khalil". The day after, on the July 20, the
IDF were formally instructed to prevent infiltration to Summil,
Barqusya,
Bi´lin,
Masmiya al Saghira,
al-Tina,
Kheima,
Idnibba,
Jilya,
Qazaza, and
Mughallis. The orders specifically were to "destroy" any "armed force" encountered, and to "expel...unarmed villagers". The Palestinian historian
Walid Khalidi described the village remains in 1992 as: "The remnants of a wall, perhaps one that was built around the village, are still visible. Otherwise, much of the site is overgrown with
khubbayza (a wild plant belonging to the
mallow family that is cooked as a vegetable in Palestinian peasant cuisine) and grass. There is also a
Christ's-thorn trees and dense stands of cactuses; an old cactus-lined village road is visible. A shanty that houses an Arab family (whose members probably work in one of the Israeli settlements) has been built on the land. The adjacent land is cultivated by Israeli farmers." Andrew Petersen, who visited in 1994, noted: "The castle appears to be roughly square with a central tower (
keep) surrounded by an outer enclosure wall with square corner towers. The principal remains are those of the north enclosure wall which stands to a height of over 8m and is over 30m long and 1,5m thick. The lower part of the wall has a well−preserved
glacis." ==See also==