page_title: Nabi Samwil
section_title: 1967, aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Nabi Samwil / History: shrine and village / 1967, aftermath
caption_attribution_description: English: School in Nabi Samwil
context_page_description: An-Nabi Samwil, also called al-Nabi Samuil, is a Palestinian village of nearly 220 inhabitants in the West Bank, within the Jerusalem Governorate, located four kilometers north of Jerusalem. The village consists of a few houses. The Palestinian population has been removed by the Israeli authorities from the village houses to a new location slightly down the hill.
  A tradition dating back to the Byzantine period places here the tomb of Samuel. A succession of buildings were erected at the top of the hill, which changed hands throughout history and were for long periods used, either exclusively or in parallel, as places of worship by Christians, Jews and Muslims. The village mosque's main structure, the former Crusader church, is still used for worship and it contains a Muslim cenotaph draped in velvet. Adjacent to the mosque section of the complex there is a Jewish Orthodox synagogue with a traditional tomb of Samuel in the basement. The complex as a whole acts as a prominent landmark.
context_section_description: Since the 1967 Six-Day War, Nabi Samwil has been under Israeli occupation.
  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. Throughout the 1970s, the Israeli authorities demolished the historic village built around the shrine, forcing its inhabitants into ramshackle buildings further down the hill. 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 authorisation. 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. The only exit from the village is to nearby Bir Nabala via an Israeli checkpoint.
  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.
caption: School in Nabi Samwil
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