Hurfeish

Hurfeish (Arabic: حرفيش‎; Hebrew: חֻרְפֵישׁ) (lit. "milk thistle" or possibly from "snake" ) is a Druze town in the Northern District of Israel.

History

In the Crusader era, Hurfeish was known as Horfeis, Hourfex, Orpheis, or Orfeis. In 1183 it was part of an estate sold from Geoffrey le Tor to Count Jocelyn III. In 1220 Jocelyn III´s daughter Beatrix de Courtenay and her husband Otto von Botenlauben, Count of Henneberg, sold the estate to the Teutonic Knights. It was listed as still belonging to the Teutonic Knights in 1226.

Ottoman era

In 1875 Victor Guérin noted an ancient church, used by the 50 Greek Christians in the village. In addition, Hurfeish had 300 Druze inhabitants.

In 1881, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Hurfeish as "a village, built of stone, containing about 150 Christians, situated on a low ridge, with figs, olives, and arable land. There are few wells in the village, and four good springs on the south side."

British Mandate era