Turmus Ayya

The Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem (ARIJ), citing Palestinian historian Mustafa Murad al-Dabbagh, gives Thormasia as an older form of the town's name. The account connects elements of the name with Aramaic words associated with a mountain, remains from pressed grapes, and ruin or desolation.^[10]

Adolf Neubauer proposed identifying the town with Thormasia, a place mentioned in the Talmud.^[11][12] Michael Avi-Yonah and Shemuel Yeivin proposed identifying Turmus Ayya with Tur Shimon, which is mentioned in rabbinic literature as having been destroyed during the Bar Kokhba revolt.^[13][14]

Another proposed explanation connects "Turmus" with the Latin word thermae, meaning a public bath. Under this interpretation, the settlement was originally called Ayya, with "Turmus" added after the construction of a bath during the Roman or Byzantine period.^[15]

Turmus Ayya is about 22 kilometres (14 mi) northeast of Ramallah. Nearby Palestinian communities include Sinjil and Khirbet Abu Falah. The Israeli settlement of Shilo lies to the east. The town has an area of approximately 17,606 dunams, or 17.6 square kilometres.^[10] Its elevation is about 720 metres above sea level.

Potsherds dating to the late Iron Age, around the 8th–7th centuries BCE, and later periods have been found at Turmus Ayya. Archaeological surveys have suggested that settlement at the site continued from that period onward.^[18]

Turmus Ayya is generally identified with Turbasaim in Crusader sources.^[19] Northeast of the town is Khirbet Ras ad-Deir, also known as Deir el-Fikia, which has been identified with the Crusader village of Dere.^[20][21]

In 1145, half of the income from Turmus Ayya and Dere was assigned to the Abbey of Mount Tabor for maintenance of the church at Sinjil.^[22] In 1175, Turmus Ayya, Dere and Sinjil were transferred to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.^[23]

Ottoman era

Turmus Ayya was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire with the rest of Palestine in 1517. In the 1596 tax registers it appeared in the Nahiya of Quds in the Liwa of Quds. The village had 43 households, all Muslim. Residents paid taxes on wheat, barley, olive trees, vineyards, fruit trees, goats and beehives, amounting to 7,200 akçe. Eleven twenty-fourths of the revenue went to a Waqf.^[24]

In 1838, Edward Robinson placed Turmus Aya in the province of Jerusalem, close to the boundary with the province of Nablus.^[25] He described it as being on a low rocky mound in a level valley.^[26]

Several graves in the town's cemetery have headstones dating to the Ottoman period.^{[citation needed]}

French explorer Victor Guérin visited Turmus Ayya in 1870. He recorded ancient cisterns, a broken lintel decorated with a garland and fragments of a column.^[27] Guérin estimated the population at about 700. He wrote that the village was administered by two sheikhs and that water was brought from nearby springs because its cisterns were almost dry.^[28]

An Ottoman village list from around 1870 recorded 88 houses and 301 male residents.^[29] Hartmann later recorded 82 houses.^[30]

In 1882, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine described Turmus Ayya as a moderately sized village on a low knoll in a fertile plain, with a spring to the south and fruit trees around it.^[12] In 1896, its population was estimated at about 834.^[31]

1967–present

Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Turmus Ayya has been under Israeli occupation. An Israeli census that year recorded 1,562 residents. By 1989, the population had risen to 5,140.^{[citation needed]}

Under the Oslo II Accord of 1995, 64.7% of the town's land was classified as Area B and 35.3% as Area C.^[39] ARIJ reports that 752 dunams of village land were taken for the Israeli settlement of Shilo and another 372 dunams for Mizpe Rahel.^[40]

In December 2014, Palestinian official Ziad Abu Ein died during a protest near Turmus Ayya against Israeli occupation and land confiscation.^[41]

Settler violence

B'Tselem recorded ten attacks by Israeli settlers in or around Turmus Ayya during the first six months of 2023.^[42]

On 21 June 2023, hundreds of masked Israeli settlers entered Turmus Ayya after four Israelis were killed in a shooting near the settlement of Eli. About 30 Palestinian houses and 60 vehicles were set on fire during the attack.^[43][44] Omar Qattin, a 27-year-old resident, was shot dead during the attack.^[45][46]

An Israel Defense Forces spokesperson described the settler attacks as acts of terror by criminals.^[9][8] In the following weeks, five suspects in settler riots were placed in Israeli administrative detention.^[47]

In July 2024, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported four consecutive days in which settlers burned farmhouses and agricultural generators around Turmus Ayya.^[48]

On 4 April 2025, Israeli forces shot and killed 14-year-old Palestinian-American Amer Mohammed Rabea near Turmus Ayya and wounded two other teenagers.^[49] The IDF said the three had thrown rocks at a road and described them as terrorists. It released thermal footage of the shooting and said Unit 636 had killed one and hit two others.^[50]

Later that month, settlers began establishing an unauthorized outpost near Turmus Ayya. Footage published by the Israeli organization Yesh Din showed construction equipment and mobile homes being moved into the area while Israeli soldiers were present. The Times of Israel reported that the Israeli government had not formally authorized a settlement at the site.^[51]

On 18 August 2025, masked settlers attacked Palestinian farmland near Turmus Ayya, damaged olive trees and set vegetation on fire. A BBC crew at the scene reported that settlers riding quad bikes chased people attempting to reach the affected land.^[52]

On 19 October 2025, settlers attacked Palestinians harvesting olives near Turmus Ayya. Vehicles were burned and several farmers were assaulted. A masked settler struck a 55-year-old woman in the head; she lost consciousness and was hospitalized with a brain hemorrhage. U.S. journalist Jasper Nathaniel filmed part of the attack.^{[53][54][55][56]}

On 6 January 2026, settlers cut a water pipeline serving homes on the outskirts of Turmus Ayya and redirected the water toward a nearby outpost, according to OCHA. The agency reported that seven households containing 31 people, including 13 children, were affected and relied on local wells afterward.^[57]

In August 2026, The Guardian reported that an unauthorized Israeli outpost had been established on private farmland owned by people from Turmus Ayya and that settlers had carried out repeated nighttime incursions near the town. Residents interviewed by the newspaper described gunfire, threats and attacks on houses, and some had installed shutters, fences or barbed wire around their properties.^[1]

Yaser Alkam, the head of the village council, told The Guardian that he regularly contacted the U.S. embassy during attacks. He said embassy officials had intervened in late July 2026 after Israeli soldiers occupied a house belonging to a U.S. citizen from Syracuse, New York. The U.S. State Department told the newspaper that U.S. citizens in the West Bank had access to consular services and said it condemned violence by any party.^[1]

A large part of Turmus Ayya's population has ties to the United States. Estimates published since 2023 have placed the proportion of residents with U.S. citizenship at about 80% to more than 90%.^[1][5][60]

Many families from Turmus Ayya emigrated during the 1960s and 1970s, particularly to the United States and Panama. Some established businesses abroad and later returned to the town or maintained homes there. Money earned abroad financed residential construction in Turmus Ayya, including large houses that are occupied year-round or during summer visits by diaspora families.^[5][6] Ynetnews reported in 2023 that local residents sometimes refer to Turmus Ayya as the "eastern suburb of Washington, D.C." because of its large Palestinian-American population.^[5]

Reporting by Le Monde has described contributions by diaspora families to infrastructure and other projects in Turmus Ayya.^[6] An AFP report published by The Times of Israel profiled Palestinian-American businessman Jamal Zaglul, who returned to Turmus Ayya and operated an olive press in the town.^[61] The Turmusaya Association has used the nickname "Entrepreneur Valley" in material referring to the town and members of its diaspora involved in business.^[62]

Agriculture remains part of the local economy, particularly olive cultivation. Families from Turmus Ayya own olive groves around the town, and the harvest is an important source of income for some landowners and workers.^[63][64] Agricultural workers from nearby villages also work on land belonging to Turmus Ayya residents.^[65]

The Turmus Aya Equestrian Club was founded in 2007 by Ashraf Rabi. His family had emigrated to Panama and the United States around 1980 before returning to Turmus Ayya. The club provides riding and equestrian facilities and breeds Arabian horses.^[66][1]