Khan Sursock, Heritage site in Mateh Asher Regional Council, Israel
Khan Sursock, also called Hurvat Ga'aton, is a ruined two-storey stone manor house built of tan and beige rectangular blocks, standing on a tell about two kilometres east of Nahariya. Its upper level has three grouped arched window openings, the rightmost holding a dark wooden beam, with a rectangular divided window and a small square opening below. A central stone staircase rises to a landing between two ground-level doorways.
A farming settlement called Gi'ato existed here in the 10th century BCE, in King Solomon's reign, likely under an agreement with Hiram of Tyre. In the Crusader period a farm named Jasson was founded, subject to the lord of Mi'ilya and later Akhziv, with aqueducts and a flour mill built. Daher al-Umar renewed the farm buildings in the 18th century, and around 1870 the Sursock banking family of Beirut built the manor house visible today on the Crusader ruin.
The Arabic name Khirbat al-Ja'tun was still used when the Sursock estate stood on the Crusader ruin; the Hebrew name Hurvat Ga'aton now appears on signs. The estate was managed by Habib Khawaja, father of Raymonda Tawil and grandfather of Suha Arafat. The 1922 census recorded 19 residents, all Muslim.
The building has been fenced off and inaccessible since 2014 because of the risk of collapse. Picnic tables and trail signs stand at the foot of the ruin, and a pool was built in the streambed; spring water is captured by Mekorot, so the channel flows only after rain.
The building visible today was erected by the Sursock family, Lebanese Christian bankers, on the ruins of a Crusader farm; the family acquired its lands around 1870. From the late Ottoman period through the British Mandate the estate was run by Habib Khawaja, father of Raymonda Tawil and grandfather of Suha Arafat.
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