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Al-Masmiyya al-Kabira

January 01, 1970

This article is about the depopulated village in historic Palestine. For the ancient village in southern Syria, see al-Masmiyah.

Al-Masmiyya al-Kabira (Arabic: المسمية الكبيرة) was a Palestinian village in the Gaza Subdistrict, located 41 kilometers (25 mi) northeast of Gaza.[6] With a land area of 20,687 dunams, the village site (135 dunams) was situated on an elevation of 75 meters (246 ft) along the coastal plain. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Before the war, it had a population of 2,520 in 1945.[5]

al-Masmiyya al-Kabira
المسمية الكبيرة
al-Masmiyya
Masmiya al Kabira, 1947
Etymology: from "to be lofty"[1]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Al-Masmiyya al-Kabira (click the buttons)
al-Masmiyya al-Kabira
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 31°45′27″N 34°47′05″E / 31.75750°N 34.78472°E / 31.75750; 34.78472
Palestine grid129/129
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictGaza
Date of depopulationJuly 8, 1948[4]
Area
[3]
 • Total20,687 dunams (20.687 km2 or 7.987 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total2,520[2][3]
Cause(s) of depopulationMilitary assault by Yishuv forces
Current LocalitiesBnei Re'em,[5] Hatzav,[5] Yinon,[5] Ahva[5]

History edit

Remains from the Roman and Byzantine eras have been found here, including a coin made under Emperor Mauritius Tiberius (596–597 CE).[7] Remains, including pottery and glass were found from the Umayyad and Abbasid periods, with local glass-industry operation here in the Abbasid era.[7] The settlement continued during Ayyubid and Mamluk times, with the wealth of pottery and glass found here indicating a strong economy.[7] An undated column-base, with a Nine men's morris pattern incised has also been found here.[7]

Ottoman era edit

Al-Masmiyya al-Kabira did not appear in records from the 16th century.[8]

Al-Masmiyya was mentioned by the Syrian Sufi teacher and traveller Mustafa al-Bakri al-Siddiqi (1688-1748/9) in the first half of the eighteenth century,[9] and in the 1780s, the French traveller Volney noted that the village produced a great deal of spun-cotton.[10]

According to one account, Al-Masmiyya al-Kabira is said to have been established by migrants from the Hauran in the 18th or early 19th century, originating from a location called Mesmiyeh (near Azra'a).[8]

In 1838, el-Mesmiyeh was noted as a Muslim village in the Gaza district.[11][12]

In 1863, the French explorer Victor Guérin visited the village, which he found to have seven hundred inhabitants. Around the well were stones, some large, and apparently ancient. The village was surrounded by plantations of tobacco, watermelons and cucumbers.[13] An Ottoman village list of about 1870 showed that “El-Mesmije” had 243 houses and a population of 656, though the population count included only men.[14][15]

The adjectival al-Kabira ("major") was later added to Masmiyya's name to distinguish it from the nearby al-Masmiyya al-Saghira, established in the mid-19th century. In the late 19th century, al-Masmiyya al-Kabira was laid out in a trapezoid-like pattern, with the long base of the trapezoid facing west. The village was surrounded by gardens and its houses were constructed of adobe bricks or concrete. The most recent expansion of it was westward and southwestward.[16]

British Mandate era edit

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Mesmiyet Kabira had a population of 1390 Muslims,[17] increasing in the 1931 census when Masmiya al Kabira had a population of 1756 Muslims and 4 Christians, in a total of 354 houses.[18]

The village contained two mosques and two schools. The boys' school was built in 1922 and had an enrollment of 307 students in 1947, while the girls' school was built in 1944 and had 39 students 1947. Al-Masmiyya al-Kabira was one of the few localities in the district to be governed by a village council. The town had a gas station and a clinic.[5]

In the 1945 statistics, Al-Masmiyya al-Kabira had 2,520 inhabitants; 2,510 Muslims and 10 Christians,[2] with a total of 20,687 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.[3] Agriculture was the main economic activity of the village and the dominant crops were citrus and grains; in 1945, a total of 1,005 dunams were devoted to citrus, while 18,092 were allotted to grains,[19] while 135 dunams were built-up land.[20] Beside crop cultivation, residents raised livestock and poultry. Some also worked in the nearby British Army camp. Al-Masmiyya al-Kabira had a weekly market on Thursdays that attracted residents from neighboring communities.[5]

1948 War and aftermath edit

 
Masmiya junction in 2012

The village was fenced in by Hagana forces purportedly to protect the village against Deir Yassin like incidents.[21] Al-Masmiyya al-Kabira was captured by the Israeli forces of the Givati Brigade during Operation An-Far. The New York Times reported that it had been occupied on 11 July, blocking an Egyptian attempt to break through to Latrun from the direction of al-Majdal. However, the Haganah claim it was captured during "several clearing operations in the brigade's rear guard, to eliminate the threat and danger posed by the presence of Arab civilian concentrations to the rear of the front."[5]

Following the war the area was incorporated into the State of Israel and Morris reports that by 27 May 1949, 21 of the approx 400 former Palestinian Arab villages had been repopulated by newly arrived ‘olim, Al-Masmiyya al-Kabira along with Aqir, Zarnuqa, Yibna, Ijzim, Ein Hawd, Tarshiha, Safsaf, Tarbikha, Dayr Tarif and that six more including Deir Yassin were slated for colonization.[22] Two moshavim, Bnei Re'em and Hatzav, were established on al-Masmiyya al-Kabira's land in 1949, with Yinon also founded on the village's former land in 1952. In 1976, another new village, Ahva was established on the land.[5] A Palestinian Arab family was able to remain in the area and was used as Shabbat goy by the community of Bnei Re'em.[23]

According to Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi, in reference to the remains of al-Masmiyya al-Kabira in 1992:

The two schools and several village houses are extant. The girls' school is deserted, while the boys' school has been converted into an Israeli army installation. Some of the houses are inhabited, but others have been turned into warehouses. One house serves as a shop where juice is sold. All are made of concrete with simple architectural features—flat roofs and rectangular doors and windows. A date palm tree grows in the yard of a house that belonged to a Palestinian named Tawfiq al-Rabi. An Israeli gas station is located on the same spot where the village's gas station (once the property of Hasan Abd al-Aziz and Nimr Muhanna) once stood. The lands in the vicinity are cultivated by Israeli farmers.[24]

References edit

  1. ^ Palmer, 1881, p. 272
  2. ^ a b Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 32
  3. ^ a b c Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 46
  4. ^ Morris, 2004, p. xvii village #273, also gives depopulation method
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Khalidi, 1992, p.125.
  6. ^ Khalidi, 1992, p.124
  7. ^ a b c d Mamalya, 2021, El-Masmiyya el-Kabira
  8. ^ a b Grossman, D. (1986). "Oscillations in the Rural Settlement of Samaria and Judaea in the Ottoman Period". in Shomron studies. Dar, S., Safrai, S., (eds). Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House. p. 381
  9. ^ Al-Rihla, cited in Khalidi, 1992, p.130
  10. ^ Volney, 1788, p. 336. Also cited in Khalidi, 1992, p. 125
  11. ^ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 118
  12. ^ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 2, p. 364
  13. ^ Guérin, 1869, p. 88
  14. ^ Socin, 1879, p. 157
  15. ^ Hartmann, 1883, p. 133, also noted 243 houses
  16. ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p.411. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p.125
  17. ^ Barron, 1923, Table V, Sub-district of Gaza, p. 8
  18. ^ Mills, 1932, p. 5
  19. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 87
  20. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 137
  21. ^ WRMEA The Story of Al-Masmiyya Al-Kabira as I Know It By Maha Mehanna, Rimal, Gaza
  22. ^ Morris, 2004, p. 395
  23. ^ Nurit Peled-Elhanan, in Dolón and Todolí, 2008, p. 102
  24. ^ Khalidi, 1992, pp.125-126.

Bibliography edit

  • Barron, J.B., ed. (1923). Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922. Government of Palestine.
  • Conder, C.R.; Kitchener, H.H. (1882). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology. Vol. 2. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
  • Dolón, Rosana; Todolí, Júlia (2008). Analysing Identities in Discourse. John Benjamins Publishing. ISBN 978-90-272-2719-5.
  • Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics (1945). Village Statistics, April, 1945.
  • Guérin, V. (1869). Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine (in French). Vol. 1: Judee, pt. 2. Paris: L'Imprimerie Nationale.
  • Hadawi, S. (1970). . Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center. Archived from the original on 2018-12-08. Retrieved 2009-10-04.
  • Hartmann, M. (1883). "Die Ortschaftenliste des Liwa Jerusalem in dem türkischen Staatskalender für Syrien auf das Jahr 1288 der Flucht (1871)". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 6: 102–149.
  • Khalidi, W. (1992). All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948. Washington D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies. ISBN 0-88728-224-5.
  • Mamalya, Haim (2021-08-01). "El-Masmiyya el-Kabira" (133). Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  • Mills, E., ed. (1932). Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas. Jerusalem: Government of Palestine.
  • Morris, B. (2004). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-00967-6.
  • Palmer, E.H. (1881). The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
  • Robinson, E.; Smith, E. (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838. Vol. 2. Boston: Crocker & Brewster.
  • Robinson, E.; Smith, E. (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838. Vol. 3. Boston: Crocker & Brewster.
  • Socin, A. (1879). "Alphabetisches Verzeichniss von Ortschaften des Paschalik Jerusalem". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 2: 135–163.
  • Volney, C.-F. (1788). Travels Through Syria and Egypt, in the Years 1783, 1784, and 1785: containing the Present Natural and Political State of Those Countries, Their Productions, Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce : with Observations on the Manners, Customs, and Government of the Turks and Arabs : Illustrated. Vol. 2. Printed for G.G.J. and J . Robinson ...

External links edit

January 01, 1970
masmiyya, kabira, this, article, about, depopulated, village, historic, palestine, ancient, village, southern, syria, masmiyah, arabic, المسمية, الكبيرة, palestinian, village, gaza, subdistrict, located, kilometers, northeast, gaza, with, land, area, dunams, v. This article is about the depopulated village in historic Palestine For the ancient village in southern Syria see al Masmiyah Al Masmiyya al Kabira Arabic المسمية الكبيرة was a Palestinian village in the Gaza Subdistrict located 41 kilometers 25 mi northeast of Gaza 6 With a land area of 20 687 dunams the village site 135 dunams was situated on an elevation of 75 meters 246 ft along the coastal plain It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab Israeli War Before the war it had a population of 2 520 in 1945 5 al Masmiyya al Kabira المسمية الكبيرةal MasmiyyaMasmiya al Kabira 1947Etymology from to be lofty 1 1870s map 1940s map modern map 1940s with modern overlay mapA series of historical maps of the area around Al Masmiyya al Kabira click the buttons al Masmiyya al KabiraLocation within Mandatory PalestineCoordinates 31 45 27 N 34 47 05 E 31 75750 N 34 78472 E 31 75750 34 78472Palestine grid129 129Geopolitical entityMandatory PalestineSubdistrictGazaDate of depopulationJuly 8 1948 4 Area 3 Total20 687 dunams 20 687 km2 or 7 987 sq mi Population 1945 Total2 520 2 3 Cause s of depopulationMilitary assault by Yishuv forcesCurrent LocalitiesBnei Re em 5 Hatzav 5 Yinon 5 Ahva 5 Contents 1 History 1 1 Ottoman era 1 2 British Mandate era 1 3 1948 War and aftermath 2 References 3 Bibliography 4 External linksHistory editRemains from the Roman and Byzantine eras have been found here including a coin made under Emperor Mauritius Tiberius 596 597 CE 7 Remains including pottery and glass were found from the Umayyad and Abbasid periods with local glass industry operation here in the Abbasid era 7 The settlement continued during Ayyubid and Mamluk times with the wealth of pottery and glass found here indicating a strong economy 7 An undated column base with a Nine men s morris pattern incised has also been found here 7 Ottoman era edit Al Masmiyya al Kabira did not appear in records from the 16th century 8 Al Masmiyya was mentioned by the Syrian Sufi teacher and traveller Mustafa al Bakri al Siddiqi 1688 1748 9 in the first half of the eighteenth century 9 and in the 1780s the French traveller Volney noted that the village produced a great deal of spun cotton 10 According to one account Al Masmiyya al Kabira is said to have been established by migrants from the Hauran in the 18th or early 19th century originating from a location called Mesmiyeh near Azra a 8 In 1838 el Mesmiyeh was noted as a Muslim village in the Gaza district 11 12 In 1863 the French explorer Victor Guerin visited the village which he found to have seven hundred inhabitants Around the well were stones some large and apparently ancient The village was surrounded by plantations of tobacco watermelons and cucumbers 13 An Ottoman village list of about 1870 showed that El Mesmije had 243 houses and a population of 656 though the population count included only men 14 15 The adjectival al Kabira major was later added to Masmiyya s name to distinguish it from the nearby al Masmiyya al Saghira established in the mid 19th century In the late 19th century al Masmiyya al Kabira was laid out in a trapezoid like pattern with the long base of the trapezoid facing west The village was surrounded by gardens and its houses were constructed of adobe bricks or concrete The most recent expansion of it was westward and southwestward 16 British Mandate era edit In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities Mesmiyet Kabira had a population of 1390 Muslims 17 increasing in the 1931 census when Masmiya al Kabira had a population of 1756 Muslims and 4 Christians in a total of 354 houses 18 The village contained two mosques and two schools The boys school was built in 1922 and had an enrollment of 307 students in 1947 while the girls school was built in 1944 and had 39 students 1947 Al Masmiyya al Kabira was one of the few localities in the district to be governed by a village council The town had a gas station and a clinic 5 In the 1945 statistics Al Masmiyya al Kabira had 2 520 inhabitants 2 510 Muslims and 10 Christians 2 with a total of 20 687 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey 3 Agriculture was the main economic activity of the village and the dominant crops were citrus and grains in 1945 a total of 1 005 dunams were devoted to citrus while 18 092 were allotted to grains 19 while 135 dunams were built up land 20 Beside crop cultivation residents raised livestock and poultry Some also worked in the nearby British Army camp Al Masmiyya al Kabira had a weekly market on Thursdays that attracted residents from neighboring communities 5 1948 War and aftermath edit nbsp Masmiya junction in 2012 The village was fenced in by Hagana forces purportedly to protect the village against Deir Yassin like incidents 21 Al Masmiyya al Kabira was captured by the Israeli forces of the Givati Brigade during Operation An Far The New York Times reported that it had been occupied on 11 July blocking an Egyptian attempt to break through to Latrun from the direction of al Majdal However the Haganah claim it was captured during several clearing operations in the brigade s rear guard to eliminate the threat and danger posed by the presence of Arab civilian concentrations to the rear of the front 5 Following the war the area was incorporated into the State of Israel and Morris reports that by 27 May 1949 21 of the approx 400 former Palestinian Arab villages had been repopulated by newly arrived olim Al Masmiyya al Kabira along with Aqir Zarnuqa Yibna Ijzim Ein Hawd Tarshiha Safsaf Tarbikha Dayr Tarif and that six more including Deir Yassin were slated for colonization 22 Two moshavim Bnei Re em and Hatzav were established on al Masmiyya al Kabira s land in 1949 with Yinon also founded on the village s former land in 1952 In 1976 another new village Ahva was established on the land 5 A Palestinian Arab family was able to remain in the area and was used as Shabbat goy by the community of Bnei Re em 23 According to Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi in reference to the remains of al Masmiyya al Kabira in 1992 The two schools and several village houses are extant The girls school is deserted while the boys school has been converted into an Israeli army installation Some of the houses are inhabited but others have been turned into warehouses One house serves as a shop where juice is sold All are made of concrete with simple architectural features flat roofs and rectangular doors and windows A date palm tree grows in the yard of a house that belonged to a Palestinian named Tawfiq al Rabi An Israeli gas station is located on the same spot where the village s gas station once the property of Hasan Abd al Aziz and Nimr Muhanna once stood The lands in the vicinity are cultivated by Israeli farmers 24 References edit Palmer 1881 p 272 a b Government of Palestine Department of Statistics 1945 p 32 a b c Government of Palestine Department of Statistics Village Statistics April 1945 Quoted in Hadawi 1970 p 46 Morris 2004 p xvii village 273 also gives depopulation method a b c d e f g h i Khalidi 1992 p 125 Khalidi 1992 p 124 a b c d Mamalya 2021 El Masmiyya el Kabira a b Grossman D 1986 Oscillations in the Rural Settlement of Samaria and Judaea in the Ottoman Period in Shomron studies Dar S Safrai S eds Tel Aviv Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House p 381 Al Rihla cited in Khalidi 1992 p 130 Volney 1788 p 336 Also cited in Khalidi 1992 p 125 Robinson and Smith 1841 vol 3 Appendix 2 p 118 Robinson and Smith 1841 vol 2 p 364 Guerin 1869 p 88 Socin 1879 p 157 Hartmann 1883 p 133 also noted 243 houses Conder and Kitchener 1882 SWP II p 411 Quoted in Khalidi 1992 p 125 Barron 1923 Table V Sub district of Gaza p 8 Mills 1932 p 5 Government of Palestine Department of Statistics Village Statistics April 1945 Quoted in Hadawi 1970 p 87 Government of Palestine Department of Statistics Village Statistics April 1945 Quoted in Hadawi 1970 p 137 WRMEA The Story of Al Masmiyya Al Kabira as I Know It By Maha Mehanna Rimal Gaza Morris 2004 p 395 Nurit Peled Elhanan in Dolon and Todoli 2008 p 102 Khalidi 1992 pp 125 126 Bibliography editBarron J B ed 1923 Palestine Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922 Government of Palestine Conder C R Kitchener H H 1882 The Survey of Western Palestine Memoirs of the Topography Orography Hydrography and Archaeology Vol 2 London Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund Dolon Rosana Todoli Julia 2008 Analysing Identities in Discourse John Benjamins Publishing ISBN 978 90 272 2719 5 Government of Palestine Department of Statistics 1945 Village Statistics April 1945 Guerin V 1869 Description Geographique Historique et Archeologique de la Palestine in French Vol 1 Judee pt 2 Paris L Imprimerie Nationale Hadawi S 1970 Village Statistics of 1945 A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center Archived from the original on 2018 12 08 Retrieved 2009 10 04 Hartmann M 1883 Die Ortschaftenliste des Liwa Jerusalem in dem turkischen Staatskalender fur Syrien auf das Jahr 1288 der Flucht 1871 Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palastina Vereins 6 102 149 Khalidi W 1992 All That Remains The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948 Washington D C Institute for Palestine Studies ISBN 0 88728 224 5 Mamalya Haim 2021 08 01 El Masmiyya el Kabira 133 Hadashot Arkheologiyot Excavations and Surveys in Israel a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a Cite journal requires journal help Mills E ed 1932 Census of Palestine 1931 Population of Villages Towns and Administrative Areas Jerusalem Government of Palestine Morris B 2004 The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 0 521 00967 6 Palmer E H 1881 The Survey of Western Palestine Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener R E Transliterated and Explained by E H Palmer Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund Robinson E Smith E 1841 Biblical Researches in Palestine Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea A Journal of Travels in the year 1838 Vol 2 Boston Crocker amp Brewster Robinson E Smith E 1841 Biblical Researches in Palestine Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea A Journal of Travels in the year 1838 Vol 3 Boston Crocker amp Brewster Socin A 1879 Alphabetisches Verzeichniss von Ortschaften des Paschalik Jerusalem Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palastina Vereins 2 135 163 Volney C F 1788 Travels Through Syria and Egypt in the Years 1783 1784 and 1785 containing the Present Natural and Political State of Those Countries Their Productions Arts Manufactures and Commerce with Observations on the Manners Customs and Government of the Turks and Arabs Illustrated Vol 2 Printed for G G J and J Robinson External links editWelcome To al Masmiyya al Kabira al Masmiyya al Kabira Zochrot Survey of Western Palestine Map 16 IAA Wikimedia commons al Masmiyya al Kabira from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Al Masmiyya al Kabira amp oldid 1201850193, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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