Al-Masmiyya al-Saghira ( ar, المسمية الصغيرة), also known as Mamsiyyat al-Hurani, was a Palestinian Arab village in the Gaza Subdistrict, located northeast of Gaza. Established in the 19th century, it was situated at an elevation of in the southern coastal plain of

Ottoman Syria Ottoman Syria ( ar, سوريا العثمانية) refers to divisions of the Ottoman Empire within the region of Syria, usually defined as being east of the Mediterranean Sea, west of the Euphrates River, north of the Arabian Desert and south ...

. Al-Masmiyya al-Saghira was depopulated during the

1948 Arab-Israeli War Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

, but prior to that, in 1945, it had a population of 530 inhabitants.

History

Al-Masmiyya al-Saghira was established in the second half of the 19th century by al-Hurani clan who had lived in the adjacent

al-Masmiyya al-Kabira Al-Masmiyya al-Kabira ( ar, المسمية الكبيرة) was a Palestinian people, Palestinian village in the Gaza Subdistrict, Mandatory Palestine, Gaza Subdistrict, located northeast of Gaza City, Gaza. With a land area of 20,687 dunams, the ...

, but left because of feuds with other residents. Thus, the village was also known as "Masmiyyat al-Hurani". The adjectival ''Saghira'' means "minor" in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

and was used to differentiate it from al-Mamsiyya ''al-Kabira'', the latter word meaning "major".

British Mandate era

In the

1922 census of Palestine The 1922 census of Palestine was the first census carried out by the authorities of the British Mandate of Palestine, on 23 October 1922. The reported population was 757,182, including the military and persons of foreign nationality. The divisi ...

conducted by the British Mandate authorities, ''Mesmiyet Saghira'' had a population of 261 inhabitants, all

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

s,Barron, 1923, Table V, Sub-district of Gaza, p
8
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census when ''Masmiya El Saghira'' had an all-Muslim population of 354 in 73 houses.Mills, 1932, p
5
/ref> In the 1945 statistics the population of ''El Masmiya es Sagira'' was 530 Muslims, while the total land area was 6,478

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; tr, dönüm; he, דונם), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area equivalent to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amount ...

s, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, a total of 147 dunams were used for citrus and bananas, 7 for plantations and irrigable land, 6,126 for cereals, while 18 dunams were built-up areas.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
137
/ref> Seven small shops provided the village with its basic needs and children attended school in al-Masmiyya al-Kabira. Agriculture was the mainstay of the economy, grain being the dominant crop. In addition to cultivation, the inhabitants raised livestock which numbered approximately 4,000 animals, including sheep, goats, cattle, camels, mules. Farmers participated in the weekly market of

al-Faluja al-Faluja ( ar, الفالوجة) was a Palestinian Arab village in the British Mandate for Palestine, located 30 kilometers northeast of Gaza City. The village and the neighbouring village of Iraq al-Manshiyya formed part of the Faluja pocket, w ...

, and also sold their products in the cities of Gaza, al-Majdal (Ashkelon), and

Jaffa Jaffa, in Hebrew Yafo ( he, יָפוֹ, ) and in Arabic Yafa ( ar, يَافَا) and also called Japho or Joppa, the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, is an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is known for its association with the b ...

1948 and aftermath

The circumstances of al-Masmiyya al-Saghira's capture by

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

was identical to those of its sister village, al-Masmiyya al-Kabira which was occupied by the

Givati Brigade The 84th "Givati" Brigade ( he, חֲטִיבַת גִּבְעָתִי, , "Hill Brigade" or "Highland Brigade") is an Israel Defense Forces infantry brigade. Until 2005, the Brigade used to be stationed within the Gaza Strip and primarily perf ...

on July 8–9, 1948. Israeli historian

Benny Morris Benny Morris ( he, בני מוריס; born 8 December 1948) is an Israeli historian. He was a professor of history in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Beersheba, Israel. He is a member of t ...

writes that the military operation was undertaken occurred in the ten days between the first two truces of the

and that it "precipitated the evacuation of the village". Following the war the area was incorporated into the

State of Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and the

moshav A moshav ( he, מוֹשָׁב, plural ', lit. ''settlement, village'') is a type of Israeli town or settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 an ...

Kfar HaRif Kfar HaRif ( he, כְּפַר הָרִי"ף, lit. ''Village of Isaac Alfasi, the Rif'') is a moshav in southern Israel. Located on the border of the Shephelah and the Israeli coastal plain around 2 kilometres northeast of Kiryat Malakhi, it is the ...

was established on al-Masmiyya al-Saghira's lands in 1956. According to Walid Khalidi: "Virtually no trace of the village remains, and the site is overgrown with weeds, tall grasses, and a scattering of eucalyptus trees".

References

Bibliography

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External links