| Bayt Mahsir | ||
|
||
|
Bayt Mahsir
|
||
| Arabic | ||
| District | Jerusalem | |
| Coordinates | ||
| Population | 2400 (1945) | |
| Area | 16,268 dunums | |
| Date of depopulation | May 10–11, 1948[1] | |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault by Yishuv forces | |
| Current localities | Beyt Me'ir.[2][3], Mesillat Tziyyon[3] | |
Bayt Mahsir was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Jerusalem. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on May 10, 1948 by the Har'el Brigade of Operation Makkabi. It was located 9 km west of Jerusalem.
In 1945, the village had a population of 2,400. Bayt Mahsir had three schools; two schools for boys and an elementary school for girls. Bayt Mahsir contains a number of Khirbat including: al-Huwaytiyya, al-Masi, Khatula, and al-Sallam.
Town Today
According to the Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi, the village remaining structures on the village land are: "Several village houses have been spared, and are for the most part interspersed among the houses of the settlement of Beit Meir. Two large, rectangular-shaped, almost identical houses built of limestone rise above the Israeli settlement's cabin-like residences. The remains of a flour mill, a metal machine with flywheels fitted over a stone structure, can still be seen. There is a wild forest of old trees on the eastern edge of the village site, on top of the mountain. The tomb of al-' Ajami, together with other graves, are among the trees."