Bayt Mahsir
| Bayt Mahsir | |
|---|---|
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Panorama from west, 2008 | |
  Bayt Mahsir | |
| Arabic | بيت محسير |
| Subdistrict | Jerusalem |
| Coordinates | 31°47′39.70″N 35°02′04.75″E / 31.7943611°N 35.0346528°ECoordinates: 31°47′39.70″N 35°02′04.75″E / 31.7943611°N 35.0346528°E |
| Palestine grid | 153/133 |
| Population | 2400 (1945) |
| Area | 16,268 dunams |
| 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 (Arabic: بيت محسير) was a Palestinian Arab village in the Jerusalem Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on May 10, 1948 by the Harel 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.
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."
Geography
Bayt Mahsir was known for its lush forested mountains and palm trees scattered about.
References
Bibliography
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Beth Meir. |
- Barron, J. B., ed. (1923). Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922. Government of Palestine.
- Clermont-Ganneau, Charles Simon (1896). [ARP] Archaeological Researches in Palestine 1873-1874, translated from the French by J. McFarlane 2. London: Palestine Exploration Fund. (p. 63)
- Conder, Claude Reignier; Kitchener, H. H. (1883). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology 3. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. p. 16.
- Hadawi, Sami (1970). Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine. Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center.
- Khalidi, Walid (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.
- Mills, E., ed. (1932). Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas. Jerusalem: Government of Palestine.
- Morris, Benny (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.
- Petersen, Andrew (2001): A Gazetteer of Buildings in Muslim Palestine: Volume I (British Academy Monographs in Archaeology) p. 124
- Pringle, Denys (1997). Secular buildings in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: an archaeological Gazetter. Cambridge University Press. (p. 28)
- al-Qawuqji, Fauzi (1972): Memoirs of al-Qawuqji, Fauzi in Journal of Palestine Studies
- "Memoirs, 1948, Part I" in 1, no. 4 (Sum. 72): 27-58., dpf-file, downloadable
- "Memoirs, 1948, Part II" in 2, no. 1 (Aut. 72): 3-33., dpf-file, downloadable
- Socin, A. (1879). "Alphabetisches Verzeichniss von Ortschaften des Paschalik Jerusalem". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins 2: 135–163. "Bet Mahsir": p. 146
External links
- Welcome To Bayt Mahsir
- SWP map 17, IAA
- SWP map 17, Wikimedia commons
- Bayt Mahsir, from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
