Welcome To Dayr Sunayd - دير سنيد (דיר סניד)

District of Gaza Ethnically cleansed days ago	العربية Google Earth
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Statistic & Fact

Value

Occupation Date

October 30, 1948

Distance From District

12 (km) North East of Gaza

Elevation

50 (meters)

Before & After Nakba, Click Map For Details

Pre-Nakba Map showing before and after destruction

Pre-Nakba Aerial View

Map Location

See location #38 on the map

View from satellite

Military Operation

Operation Yo'av

Attacking Units

Giv'ati Brigade

Defenders

Egyptian Army

Exodus Cause

Military assault by Zionist troops

Village Temains

The village was mostly destroyed with the exception of the train station's buildings.

Ethnically Cleansing

Dayr Sunayd inhabitants were completely ethnically cleansed.

Pre-Nakba
Land Ownership

Ethnic Group	Land Ownership (Dunums)*
Arab	5,089
Jewish	483
Public	509
**Total	6,081

**Town Lands' Demarcation Maps

Land Usage
As of 1945

Land Usage	Arab (Dunum)*	Jewish (Dunum)*
Citrus Groves	158	0
Irrigated & Plantation	512	0
Planted W/ Cereal	4,380	483
Built up	13	0
Arable	5,050	483
Non-Arable	535	0

Population

Year	Population*
1596	66
1922	356
1931	475
1945	730
1948	847
Est. Refugees 1998	5,200

*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics

Number of Houses

Year	Number of Houses
1931	103
1948	183

Near By Towns

Hiribya ↖	Hiribya ↑ (N)	Bayt Jirja ↗
Mediterranean ←	Dayr Sunayd	→ Simsim
↙ Bayt Lahiya	↓ Bayt Hanun	↘ Dimra

Schools

Dayr Sunayd had one school which was founded in 1945, and when it opened its doors it had an initial enrollment of 63 students.

Exculsive Jewish Colonies
Who Usurped Village Lands

No settlements on village lands.

Village Before Nakba

The village was situated on the coastal plain, not far from the seashore, between Wadi al-Abd (to the north) and Wadi al-Hasi (to the south). Because it was located next to the coastal highway and had a station on the coastal railway line, Dayr Sunayd had easy access to Gaza in the south and the city of al-Majdal in the north. The first part of the village name, 'Dayr' (monastery in Arabic), suggests that a Christian monastic order, if not a Christian lay population, resided there at some time. 'Sunayd' was the name of an Arab tribe. In 1596, Dayr Sunayd was a village in the nahiya of Gaza (liwa' of Gaza), with a population of sixty-six. It paid taxes on a number of crops, including wheat, barely, and fruit, as well as on other types of produce, such as goats and beehives.

In the late nineteenth century, Dayr Sunayd was a moderate-sized village that was rectangular in shape, split into four quadrants by two roads that crossed at right angles. The village had adobe brick houses, wells, gardens, and a pond, and at its center was a mosque. By the end of the Mandate, construction had expanded west toward the coastal highway. A school was opened in 1945 with an enrollment of sixty-three students, and a number of small shops were opened there as well. Agriculture was the mainstay of Dayr Sunayd's economy. Grain fields were concentrated on the south side of the village, while fruits and vegetables were planted to the northeast and northwest. In 1944/45 a total of 158 dunums was devoted to citrus and bananas and 4,361 dunums were planted in cereals; 512 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards. Eight wells were drilled at depths ranging from 14 to 30 m. Apart from agriculture, commerce was a source of income for some of the inhabitants.

Village Occupation and Ethnic Cleaning

The date on which Dayr Sunayd was occupied cannot be specified with certainty, but the village was probably captured by Israeli forces in late October or early November 1948. Dayr Sunayd had come under aerial bombardment at the beginning of Operation Yoav on 15–16 October, according to Israeli historian Benny Morris. The New York Times reported that it was 'pummeled' again on 21 October. During the final stages of that operation at the end of October, the Israeli army advanced along the coastal road after the withdrawal of Egyptian forces and occupied al-Majdal, the city to the north of Dayr Sunayd, on 4 November.

The village had also witnessed fighting in the early stages of the war, as Egyptian and Jewish forces battled for control of the village and the nearby settlement of Yad Mordekhay shortly after 15 May 1948. The late Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser, who was a junior officer at the time, reported that he spent the night of 19 May in Gaza Military Hospital, where 'the beds around me were filled with our wounded from the battle of Deir Suneid, which was still in progress.' Abd al-Nasir was critical of the Egyptian command's strategy at Dayr Sunayd, but the battle ended in an Egyptian victory 'after heavy sacrifices and in spite of all the difficulties which our forces encountered. Abd al-Hakim Amir, a colleague of Abd al-Nasir's who later became commander of the Egyptian Armed Forces, participated in the battle of Dayr Sunayd with the Ninth Battalion of the Egyptian Army. The New York Times quoted the Egyptian Defense Ministry as saying that there was a 'Jewish fortified settlement' near the village, which Egyptian forces entered on 20 May 1948, after an aerial, artillery, and infantry attack.

Zionists Colonies on Village Lands

There are no Israeli settlements on village lands. The settlement of Yad Mordekhay was established in 1943 just to the north of village lands.

Village Today

A railroad bridge, unused segments of track, and three of the train station's buildings are all that remain of Dayr Sunayd. The stone bridge is built astride a wadi and passes over four wide, round-arched culverts. The station's buildings are deserted and in a state of deterioration. Cactuses, eucalyptus trees, and thorny plants grow on the site. The surrounding lands are cultivated.

Source

Dr. Walid al-Khalidi, 1992: All That Remains.

Want to browse more? 80,000 pictures were grouped in these gallaries:

Display Name	Clan/Hamolah	Country of Residence
Aisha Abdelhadi Masoud	Masoud	CA, USA
Faten Nemr Masoud	Masoud	CA, USA
Nemr Masoud	Masoud	OH, USA
لؤي محمد عبدالعزيز مسعود	مسعود	الدوحة - قطر
فهد خليل عيسى صبح	صبح	قطاع غزة, دير سنيد
مصطفى أبو القمصان	-	-
باسل علي	علي	-
ahmed hussain	حسين	gaza, palestine
ايمن محمود محمد حجازي	حجازي	غزة, فلسطين
ابراهيم محمود محمد حجازي	حجازي	gaza, جباليا
توفيق حجازي	حجازي	فلسطين, غزه
عبد الجليل محمود محمد مسعود	مسعود	الدوحة, دولة قطر
د يوسف محمود محمد حجازى	حجازى	mecca, السعودية
TAREK	HEJAZI	riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Marwan Hejazi	Hejazi and Abou El Qumsan	Australia
Teacher/Lecturer :- Majdi M.Masoud.	مســـعود	Uppland, ممـلكة الســويد _ أبـســـالا -Sweden
abudeaa	hossen	-
Ibrahim Omar Masoud	-	CA, USA
Wael Masoud	Masoud	California, USA
loai	Hijazi	Gaza, Palestine
khalid subeh	a	00972, 00972598400006
هادي صبح	صبح	غزة
ابن دير سنيد	عليان	عمان, الاردن
كريم صبح	-	-
لؤي حجازي	00970599349413	غزة, فلسطين
سائد	صبح	-
emad yousef mahmoud hijazi	-	aden, YEMEN

All Registered Members

Tracing all that remains of Dayr Sunayd since Nakba Duration: 4 min 5 sec
برنامج اهل البلد يقابل ام عاطف الحجازي Duration: 31 min 30 sec

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