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Welcome To Simsim - سمسم (סומסום)

District of Gaza
Ethnically cleansed days ago
العربية

Google Earth
Picture for Simsim Village - Palestine: : Remains, main hill (closer look).
 Gallery (55)
Statistic & Fact Value
Occupation Date May 13, 1948
Distance From District 15 (km) North East of Gaza
Elevation 50 (meters)
Before & After Nakba, Click Map For Detailswhat's new
Pre-Nakba Map showing before and after destruction
Pre-Nakba Aerial Viewwhat's new
Pre-Nakba Aerial View
Map Location See location #39 on the map

View from satellite
Military Operation Operation Barak
Attacking Units Negev Brigade
Acts of Terror Massacre occured by Zionist troops against the town's inhabitants.
Exodus Cause Expulsion by Zionist troops
Village Temains The village has been completely obliterated.
Ethnically Cleansing Simsim inhabitants were completely ethnically cleansed.
Pre-Nakba
Land Ownership
Ethnic Group Land Ownership (Dunums)*
Arab 12,671
Jewish 3,386
Public 740
**Total 16,797
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
**Town Lands' Demarcation Maps
Land Usage
As of 1945
Land Usage Arab (Dunum)* Jewish (Dunum)*
Citrus Groves 240 0
Irrigated & Plantation 250 2
Planted W/ Cereal 12,207 3,375
Built up 44 0
Arable 12,697 3,377
Non-Arable 670 9
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
Population
Year Population*
1596 110
1922 760
1931 855
1945 1,360 (70 Jewish)
1948 1,496 (70 Jewish)
Est. Refugees 1998 9,190
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
Number of Houses
Year Number of Houses
1931 195
1948 341
Near By Townswhat's new
Bayt Jirja
          ↖
Hulayqat
↗        
Dayr Sunayd  ←
Simsim
→   Burayr
            ↙
Dimra
↓
Najd
↘           
Beersheba Bedouins
Town's Name Through History The Crusaders referred to village by Semsem.
Schools Simsim had anb elementary school founded in 1934, and in 1945 it had an enrollment of 45 students. In 1947, Simsim shared its school with the nearby village of Najd.
Archeological Sites The village had archaeological site known by al-Ras and Sha'fat al-Mughur (which contained a Roman cemetery).
Exculsive Jewish Colonies
Who Usurped Village Lands		 Gevar'am and Or ha-Ner
Featured Video

Village Before Nakba

The village stood on flat ground on the coastal plain and was surrounded by hills; Wadi Simsim ran along its southern perimeter. It lay between the coastal highway and a parallel highway that ran from Gaza to Julis. Secondary roads connected Simsim to these highways and to a number of neighboring villages. The village was known as Semsem to the Crusaders. In 1596 Simsim was a village in the nahiya of Gaza (liwa' of Gaza), with a population of 110. It paid taxes on wheat, barley, fruit trees, goats, and beehives. In the late nineteenth century, the village of Simsim was surrounded by gardens. It had a well, a pool, and an olive grove that was planted to the north. Simsim was the hometown of al-Shaykh Sulayman Abd al-Qadir (Abu Ali), one of the leaders of the 1936 revolt against British occupation. It had an overall circular layout, with straight, narrow streets emanating from the center and intersecting with semi-circular ones. Simsim was divided into separate quarters—the largest of which was the northern quarter—by the roads that linked it to the other villages. These roads were also the axes along which it expanded. At the intersection of these axes (the village center) was a mosque. The center also contained a school, founded in 1934 and shared in 1947 with the village of Najd. In the mid-1940s the number of students reached 150. Its population was Muslim, and the village houses were built of adobe brick.

Agriculture was the main source of income. Toward the end of the Mandate, the village community cultivated grain, vegetables, and fruits, including 240 dunums of citrus. Agriculture was both rainfed and irrigated from deep (35 to 40 m) wells. Simsim was ringed by fruit trees and gardens, but most of its fruit trees were concentrated in the southwestern lands, which received the flood water from the wadis. In 1944/45 a total of 240 dunums was devoted to citrus and bananas and 12,086 dunums were allocated to cereals; 250 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards. The village included an archaeological mound known as al-Ras and was surrounded by three other archaeological sites, among them a Roman cemetery (known in modern times as Sha'fat al-Mughur) with rock-cut tombs.

Village Occupation and Ethnic Cleaning

In one of its northward thrusts, just before 15 May 1948, the Palmach's Negev Brigade captured the village and expelled its inhabitants. This was effected in the wake of the occupation of Burayr on 12–13 May, according to Israeli historian Benny Morris. Another source contradicts this account, however. The New York Times mentions that Simsim was occupied two months later, during the Ten Days between the two truces, shortly before 11 July. But the report is suspect because it states that Simsim was occupied along with a cluster of villages well to the north, along the al-Majdal-al-Latrun road. It seems unlikely that these widely-separated villages would have been seized at the same time.

Zionists Colonies on Village Lands

The settlement of Gevar'am was established in 1942 on lands that traditionally belonged to the village. The settlement of Or ha-Ner was built in 1957 less than 1 km south of the village site, on the lands of Najd.

Village Today

The village has been obliterated and can only be recognized from the cypress and sycamore trees that still remain. A pile of stones that may be the debris of a village building is visible. The site is fenced in and serves as a pasture. The lands in the vicinity are cultivated by Israeli farmers.

Source

Dr. Walid al-Khalidi, 1992: All That Remains.
Related Maps Town Lands' Demarcation Maps
خرائط للقضاء توضح حدود القرى والاودية
Town's map on MapQuest
View from satellite
Help us map this town at WikiMapia
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Bibliography and References

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

Display Name Clan/Hamolah Country of Residence
إيمي عابد عابد المملكة العربية السعودية, المملكة العربية السعودية
سلوى عابد عابد الرياض, السعودية
الشيخ - Dammam, Saudi Arabia
ابو وطن عبد النبي -
Dalia Awad Awad Hael, Saudi Arabia
عبدالله عبدالنبي عبدالنبي الرياض, السعوديه
راتب الحمدني فرج الله الرياض, السعودية
عبدالله غنام غنام الرياض, السعودية
حسام غنام غنام الرياض, السعودية
ابو زيـــــد الكتري Jaddah, سمسم
د. أحمد سامي الكتري حمد-الكتري الرياض, السعوديه
ABU MOHAMMED عواد ابوظبي
عصام محمد عابد - السعودية, السعودية
وسيم عابد - -
ابو قتادة عبد النبي غزة, مخيم جباليا
إياد فرج الله فرج الله -
لؤي فرج الله فرج الله -
صلاح الدين الكتري - -
أبو أحمد othman gaza
tamer-awwad عواد -
حسام عثمان فرج الله -
ايمن عواد - -
محمد فرج الله - -
علاء الدين زكي حسن عواد -
وائل صالح - الرياض, السعوديه
ناهض عثمان عثمان -
أبو حسين 00962786139859 مخيم حطين, الأردن
عماد الشيخ - -
إبراهيم عزيز - غزة
محمد عثمان - -
محمد صالح فرج الله -
ahmad othman amman, jordan
لؤي كباجه دار العقد - -
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