al-Masmiyya al-Kabira - المسمية الكبيرة: The Departure

By Mahmoud Zedan (Abou Adli) on November 1, 2002

I would like to state that I am neither a historian nor a politician. I am only a relater of what happened to me when I was eighteen years old. I was employed as a postal agent of Massmyia post-office and I had a bookshop as a part-time business. I married when I was twenty- five years old, since then I have dedicated myself to the good of my family. I worked in Kuwait for thirty years as an English teacher and Social Expert.
The life there was primitive, serene and simple, easily handled by most people. Friendly relationships prevailed among the people at that time. In happiness and sorrow the people acted collectively; they responded quickly as if they were one man. The blood relationships and common interest were the link of their unity.
The geography of the country is the coast on the west, where you can see orchards of oranges, lemon and grapefruit; where you can see landscape of agriculture. The other part is the mountains at the eastside of the coast, where you can see blossoms of fruit trees. The mountains overlook the sea. The region was divided into three provinces: south, north and the middle. Some of the main cities are Jaffa, Haifa, Gaza, Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem.
Palestine is very important in agriculture. It produces citrus, fruits, olive oil, cereals and all kinds of vegetables. The animal and agriculture products were the most abundant which sustain the people. Cows, horses and mules were used to plow the ground once, twice and three times. The farmers planted all kinds of corn, wheat, maize, and barely. They planted sesame, too. They grew a variety of vegetables: potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, cucumber, okra and zucchini.
Palestine was governed by the Ottoman Empire and mandated by the British government. It is a holy land and inhabited by Arabs, Jews and Christians. It is a place of descent for all the prophets and the destination of pilgrimages from all part of the world. Although the British government mandated Palestine, the tribal pattern of government was the actual domain system. There were of course, some dignitaries who represented the families and tribes to the people who held the reins of government. You could call this arbitration or consultation government.
Education was limited to elementary schools in villages, but extended to high schools in cities. There were no universities at that time. Rich families sent their sons to Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon, even to Europe, France and Britain.
Luckily, I grew in a tight co-operative family and in a community that shaped my personality and directed me to the best of my interest. The good weather, the Mediterranean climate similar to that in California or Florida, added another factor to build up a balanced and strong individual.
The Arabs, Jews and Christians lived in harmony in Palestine, but everyone had his own religion and ideology. The Jews established a state, a haven for the Jews all over the world. The result was that four million Palestinians dispersed all over the world. The Arabs didn't absorb them for a variety of reasons.
It was the first day of Ramadan, the fasting month, on 1948 at the sunset, when a delegation from the neighboring Jewish settlements reached the outskirts of Massmyia village, my village. Massmyia was a big central village, had a good location, and situated at the main important roads. It linked important cities such as Gaza in the south, Jaffa, Tel-Aviv in the north, and Jerusalem in the east. We had our breakfast, which was vegetable soup and stuffed chickens with rice. The breakfast is eaten at sunset in the month of Ramadan. A Jewish messenger came and handled a note ordering the village Mokhtars, Mayors of the village appointed by the British government, to meet the Jewish representatives at the outskirt of the village. There were three Mokhtars for our village: one for Mohanna family (Abdalla Mohanna), one for Yagi family (Abed El-Hadi Yagi), and one for the rest of small families. Khashan family represented them at that time (Abed El-Fatah Amer Khashan). There was also a very important personality and influential at the same time. He was approved and dignified by all the families of the village. He was a member in the High Committee of Reconciliation and Arbitration for the onslaught and murderer cases in all Palestine appointed by the British government (Ahmad Abed El-Aziz Mohanna). Mostly, he was the man who led the negotiation with the Jews, because he had good relations with them. In advance, the village personalities knew the purpose of that meeting because all the villages around Massmyia had departed. They came back after a while and the same man whom I described stood up in his Deewan or Harrah, where the people of the village gathered to discuss that difficult problem. He mentioned the conditions of the Jews. They wanted to surrender the weapons and give up some revolutionary personalities for the years 1936 and 1938. He even mentioned their names to the people. He encouraged them to stay and not to leave the country. He emphasized their safety and security. There were loud voices in every direction, but the crowd could not reach a decision concerning those demands. Hurly Burly prevailed at that moment. One person screamed loudly and said "It is a trick. It is only to surrender everything, then to be driven away. I am leaving". A lot of people followed him leaving the village carrying light bags, hoping to return the next day.
We were ready to move after arranging everything. We put our stuff in a big wagon pulled by a horse. We took all provisions needed. This included cooking stuffs, covers, vessels and some barely to feed the horse and the animals. I was single my brothers were married and had children. My big brother took the responsibilities of driving the wagon and I took the responsibilities of driving the cattle of the cows and calves. They were eight in number. It was not an easy job to drive the cattle through maize fields. The maize was so high that you couldn't see the cattle moving forward. The result was that I lost the cattle and became empty-handed. We passed a village called Ajour whose people scorned us even despised us because we left our village. They refused to supply us with water or anything. Their faces were stern and their attitude towards us was aggressive. There was a military base in our way for soldiers of Arab nationality who humiliated the migrants and usurped anything precious they could find. My niece was clever. She knew the soldiers would search the wagon and take whatever they find. She pretended to be afraid of them and screamed with fear. She was shaking as if she was insane. She did that to stop the soldiers from approaching the wagon. Sometimes, there was shooting between the soldiers and the migrants. Within few days that base and Ajour were occupied.
We reached Beet Gebreen the same day in the evening. We rented a house. We were extremely tired and exhausted that we couldn't go out the next day. Naturally, I had to make a journey around the village and go to the center of it and see the market. A big café shop and a restaurant drew my attention. It was crowded with people. They were drinking tea and coffee. You could see the nargiles from far away. The radio was loudly broadcasting news. I was very anxious to hear news every day, and that café was the best place for that purpose. One night I fell asleep in that café and woke up late, but I noticed that everybody went home. I walked staggering, absent-minded and entered a house by mistake, thinking that it was our home. Early in the morning, before the sunrise, I found myself among a black family; males, females and children. Luckily, I managed to leave the house quietly and quickly to avoid an unexpected dilemma. I entered the house and left it while they were sleeping. We remained in Beet Gebreen for two weeks then we went to Betola, a mountain village, in the West Bank of Palestine.

Sneaking to the occupied village
Eager and curious young people yearned to see what was going in that occupied village. The farmers used to keep wheat, maize, and barley in big holes under the ground to keep that from spoiling. Married ones were pardoned and even prevented from such dangerous adventures. Young ones were very enthusiastic and eager to the challenge of the impossible. I formed my group depending on friendship, relationships, and neighborhood. We were three. My brothers were against that because it was very dangerous. The adventure would take twelve hours going and returning back. The means of getting there were donkeys, mules, flashlights, axes, and some sacks to be filled with crops. Programming the time was very important to enter the area after the sunset and to leave the area before the sunrise, to avoid the searchlights of the settlements, to avoid the main roads where patrols were frequent. I penetrated the area two times. For the first time, I saw our house. The main door was pulled out and cast away very far from its place. All the ground inside the house was dug out piece by piece, all crops under the straw were stolen, but the crops under the ground remained safe. I took an axe and dug the ground and filled two sacks of wheat. My task was not easy because our house was outside the village. Crossing the main street from the village to my house was very dangerous. You could hear shooting in every direction. You could hear the rattle of the tanks coming from far away. You could hear the movement of donkeys and mules returning back with sacks of wheat or maize. A lot of people were killed or missed or lost their direction. Home! Home! There is no better place than home. The sense of being at home can't be described. The entire of your physical body, emotions, senses stir up to the extreme.
For the second time, there was an event, which was not expected. One of our neighbors asked me to check his home and see if his crops had been stolen. He was our neighbor, Shaik Ibrahim Thabit. His crops were kept under the ground. I entered his home, which was very close to our home. The flashlight was not with me. I entered his home and went directly to the place, which he described. I fell down in a very deep hole. The place was very dark. I tried to reach the top of the hole, but I couldn't. I jumped up several times to reach the top, but in vain. I dug a hole with my nails to put my foot in and jump to a higher level when I succeeded. Luckily, I had filled my sacks before I fell in the hole. I returned to Betola but never again went back to Massmyia, only as a visitor for two times.