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Welcome To al-Masmiyya al-Kabira - المسمية الكبيرة (אל-מסמיה אל-כבירה)

District of Gaza
Ethnically cleansed days ago

العربية

Google Earth
Picture for al-Masmiyya al-Kabira Village - Palestine: : A house east of the village centre. Now part of a base education corps of the army called Sha'arei Avraham.
Gallery (13)
Statistic & Fact Value
Occupation Date July 8, 1948
Distance From District 41 (km) North East of Gaza
Elevation 75 (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 #7 on the map

View from satellite
Military Operation Operation An-Far
Attacking Units Possibly Giva'ti Brigade
Exodus Cause Military assault by Zionist troops
Village Temains The village has been mostly destroyed with the exception of its two schools and several houses remain standing.
Ethnically Cleansing al-Masmiyya al-Kabira inhabitants were completely ethnically cleansed.
Pre-Nakba
Land Ownership
Ethnic Group Land Ownership (Dunums)*
Arab 19,850
Jewish 229
Public 608
**Total 20,687
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
**Town Lands' Demarcation Maps
Land Usage
As of 1945
Land Usage Arab (Dunum)* Jewish (Dunum)*
Citrus Groves 1,005 0
Irrigated & Plantation 597 0
Planted W/ Cereal 18,086 229
Built up 135 0
Arable 19,688 229
Non-Arable 635 0
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
Population
Year Population*
1922 1,930
1931 1,756
1945 2,520
1948 2,923
Est. Refugees 1998 17,952
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
Number of Houses
Year Number of Houses
1931 354
1948 589
Near By Townswhat's new
Bashshit
         
Qatra

(N)
al-Khayma
       
Yasur  
           
Qastina
           
Tall al-Safi
Schools al-Masmiyya al-Kabira had two schools, one for boys and one for girls, which were founded in 1922 and 1944, respectively. The number of students reached 307 in the boys' school and 39 in the girls' in 1945.
Places of Warship Two mosques
Exculsive Jewish Colonies
Who Usurped Village Lands
Bene Re'em, Yinnon, Achawa, and Chawwat Berurim
Featured Video

Village Before Nakba

The village was situated on the southern coastal plain and was bordered by a wadi on the north. It was located at the junction of highways going to the city of al-Majdal, in the southwest, Ramla, in the northeast, and the Jerusalem–Jaffa highway. Al-Masmiyya was mentioned by the Syrian Sufi traveler Mustafa al-Bakri al-Siddiqi, who journeyed in the region in the mid-eighteenth century. In the late eighteenth century the French savant Volney noted that al-Masmiyya produced a great deal of spun cotton. The adjectival al-Kabira ('major') was later added to the village's name to distinguish it from its twin village, al-Masmiyya al-Saghira ('minor'), which was established about a century ago.

In the late nineteenth century, al-Masmiyya al-Kabira was laid out in a trapezoid-like pattern, with the long base of the trapezoid facing westward. The village was surrounded by gardens, and its houses built of adobe bricks or concrete. The most recent construction expanded westward and southwestward. Al-Masmiyya al-Kabira's population was Muslim, and the village had two mosques and two schools, one for boys and one for girls, that were built in 1922 and 1944, respectively. The number of students reached 307 in the boys' school and 39 in the girls' in the mid-1940s. Al-Masmiyya al-Kabira also had a village council. Water for domestic use was drawn from wells.

Agriculture was the main base of the village's economy, with grains and citrus the dominant crops. In 1944/45 a total of 1,005 dunums was devoted to citrus and bananas and 18082 dunums were allotted to cereals; 597 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards. Beside cultivating crops, the residents of al-Masmiyya al-Kabira raised livestock and poultry. Some also worked in a nearby British army camp. Al-Masmiyya al-Kabira had a gas station and a clinic. Its weekly market on Thursdays attracted residents of neighboring communities.

Village Occupation and Ethnic Cleaning

Al-Masmiyya al-Kabira fell during Operation An-Far. The New York Times reported that it had been occupied by 11 July, blocking an Egyptian attempt to break through to al-Latrun from the direction of al-Majdal. But the History of the War of Independence states that this was one of the villages captured during 'several clearing operations in the brigade's rear-guard, to eliminate the threat and danger posed by the presence of Arab civilian concentrations to the rear of the front.'

Zionists Colonies on Village Lands

Four settlements were established on village lands: Bene Re'em (originally Kerem Re'em) and Chatzav , founded in 1949; Yinnon, founded in 1952; and Achawa, founded in 1976. Two state-sponsored farms, Mashmi'at Shalom and Chawwat Berurim, were also built on village land in the 1950s.

Village Today

The two schools and several village houses are extant. The girls' school is deserted, while the boys' school has been converted into an Israeli army installation. Some of the houses are inhabited but others have been turned into warehouses. One house serves as a shop where juice is sold . All are made of concrete with simple architectural features—flat roofs and rectangular doors and windows. A date palm tree grows in the yard of a house that belonged to a Palestinian named Tawfiq al-Rabi. An Israeli gas station is located on the same spot where the village's station (once the property of Hasan Abd al-Aziz and Nimr Muhanna) once stood. 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
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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
Khalid Diab Diab -
Mustafa Yaghi - UAE
Abo Shams عبد العال -
ANSAM - غزة
Zayed ALSAYED ALSAYED France
يوسف دياب - اشارقة, اشارقة
عبدالقادر أبوناصر - Illinois, Illinois
free buird - -
yahia - -
محمد الحارث مهنا مهنا KUWAIT
إبراهيم أحمد مهنا مهنا الكويت
فادي سيف سيف عمان, الأردن
ابو جعفر مهنا غزة, فلسطين
muhanned الهدهود الوسطى , فلسطين
OMAR AWADALLLAH ASAF AWADALLAH -
احمد عبد الحليم حجازي - -
تيسير محمود العاصي - uae, alain
عماد علي حسن سيف سيف ابوظبي, الامارات
الدكتور احمد طبية طبية عمان, الاردن
mohannd mohanna مهنا Dubai UAE
زهير85 حجازي عمان , الاردن
Ahmad Abu Aljoud - amman, jordan
Amer Yaghi Yaghi Amman, Jordan
Abo Ahmad Sa'ed Mehanna Aba-Lkhil -
OMAR DIAB - QATAR, QATAR
ahmad - gaza, palstine
عمر مهنـــــــا مهنا Qatar, Qatar
محمد طلال مهنا مهنا U.A.E
Osama Khalil Abdel-Fattah Abu Daia Abu Daia Surrey , United Kingdom/UAE
خضر السيد - -
محمد أحمد ياغي ياغي -, الأمارات
Raid Abdelrahman Yaghi Yaghi Abu Dhabi
R.Yaghi ياغي Benghazi, Libya
mosa - ankara
احمد مهنـــا - jordan, jordan
رائد دياب دياب -
سامح مهنا مهنا -
Yasser Mahmoud Zedan Zedan (Muhanna ) kuwait, kuwait
Abo Ahmad Mehanna -
إبراهيم مهنا مهنا -
aaed MOHANNA ST. PETESBURG, RUSSIA
majed mohanna مهنا غزة, فلسطين
yousef omer yousef zidan zidan oost-vlaanderen, belgium
Mohammad AbuRizik AbuRizik -
د.عمر ياغي YAGHI alain, UAE
ibraheem amer muhanna muhanna gaza, palestine
Yousef Yaghi amman, jordan
Eyas Mahmmoud Mohammad Yaghi Yaghi Riyadh
NAB Al Baghdadi Gaza
Nadine Yaghi yaghi Jerusalem, Palestine
Firas yaghi - jerusalem
ثائر حسين علي سيف سيف Abu dhabi
Mohammed Abdussamea Abdulla Qasem Saif Saif AbuDhabi, U A E
بسام سيف دير البلح
موسى محمود موسى ياغي ياغي -
محمد عساف - -
riyad diab diab gaza, palestine
b.yaghi YAGHI abu dhabi
Mustafa Mohamed Mohanna Mohanna Gaza, Palestine
Firas Yaghi Yaghi Saudi Arabia, Riyadh
Nabil Mahmoud Hassan Abedrabu Othman Muhanna Muhanna Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Mutaz Abuhayeh Abu Hayeh Amman
Dr. muhammad deyab Deyab QATAR, QATAR
iim muhanna -
m.yaghi Yaghi amman, Jordan
mhanna gaza alcorcon, madrid
kamal Abodayeh Abodayeh Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia
Mohamed Wael Mahanna Mhanna Buenos Aires, Argentina
yooos yagi amman, jordan
امـــجــد كيلاني كيلاني الخبر, الخبر
dr anas abu al joud (yaghi) amman, jordan
hasan ghazi mhanna - madrid, spain
ehabdiab DIAB +974, qatar
Amar Zedan Zedan( Muhanna) OH, USA
Mahmoud Zedan( Abou Adli) Zedan OH, USA
yousif yaghi palestine, palestine
Mohammed Muhanna Muhanna -
ibrahim mohammad yaghi baq'a camp, jordan
ismail yaghi - riyadh
Firas AL-Ramly - AL-Khobar, Saudi arabia
Abdul-Majeed Y. Abou-Zaanoonah Abou-Zaanoonah jordan
Ra'ed Mahmoud Abou-Zedan Abou-Zedan (Mehenna) California, USA
Ibrahim Mehanna - -
Ibrahim Yaghi Yaghi Aqaba, Jordan
fnramly AL-Ramly Jeddah 21411, Saudi Arabia
Husam Yaghi Yaghi -
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