Welcome To al-Masmiyya al-Saghira - المسمية الصغيرة (אל-מסמיה א-צע'ירה)

District of Gaza Ethnically cleansed days ago	العربية Google Earth
	Gallery (10)

Statistic & Fact

Value

Occupation Date

July 8, 1948

Distance From District

42 (km) North East of Gaza

Elevation

60 (meters)

Before & After Nakba, Click Map For Details

Pre-Nakba Map showing before and after destruction

Pre-Nakba Aerial View

Map Location

See location #8 on the map

View from satellite

Military Operation

Operation An Far

Attacking Units

Giv'ati Brigade

Exodus Cause

Military assault by Zionist troops

Village Temains

The village has been completely obliterated.

Ethnically Cleansing

al-Masmiyya al-Saghira inhabitants were completely ethnically cleansed.

Clans

al-Hurani clan (originally from al-Masmiyya al-Kabira) founded the village in the 19th century.

Pre-Nakba
Land Ownership

Ethnic Group	Land Ownership (Dunums)*
Arab	6,340
Jewish	0
Public	138
**Total	6,478

*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
**Town Lands' Demarcation Maps

Land Usage
As of 1945

Land Usage	Arab (Dunum)*
Citrus Groves	147
Irrigated & Plantation	7
Planted W/ Cereal	6,126
Built up	18
Arable	6,280
Non-Arable	180

*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics

Population

Year	Population*
1922	261
1931	354
1945	530
1948	615
Est. Refugees 1998	3,776

*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics

Number of Houses

Year	Number of Houses
1931	73
1948	126

Near By Towns

Bashshit ↖	Qatra ↑ (N)	al-Khayma ↗
al-Masmiyya al-Kabira ←	al-Masmiyya al-Saghira	→ al-Tina
↙ Qastina	↓ Tall al-Turmus	↘ Tall al-Safi

Town's Name Through History

The village was also known by Masmiyyat al-Hurani after the al-Hurani clan.

Schools

al-Masmiyya al-Saghira students attended school at the sister village of al-Masmiyya al-Kabira.

Exculsive Jewish Colonies
Who Usurped Village Lands

Masmiyya Shalom, Mashmi'at Shalom, and Kefar ha-Rif.

Village Before Nakba

The village, located in the southern coastal plain and bordered on the north by Wadi al-Zurayqa, stretched along the wadi in a northwest-southeast direction. Al-Masmiyya al-Saghira was linked by a short road to a junction of highways that led to al-Majdal (to the southwest), Ramla (to the northeast), and the Jerusalem–Jaffa highway. It was referred to with the adjectival al-Saghira ('minor') so that it could be distinguished from its twin village al-Masmiyya al-Kabira ('major'). It was established in the second half of the nineteenth century by the hamula (clan) of al-Hurani, who had lived in al-Masmiyya al-Kabira and who had had to leave it because of feuds with other residents. Thus, the village was also known as Masmiyyat al-Hurani. All of the villagers were Muslim, and they sent their children to school in al-Masmiyya al-Kabira. Seven small shops in the village provided their basic supplies. They drew water for their domestic needs from two sources: private wells that collected rainwater, and an artesian well that was located under an ancient Christ's-thorn tree and belonged to the entire village.

Agriculture was the mainstay of the village economy, grain being the dominant crop. In 1944/45, 147 dunums were devoted to citrus and bananas and 6,126 dunums were allocated to cereals; 7 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards. The villagers relied on rainfall for watering their crops, except for the citrus orchards, which they irrigated from artesian wells. In addition to cultivating crops, the villagers raised animals and poultry; the number of animals, which included sheep, goats, cows, camels, and mules, was estimated at about 4,000. The villagers also participated in the weekly Thursday market that was held in the village of al-Faluja, selling their produce in the towns and cities of al-Majdal, Gaza, and Jaffa.

Village Occupation and Ethnic Cleaning

The circumstances of the village's occupation were probably identical to those of its sister village, al-Masmiyya al-Kabira, which was occupied on 8–9 July 1948. (The villages of al-Jaladiyya and al-Tina were occupied at the same time, according to the New York Times.) Israeli historian Benny Morris writes that an operation by the Giv'ati Brigade during the Ten Days between the two truces 'precipitated the evacuation of the village.'

Zionists Colonies on Village Lands

Al-Masmiyya al-Saghira does not seem to have been settled by Jews at the same time as its sister village (May), although both were settled during 1949. Morris states that the settlement established on village lands was initially named Masmiyya Bet, and later renamed Masmiyya Shalom. An Israeli gazetteer, however, indicates that the seed-growing farm of Mashmi'at Shalom was established in the 1950s on the land of the neighboring al-Masmiyya al-Kabira. The settlement of Kefar ha-Rif was established on village land in 1956.

Village Today

Virtually no trace of the village remains, and the site is overgrown with weeds, tall grasses, and a scattering of eucalyptus trees.

Source

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

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

Pre-Nakba Aerial view of the village

Display Name	Clan/Hamolah	Country of Residence
abdallaalmasri	المصري	البلقاء, الاردن
ابو رامي	جبريل	الزرقاء, الاردن
Omar	Alhourani	Irbid, Jordan
UM SAIF	ALHOURANI	ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
طه الحوراني	-	-
yahya jebreel	الحوراني	AMMAN, J
يحيى زكري	الحوراني	البلقاء, الاردن
bara' hourani	-	-
ديوان مسمية الحوراني	-	-
Abdelmonem saber Alhourani	-	-
KHADER AL-HOURANI	-	AMMAN - MARKA
.Ahmad M .Th Al-hourani	Al-Hourani	QATAR, QATAR
ابو المجد	-	غزه, غزه
Nabeel AL Hourani	-	AL HASA - JORDAN, JORDAN
Suhaila	-	GAZA
سلمان	-	-
mufid al hourani	-	-
جعفر الحوراني	الحوراني	zarqa, jordan
حسين الحوراني	الحوراني	الزرقاء
sam shafi	-	-
YAHIA BASSAM AL HOURANI	الحوراني	-
Khaled	AL-Horani	Damascus, Dimashq, Syria
Ahmad M.Al-Hourani	Al-Hourani	K.S.A
Al Hourani	-	-
Lina Al Hurani	Al Hurani	Qc, Canada
saber hourani	hourani	AMMAN - diwan almasmya , jordan
Rashad Hurani	-	-
Zeid Al-Hourani	-	-
Ahmad Issa Alhourani	-	-
Amr Alhourani	don't know	CA, USA
Aktham Al-Hourani	-	Gaza, Palestine
Islam Hourani	-	Palestine, Palestine
Ali al-Hourani	al-Hourani	ain albasha, Jordan

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al-Masmiyya (al-Kabira, al-Saghira) in www.WebGaza.net

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