Welcome To Dayr Muhaysin - دير محيسن (דיר מוחיסין)

District of al-Ramla Ethnically cleansed days ago	العربية Google Earth
	Gallery (13)

Statistic & Fact

Value

Occupation Date

April 6, 1948

Distance From District

12 (km) Southeast of al-Ramla

Elevation

150 (meters)

Before & After Nakba, Click Map For Details

Pre-Nakba Map showing before and after destruction

Pre-Nakba Aerial View

Map Location

See location #47 on the map

View from satellite

Military Operation

During one of the operations launched by the Haganah to capture the important Latrun fort.

Exodus Cause

Military assault by Zionist troops

Village Temains

Dayr Muhaysin was completely defaced, and only house rubble left behind.

Ethnically Cleansing

Early April 1948, Dayr Muhaysin was completely ethnically cleansed.

Pre-Nakba
Land Ownership

Ethnic Group	Land Ownership (Dunums)*
Arab	9,704
Jewish	0
Public	304
**Total	10,008

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

Land Usage
As of 1945

Land Usage	Arab (Dunum)*
Irrigated & Plantation	45
Planted W/ Cereal	7,909
Built up	72
Arable	7,954
Non-Arable	1,982

*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics

Population

Year	Population*
1931	113
1945	460
1948	534
Est. Refugees 1998	3,277

*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics

Number of Houses

Year	Number of Houses
1931	28
1948	132

Town's Name Through History

The Crusades referred to Dayr Muhaysin by Deirmusim, and it was also known by Umm al-Shukf.

Places of Warship

One mosque

Exculsive Jewish Colonies
Who Usurped Village Lands

Beqoa'

Village Before Nakba

The village was situated on a level, relatively long hill that was oriented from north to south. It was linked by a spur to a highway that linked Gaza to the Ramla-Jerusalem highway, which passed 200 m to the south. Dirt roads linked it to other villages as well. Dayr Muhaysin was identified with the locality called Deirmusim by the Crusaders. In the late nineteenth century the site was seen by the authors of the Survey of Western Palestine, who said that it was a large site covered with the remains of abandoned housing. It was also known as Umm al-Shukf. In modern times its houses were built of masonry along the roads radiating from the village center; as the village expanded, the houses were built toward the highway to the south. The villagers, most of whom were Muslims, maintained a mosque and a number of shops. Village agriculture was rainfed and was based on grain, which was grown in the flat and low-lying lands, and on fruit trees, which were planted on the slopes. The main agricultural products were olives, grapes, figs, and almonds. In 1944/45 a total of 7,881 dunums was allotted to cereals; 45 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards.

Village Occupation and Ethnic Cleaning

On the night of 31 March-1 April 1948, Jewish Agency chairman David Ben-Gurion met with members of the Haganah General Staff. They decided to launch a special operation to overrun the villages lying between the coastal plain and Jerusalem. The operational orders of the three battalions assembled especially for this purpose stated that 'all the Arab villages along the [Khulda-Jerusalem] axis were to be treated as enemy assembly or jump-off bases.' Operation Nachshon (see Bayt Naqquba, Jerusalem sub-disctrict) began with the occupation of Dayr Muhaysin and neighboring Khulda on 3 April, and the village was probably levelled shortly afterwards, like other villages captured in the operation.

The History of the Haganah notes simply that Dayr Muhaysin was occupied 'with ease,' but a British army statement quoted by the New York Times said that fighting at the village continued into the night. Israeli historian Benny Morris states that the occupiers did not need to issue expulsion orders because all of the inhabitants had fled before or during the Haganah attacks. Arab forces tried, unsuccessfully, to recapture it twice in the following two days. On the third day (6 April), British forces in al-Latrun asked the Haganah to evacuate the village, allegedly because the road passing through it was vital to their transportation lines. According to the New York Times, which reported the request, the village was evacuated by the Haganah after the British assured them that their convoys would not be attacked in the area. It is not certain when it was reoccupied by Haganah forces, but this was probably soon after the British evacuated it, some time before 15 May.

Zionists Colonies on Village Lands

The settlement of Beqoa' (143137), established in 1951, is northwest of the village site, on village land.

Village Today

Wild vegetation spreads across the village site, which has been levelled by bulldozers. Almond, mulberry, and pomegranate trees grow on the site, and there is a row of fig trees on its western side (see photos).

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 / صورة من الجو للقرية اخذت قبل النكبة

Display Name	Clan/Hamolah	Country of Residence
Mohammad Saadeh	Saleh	NJ, USA

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