Simsim سمسم Sumsum, Semsem | |
|---|---|
| Etymology: "Sesame"[1] | |
.jpg) 1870s map.jpg) 1940s map.jpg) modern map.jpg) 1940s with modern overlay mapA series of historical maps of the area around Simsim, Gaza (click the buttons) | |
  Simsim Location withinMandatory Palestine | |
| Coordinates:31°34′02″N34°36′26″E / 31.56722°N 34.60722°E /31.56722; 34.60722 | |
| Palestine grid | 112/108 |
| Geopolitical entity | Mandatory Palestine |
| Subdistrict | Gaza |
| Date of depopulation | 12 May 1948[4] |
| Area | |
• Total | 16,797dunams (16.797 km2; 6.485 sq mi) |
| Population (1945) | |
• Total | 1,290[2][3] |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Expulsion byYishuv forces |
| Current Localities | Gvar'am[5] |
Simsim (Arabic:سمسم), also spelledSemsem orSumsum, was aPalestinian village, located 15 kilometers (9.3 mi) northeast ofGaza. It was depopulated and destroyed during the1948 Palestine war as part of the1948 Palestinian expulsion and theNakba.[6][7]
Simsim contained two archaeological sites known locally as ar-Ras and Sha'fat al-Mughur (the latter of which contained aRoman cemetery).[6]Byzantine ceramics have been found here.[8] The village was known asSemsem to theCrusaders.[5]
Simsim was incorporated into theOttoman Empire in 1517 with all ofPalestine, and by 1596 it was part of thenahiya (subdistrict) ofGaza under theliwa' (district) ofSanjak of Gaza, and it had 20Muslim households, an estimated population of 110. They paid a fixed tax rate of 33.3% on a number of crops, including wheat, barley and fruit trees, as well as on goats and beehives; a total of 6,800Akçe. 14/24 of the revenue went to aWaqf.[9]
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the area of Simsim experienced a significant process of settlement decline due tonomadic pressures on local communities. The residents of abandoned villages moved to surviving settlements, but the land continued to be cultivated by neighboring villages.[10]
In 1838, Simsim was noted as was a Muslim village in the Gaza District.[11][12]
InA Handbook for Travellers in Syria and Palestine (1858),Josias Leslie Porter describes the village as standing "amidst a little grove of trees, about a 1/4 mile north of the road."[13]In June 1863Victor Guérin found the village to contains five hundred inhabitants. Surrounded by trees, the village had tobacco and sesame plantations. Aoualy, dedicated toNeby Danyal, was internally decorated with two ancient columns.[14] An Ottoman village list of about 1870 indicated 69 houses and a population of 119, though the population count included only men.[15][16]
In 1883, thePEF'sSurvey of Western Palestine described Simsim as being surrounded by gardens. It had awell, a pool, and an olive grove that was planted to the north.[17]
Karl Baedeker and his travelling companions writing in 1894 are more specific, noting that the village is located in anolive grove and that tobacco andsesame are the principal crops grown there.[18]
In the1922 census of Palestine conducted by theBritish Mandate authorities,Semsem had a population of 760 inhabitants, all Muslims,[19] increasing in the1931 census, whenSumsum had a population of 855 Muslims in 195 houses.[20]
In 1942, thekibbutz ofGvar'am was established on land traditionally belonging to the village.[5]
In the1945 statistics, the population ofSumsum consisted of 1,290 Muslims and 70 Jews,[2] while the total land area was 16,797dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[3] Of this, a total of 240 dunams were used citrus and bananas, 252 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 15,582 for cereals,[21] while 44 dunams were built-up areas.[22]
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During the1948 Arab–Israeli War the villagers of Simsim, together with the surrounding villages, were driven out by soldiers from theNegev Brigade on 12–13 May 1948 as part ofOperation Barak. In Simsim the occupying troops found only a handful of old people. They blew up five houses and warned that if the village's weapons were not handed over the following day, they would blow up the rest.[23] But the inhabitants repeatedly returned to the village, either to resettle or to cultivate crops. At the end of May, a Negev Brigade unit, with orders to expel "the Arabs from Sumsum andBurayr and burn their granaries and fields", swept through the villages, encountering resistance in Sumsum, and killed "5" (or, according to another report, "20") and blew up granaries and a well.[24] HistorianSaleh Abdel Jawad writes that a massacre occurred in the village on 13 May.[25] The Israeli troops returned to Simsim yet again, on 9 or 10 June 1948, again burning houses and skirmishing with Arabs.[26]
Or HaNer, established in 1957, lie less than one km south of the village site, on land formerly belonging toNajd, Gaza.[5]
In 1992, the village's remains were described byWalid Khalidi: "The village has been obliterated and can only be recognised 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 land in the vicinity are cultivated by Israeli farmers."[5]
