Bayt Mahsir بيت محسير | |
|---|---|
 Panorama from west, 2008 | |
| Etymology: The house of Mahsîr[1] | |
.jpg) 1870s map.jpg) 1940s map.jpg) modern map.jpg) 1940s with modern overlay mapA series of historical maps of the area around Bayt Mahsir (click the buttons) | |
  Bayt Mahsir Location withinMandatory Palestine | |
| Coordinates:31°47′40″N35°02′05″E / 31.79444°N 35.03472°E /31.79444; 35.03472 | |
| Palestine grid | 153/133 |
| Geopolitical entity | Mandatory Palestine |
| Subdistrict | Jerusalem |
| Date of depopulation | May 10–11, 1948[4] |
| Area | |
• Total | 16,268dunams (16.268 km2; 6.281 sq mi) |
| Population (1945) | |
• Total | 2,400[2][3] |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault byYishuv forces |
| Current Localities | Beit Meir,[5][6]Mesilat Zion[6] |
Bayt Mahsir (Arabic:بيت محسير) was aPalestinian Arab village in theJerusalem Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on May 10, 1948, by theHarel Brigade ofOperation Makkabi. It was located 9 km west ofJerusalem.
A large medieval oil press, about 10 x 35 meters, was recorded NW of the village in 1947 by representatives from thePalestine Antiquities Department. The representative thought it was from theAyyubid orCrusader era, later examination of surviving pictures by D. Pringle determined them to be from the Crusader era. It has since been destroyed.[7][8]
In 1838 Beit Mahsir is noted as a Muslim village, located in the District of Beni Malik, west of Jerusalem.[9] AnOttoman village list from about 1870 found 50 houses and a population of 130, though that population count included men only.[10][11] In 1883, thePEF'sSurvey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Beit Mahsir as "a village of moderate size, standing on a hill at the end of the higher spurs overlooking the lower hills on the west. It has olives to the north and a spring to the north-east."[12] In 1892, P. Baldensperger recounted a story about the 'Ajami of Beit Mahsir, "whose lands were mixed with the village lands, [he] killed several animals which were on his lands. The people thought it was enemies who did it, and one evening they hid themselves, and saw the rider, [..] He asked them what they wanted, and they told him: 'If thou art the 'Ajami, show us thy lands.' The next morning he had shown them by a boundary line all around his lands, and since then, nobody interferes with his grounds. A camel which was feeding on an olive tree was found hanged between its branches; and at another time a jackal was found standing dead with a candle in its mouth at the door of theMakam. Thus the 'Ajami punishes man and beast for going on, or taking anything from his grounds."[13] Baldensperger later recounted the meeting with aDervish who had stayed "with 'Ajami" (apparently a mythical creature) at the 'Ajami shrine above Bayt Mahsir.[14] In 1896 the population ofBet Mahsir was estimated to be about 258 persons.[15]
In the1922 census of Palestine, during the earlyBritish Mandate of Palestine period, there were 1,367 villagers, all Muslims,[16] increasing in the1931 census to 1,920 Muslims, in 445 houses.[17] In the1944–45 statistics, the village had a population of 2,400 Muslims,[2] and the total land area was 16,268dunams.[3] Of this, 1,348 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, 6,225 dunams were for cereals,[18] while 77 dunams were built-up (urban) Arab land.[19] Bayt Mahsir had three schools; two schools for boys and an elementary school for girls. Bayt Mahsir contains a number of khirbat, including al-Huwaytiyya, al-Masi, Khatula and al-Sallam.[20] The villagers took pride in the fact that the lastimam of itsmosque, Shaykh Khalil As'ad, was a graduate ofAl-Azhar University in Cairo.[20]
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Already on April 12, 1948, while Bayt Mahsir was still in Palestinian hands, theYishuv leadership made plans to populate it with Yishuv.[21] During the April–May fighting in the Jerusalem Corridor (operations 'Nachshon', 'Harel', 'Yevusi' and 'Maccabi'),Palmach units more or less systematically levelledQastal,Qalunya andKhulda, and largely or partly destroyed the villages ofBeit Surik,Biddu,Shuafat,Beit Iksa, Bayt Mahsir andSheikh Jarrah.[22] Bayt Mahsir was depopulated on May 10–May 11, 1948, after a military assault by Yishuv forces.[4][23][24][25] Two days later, on May 13, Israeli troops contaminated the village wells with abiological warfare agent consisting oftyphus anddiphtheria bacteria, as part of a programme to render Palestinian resettlement impossible and ensure 'the destruction of its ability to constitute an economic and military base for enemy forcessurrounding the road.'[26] In August 1948, the newIsraeli leadership started finalising plans for resettling Bayt Mahsir land.[27][28]
In 1992 Palestinian historianWalid Khalidi noted that some houses from Bayt Mahsir were still standing in themoshav ofBeit Meir, identifying two large homes built of limestone that were larger than those built after 1948. He also noted that "The remains of a flour mill, a metal machine with flywheels fitted over a stone structure, can still be seen. There is a wild forest of old trees on the eastern edge of the village site, on top of the mountain. The tomb of al-'Ajami, together with other graves, are among the trees."[6] TheMaqam al-'Ajami, or 'tomb of al-'Ajami', was examined by Andrew Petersen in 1994. It is located southeast of the village site, on a hill in the presentHamasrek Nature Reserve. The name is identified byTawfiq Canaan as coming from Ahmad al-'Ajami, called the Persian, though Canaan doubted that he was of Persian origin.[29][30] The representative from thePalestine Antiquities Department dated it to the 17th century in 1947, a date which Petersen found "not inconsistent" with the architecture of the building.[31] Two books have been published about Bayt Mahsir, one in 1988, and one in 2002.[32]
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