Bayt Umm al-Mays explained

Bayt Umm al-Mays
Native Name:بيت أم الميس
Native Name Lang:ar
Etymology:The house of the meis-tree (Cordia myxa)[1]
Pushpin Map:Mandatory Palestine
Pushpin Mapsize:200
Coordinates:31.7803°N 35.0803°W
Grid Name:Palestine grid
Grid Position:157/131
Subdivision Type:Geopolitical entity
Subdivision Name:Mandatory Palestine
Subdivision Type1:Subdistrict
Subdivision Name1:Jerusalem
Established Title1:Date of depopulation
Established Date1:October 21, 1948[2]
Established Title2:Repopulated dates
Unit Pref:dunam
Area Total Dunam:1,013
Population As Of:1945
Population Total:70[3] [4]
Blank Name Sec1:Cause(s) of depopulation
Blank Info Sec1:Military assault by Yishuv forces

Bayt Umm al-Mays was a small Palestinian Arab village in the Jerusalem Subdistrict.

The village was established and settled during the late British Mandatory period, and had 70 inhabitants in 1945.[5] It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War on October 21, 1948, by the Har'el Brigade of Operation ha-Har. It was located 14 km west of Jerusalem.

History

British Mandate era

In the 1945 statistics, the village had a population of 70 Muslims[3] with 1,013 dunums of land.[4] Of this, 51 dunams were for irrigable land or plantations, 273 for cereals,[6] while 2 dunams were built-up, urban, land.[7]

1948 and aftermath

Bayt Umm al-Mays was depopulated October 21, 1948.[2]

Following the war, the area was incorporated into the State of Israel. According to Morris, Ramat Raziel was established near Bayt Umm al-Mays,[8] but according to Khalidi there are no Israeli settlements on village land.[9] In 1992 it was noted that "the site is covered with wild grass that grows around the remains of stone terraces. A few almond, olive and fig trees also grow along the terraces. The remains of the demolished house, which include fragments of an archway, stand at the northern end of the village; the ruins of another house stand at a short distance from the southern end, near a well. Two caves can be seen in the west. There are two very large stone slabs standing at the southern edge of the site, surrounded by bushes."[9]

Archaeology

In 1863, Victor Guérin found the remains of a small village, in the middle of which was a Muslim sanctuary. He further noted that the villagers had neither wells nor cisterns, but were obliged to fetch water from a rather distant spring.[10]

In 1883, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) noted at Beit Meis: "Ruined walls. No indication of age."[11]

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. Palmer, 1881, p. 286
  2. Morris, 2004, p. xx, village #344. Also gives cause of depopulation, both with a "?"
  3. Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 24
  4. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 56
  5. Grossman, D. (1986). "Oscillations in the Rural Settlement of Samaria and Judaea in the Ottoman Period". in Shomron studies. Dar, S., Safrai, S., (eds). Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House. p. 362
  6. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 102
  7. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 152
  8. Morris, 2004, p. xxi, settlement #40
  9. Khalidi, 1992, p. 281
  10. Guérin, 1869, pp. 9-10
  11. Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. 85