Bayt Mahsir

Bayt Mahsir
بيت محسير
Panorama from west, 2008
Panorama from west, 2008
Etymology: The house of Mahsîr[1]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Bayt Mahsir (click the buttons)
Bayt Mahsir is located in Mandatory Palestine
Bayt Mahsir
Bayt Mahsir
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 31°47′40″N 35°02′05″E / 31.79444°N 35.03472°E / 31.79444; 35.03472
Palestine grid153/133
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictJerusalem
Date of depopulationMay 10–11, 1948[4]
Area
 • Total16,268 dunams (16.268 km2 or 6.281 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total2,400[2][3]
Cause(s) of depopulationMilitary assault by Yishuv forces
Current LocalitiesBeit Meir,[5][6] Mesilat Zion[6]

Bayt Mahsir (Arabic: بيت محسير) was a Palestinian Arab village in the Jerusalem Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on May 10, 1948, by the Harel Brigade of Operation Makkabi. It was located 9 km west of Jerusalem.

  1. ^ Palmer, 1881, p. 286
  2. ^ Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 24
  3. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 56
  4. ^ Morris, 2004, p. xx, village #336. Also gives cause of depopulation.
  5. ^ Morris, 2004, p. xxi, settlement #28.
  6. ^ a b Khalidi, 1992, p. 277.