Village memory · Palestine

Al-Masmiyya al-Kabira

المَسْمِيَّة الكَبِيرَة

Gaza districtDepopulated 1948

Al-Masmiyya al-Kabira stood at the junction of the roads to al-Majdal, Ramla and Jerusalem, a village of 2,520 with two mosques, two schools, a clinic and a Thursday market that drew the whole district. It fell in July 1948 during Operation An-Far, in what the Israeli official history calls clearing operations in the brigade's rear. Both schools still stand — the girls' school deserted, the boys' school an Israeli army installation.