Jaffa district · depopulated 1947 · 2 min read
Al-Mas'udiyya
المَسْعُودِيَّة
Al-Mas'udiyya, also called Summayl, stood five kilometres north of Jaffa between the sea and the al-'Awja River. The 1944/45 survey counted 850 people; Zochrot lists 990 for 1948. Although the village had agreed a truce with the Haganah late in 1947, PalQuest, citing Benny Morris, says its people left on 25 December amid increasing attacks on Arab villages. The area is now part of Tel Aviv; Khalidi's 1992 survey recorded one deserted house, trees and the Summayl bridge.
See Al-Mas'udiyya on the Atlas32.0853°N · 34.7818°EAl-Mas’udiyya stood on sandy, level ground five kilometres north of Jaffa, about one and a half kilometres east of the Mediterranean and the same distance south of the al-‘Awja River. It was long known as Summayl and took the name al-Mas’udiyya in the early twentieth century. Its houses formed a close north-south line. A large well and a cave were recorded in the 1870s, and the village mosque stood on the remains of an older building, possibly a church.
The 1931 census counted 658 residents in 127 houses. The 1944/45 survey counted 850 people, including twenty Christians; Zochrot instead lists 990 for 1948. These figures measure different dates and should not be silently blended. The village opened an elementary school in 1931, with thirty-one pupils by the middle of the 1940s. Citrus cultivation and animal husbandry carried most households, while other villagers worked in commerce, crafts and services. Tel Aviv’s expansion was already pressing against the village, and PalQuest records that many residents had left by 1946.
The History of the Haganah records a truce agreed after a meeting in Petah Tikva near the end of 1947. It did not keep the village in place. Al-Mas’udiyya was evacuated on 25 December 1947, one of the earliest villages in the area to empty. PalQuest, citing Israeli historian Benny Morris, says the residents feared an attack because the village stood only a few hundred yards from Tel Aviv’s outskirts while attacks on Arab villages were increasing. The same account says they first went to neighbouring al-Jammasin, which was completely emptied by the middle of March 1948.
No new settlement was established on the village land, though Tel Aviv encroached into it. Khalidi’s 1992 site survey recorded one deserted house identified as the home of Muhammad Baydas, together with cactuses, castor-oil plants, palms and cypresses. The same record describes the arched steel bridge by both names: al-Mas’udiyya and Summayl.
Sources
Cited works
2- palquest.org(opens in a new tab)https://www.palquest.org/en/node/16848
- zochrot.org — en(opens in a new tab)https://www.zochrot.org/villages/village_details/49275/en
Connected in the archive
13 connected records13 records elsewhere in the archive are linked to this one, each by a piece of evidence you can read below.
named in this record — 1 record
One record names the other. A pointer for reading, not a claim that they belong to each other.
- Jaffaيافا
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Al-Mas'udiyya stood on sandy, level ground five kilometres north of Jaffa, about one and a half kilometres east of the Mediterranean and the same distance south of the al-'Awja River.
in the same district — 12 records
Filed near each other — the same Mandate district, or the same uncommon subject tags.
- Abu Kishkأبو كِشْك
Evidence — From a recorded field in this archive: Both recorded in the Jaffa district.
- Al-'Abbasiyyaالعَبّاسِيَّة
Evidence — From a recorded field in this archive: Both recorded in the Jaffa district.
- al-Jammasin al-Gharbiالجَمّاسِين الغربي
Evidence — From a recorded field in this archive: Both recorded in the Jaffa district.
- al-Jammasin al-Sharqiالجَمّاسِين الشرقي
Evidence — From a recorded field in this archive: Both recorded in the Jaffa district.
- Al-Khayriyyaالخيرية
Evidence — From a recorded field in this archive: Both recorded in the Jaffa district.
- Al-Manshiyyaالمنشية
Evidence — From a recorded field in this archive: Both recorded in the Jaffa district.
- and 6 more
Cite this page
Every claim above carries its sources — citation is the point.
- Chicago
“Al-Mas'udiyya.” Village Memory, FALASTEEN.AI. Accessed 22 August 2026. https://falasteen.ai/memory/al-masudiyya.- MLA
“Al-Mas'udiyya.” Village Memory, FALASTEEN.AI, 2026, https://falasteen.ai/memory/al-masudiyya. Accessed 22 August 2026.- BibTeX
@misc{falasteen-al-masudiyya, title = {Al-Mas'udiyya}, howpublished = {\url{https://falasteen.ai/memory/al-masudiyya}}, organization = {FALASTEEN.AI — A Living Archive for Palestine}, year = {2026}, note = {Accessed 2026-08-22} }