Bayt Mahsir
| Bayt Mahsir | |
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Panorama from west, 2008
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 Bayt Mahsir
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| Arabic | بيت محسير |
| Name meaning | the house of Mahsîr |
| Subdistrict | Jerusalem |
| Coordinates | 31°47′40″N 35°02′05″E / 31.79444°N 35.03472°ECoordinates: 31°47′40″N 35°02′05″E / 31.79444°N 35.03472°E |
| Palestine grid | 153/133 |
| Population | 2,400 (1945) |
| Area | 16,268 dunams |
| Date of depopulation | May 10–11, 1948 |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault by Yishuv forces |
| Current localities | Beyt Me'ir,Mesillat Tziyyon |
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.
A large medieval oil press, about 10 x 35 meters, was recorded NW of the village in 1947 by representatives from the Palestine Antiquities Department. The representative thought it was from the Ayyubid or Crusader era, later examination of surviving pictures by D. Pringle determined them to be from the Crusader era. It has since been destroyed.
In 1838 Beit Mahsir was noted as a Muslim village, located in the District of Beni Malik, west of Jerusalem.
An Ottoman village list from about 1870 found 50 houses and a population of 130, though that population count included men only.
In 1883, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey 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."
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 the Makam. Thus the 'Ajami punishes man and beast for going on, or taking anything from his grounds."
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Wikipedia