بيــــــت محســـــــــــــــــــــــــير

Bayt Mahsir, a village of Jerusalem district. It lies 26 Km to the west of Jerusalem, on a mountain elevated 600 m over sea level. It has a strategic site over looked Bab el-wad road (Wadi Ali) which connects Jerusalem with Jaffa on the Mediterranean Sea coast, and because of its site it was the center of the Palestinian resistance leader ship in 1948.

Olive trees surrounded the village, and there was a wild forest on its eastern edge, among its trees lies the grave yard of the village around the tomb of Shakh Ahmed Al-Ajami. Leveled road ways connects Bayt Mahsir with the villages around it. Its houses were built of silver white stones.

Its area 16 298 Dunom ( 1 Dunom=1000 m) the Jewish owned nothing of its land ,there were several public utilities such as a mosque ,schools for boys and girls, two of the village's teachers were Musa Al-Hajj Ali and Shakh Khalil As 'ad ,a health center ,Olive's press and two flour mills. The Jewish destroyed the village when they occupied it and constructed Bait me settlement on its land in 1950.

Its inhabitants were several tribes declined from a Semitic race; those who came from Arabian Peninsula with Islamic conquests .Their characters of long stature, red faces and chestnut hair .They have a high fertility. The young men gain high scientific degrees and fill important positions in deferent countries.

The Mahaserh shared in the resistance of the British occupation and resistance of the Zionist movement .Ben Guryon admit in his addressing to Knesset on 11\ 6\1948 that the Jews were lost in Bayt Mahsir and Bab el Wad battles twice the number that they lost in other Palestine battles, and one of the Jews officers admit that the most violent battles that he has fought was Bayt Mahsir occupation.

One day the history teacher will say to his pupils that the Zionist established a tyrannical state on Palestine land that was oppressive and unjust, but it was perished like other lost cities of the desert.

This is my Home land

written by Haitham Islim AL-MAHSIRI