Zahiyah from Al-Masmiyya Al Kabira
Zahiyah is a refugee living in Aqabat Jaber Refugee Camp, Jericho. She is shown here in a fancy dress often worn for celebrations. She was 17 years old when she was forced from her village with her family. She remembers that the Muslims and Jews lived together in the village and that their Jewish neighbors and British soldiers from the nearby camp told them to leave and return in a week or two! The villagers were expelled on 8 July 1948. Al-Masmiyya Al Kabira was a village in the District of Gaza situated on the southern coastal plane. The village was at the junction of highways going north and south. The population in 1945 was 2,520. It had two mosques and two schools—one for boys and another for girls. The dominant crops were grains and citrus fruits. The village was captured during operations to eliminate the Arab civilian population. Four settlements were established on village lands along with two state farms built in the 1950s. Today the girls’ school is deserted while the boys’ school has been turned into an Israeli army installation. Some of the houses are inhabited by Jew immigrants, but others turned into warehouses. Zahiyah’s dress is typical of the Gaza region with dark blue cloth and grain and citrus motifs. Price: $35