Al-Masmiyya al-Saghira
Al-Masmiyya al-Saghira, also known as Mamsiyyat al-Hurani and al-Huraniyya, was a Palestinian Arab village in the Gaza Subdistrict, located northeast of Gaza. It was situated at an elevation of in the southern coastal plain of Ottoman Syria.
Established in the late 19th century by locals from its twin Al-Masmiyya al-Kabira, Hamula clan of Al-Hurani, following fueds with other residents. Al-Masmiyya al-Saghira was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, but prior to that, in 1945, it had a population of 530 inhabitants.
History
Al-Masmiyya al-Saghira was established in the second half of the 19th century by al-Hurani clan who had lived in the adjacent al-Masmiyya al-Kabira, but left because of feuds with other residents. Thus, the village was also known as "Masmiyyat al-Hurani". The adjectival Saghira means "minor" in Arabic and was used to differentiate it from al-Mamsiyya al-Kabira, the latter word meaning "major".British Mandate era
In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Mesmiyet Saghira had a population of 261 inhabitants, all Muslims, increasing in the 1931 census when Masmiya El Saghira had an all-Muslim population of 354 in 73 houses.In the 1945 statistics the population of El Masmiya es Sagira was 530 Muslims, while the total land area was 6,478 dunams, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, a total of 147 dunams were used for citrus and bananas, 7 for plantations and irrigable land, 6,126 for cereals, while 18 dunams were built-up areas.
Seven small shops provided the village with its basic needs and children attended school in al-Masmiyya al-Kabira. Agriculture was the mainstay of the economy, grain being the dominant crop. In addition to cultivation, the inhabitants raised livestock which numbered approximately 4,000 animals, including sheep, goats, cattle, camels, mules. Farmers participated in the weekly market of al-Faluja, and also sold their products in the cities of Gaza, al-Majdal, and Jaffa.