Mas-ha

Mas-ha (Arabic:مسحة) is a Palestinian village in the Salfit Governorate in the northern West Bank, 24 kilometers southwest of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, it had a population of 2,370 in 2017.

Location

Mas-ha is 12.5 kilometers (7.8mi) north-west of Salfit. It is bordered by Biddya to the east, Az Zawiya to the south, Azzun Atma to the west, and Sanniriya and Beit Amin to the north.

History

Potsherds from the Byzantine, Byzantine/Umayyad, Crusader/Ayyubid and Mamluk era have been found here. In the northwest of the village, a few reused bossed stones were found by the survey team.

Ottoman era

Potsherds from the early Ottoman era have also been found. Masha appeared in 1596 Ottoman tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Jabal Qubal, part of the Sanjak of Nablus. It had a population of five households, all Muslim. They paid a fixed tax rate of 33.3% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and beehives, a press for olives or grapes, and occasional revenues and a fixed tax for people of Nablus area; a total of 2,300 akçe.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Mas-ha formed part of the highland region known as Jūrat ‘Amra or Bilād Jammā‘īn. Situated between Dayr Ghassāna in the south and the present Route 5 in the north, and between Majdal Yābā in the west and Jammā‘īn, Mardā and Kifl Ḥāris in the east, this area served, according to historian Roy Marom, "as a buffer zone between the political-economic-social units of the Jerusalem and the Nablus regions. On the political level, it suffered from instability due to the migration of the Bedouin tribes and the constant competition among local clans for the right to collect taxes on behalf of the Ottoman authorities."

In 1838, Edward Robinson noted it as a village, Mes-ha, in the Jurat Merda district, south of Nablus.

French explorer Victor Guérin passed by the village in 1870, and estimated it as having about 300–350 inhabitants, and fig-tree lined borders.

In 1870/1871 (1288 AH), an Ottoman census listed the village in the nahiya (sub-district) of Jamma'in al-Thani, subordinate to Nablus.

In 1882 the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Mes-ha as "a good-sized village, with a high central house, but partly ruinous. It is supplied by cisterns, and the houses are of stone."

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Mas-ha (called: Masha) had a population of 80, all Muslims, increasing slightly in the 1931 census to 87 Muslims in a total of 20 houses.

In the 1945 statistics the population was 110, all Muslims, while the total land area was 8,263 dunams, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 1,612 were allocated for plantations and irrigable land, 2,482 for cereals, while 18 dunams were classified as built-up (urban) areas.

Mas-ha 1941 1:20,000
Mas-ha 1945 1:250,000

Jordanian era

In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Mas-ha came under Jordanian rule.

In 1961, the population was 478.

Post-1967

Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Mas-ha has been under Israeli occupation.

In the early 2000s, there were several protest against the plans of the building of the Israeli West Bank barrier, which would cut off Mas-ha villagers from much of their land. The protest, which resulted in the shooting of one Israeli citizen in 2003, were ultimately unsuccessful.

Israeli barrier separating Mas-ha from the Jewish settlement of Elkana, 2004
Israeli soldiers at the entrance to the fence, 2004
The construction of the Israeli barrier has separated a family from the rest of the village. Their access to the village depends solely on the Israeli army
In the foreground, the Israeli settlement of Elkana, built on the confiscated land of Masha. Behind the Israeli wall, the village of Masha, November 2006

Loss of land

Mas-ha has been subjected to numerous Israeli confiscations for the benefit of various Israeli objectives. ARIJ lists the losses as follows:

Israeli Settlements bordering Mas-ha village and land loss
Settlement	Date of establishment	Pop 2013	Area confiscated from Mas-ha
Elkana	1977	3,719	1,626
Etz Efraim	1985	731	546
Sha'arei Tikva	1982	4,493	8
Bnot Orot Yisrael	1989	–	176
Total	8,943	2,356
Source: ARIJ 2013

Bibliography

Barron, J.B., ed. (1923). . Government of Palestine.
Conder, C.R.; Kitchener, H.H. (1882). . Vol.2. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
Finkelstein, I.; Lederman, Zvi, eds. (1997). . Tel Aviv: Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University Publications Section. ISBN965-440-007-3.
Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics (1964). (PDF).
Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics (1945). .
Guérin, V. (1875). (in French). Vol.2: Samarie, pt. 2. Paris: L'Imprimerie Nationale.
Hadawi, S. (1970). . Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center.
Hütteroth, W.-D.; Abdulfattah, K. (1977). . Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft. ISBN3-920405-41-2.
Mills, E., ed. (1932). . Jerusalem: Government of Palestine.
Palmer, E.H. (1881). . Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
Reinhart, T. (2006). . London; New York: Verso. ISBN1-84467-076-7.
Robinson, E.; Smith, E. (1841). . Vol.3. Boston: Crocker & Brewster.