Al-Masara

Al-Masara
Other transcription(s)
• Arabic	المعصرة
• Also spelled	Al-Ma'sara (official)
Protest in al-Masara Protest in al-Masara
Governorate	Bethlehem
Founded	1930
Government
• Type	Local Development Committee
• Head of Municipality	Mahmoud Alaeddin
Area
• Jurisdiction	973 dunams (1.0 km2 or 0.4 sq mi)
Population (2007)
• Jurisdiction	803
Name meaning	"the Press"

Al-Masara (Arabic: المعصرة‎‎, pronounced al-Ma'sara; translation: "the press") is a Palestinian village in the central West Bank, 6.2 km southwest of Bethlehem, part of the Bethlehem Governorate. It is surrounded by a number of smaller Palestinian villages including Khallet al-Haddad to the east. The population was 803 in the 2007 census by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS).

Its name "the press" derives from the Byzantine Empire-era olive press still located in al-Ma'sara. In 1883 the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) noted "heaps of stoned and cisterns" in the area. The modern town was founded in 1930 by members of the Arab al-Zawahra and at-Ta'mirah tribes. A seven-member local development committee was established by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to administer the village, most which is located in Area B giving the PNA jurisdiction over al-Ma'sara's civil affairs. The head of the committee is Mahmoud Alaeddin.

There is one mosque, al-Ma'sara Mosque, a primary and secondary school in the village. Agriculture accounts for 70% of al-Ma'sara's economic activity while the civil sector make up 16%. The total land area is 973 dunams, of which 42 dunams are designated built-up. Most of the remainder is arable land, 505 dunams of which are cultivated.

References

Bibliography

• (p. 400)

External links

• Welcome To Kh. al-Ma'sara
• Al Ma'sara Village (Fact Sheet), ARIJ
• Al Ma’sara Village Profile, ARIJ
• Al Ma’sara areal photo, ARIJ
• SWP map 21, IAA
• SWP map 21, Wikimedia commons