Kawkaba
March 3, 2024al-Masmiyya al-Kabira
March 3, 2024The village was located on flat land in the coastal area and was surrounded on its northern and western sides by sand dunes. A secondary road connected it to the coastal highway, which was about 4 kilometers to the east and connected the village to the cities of Gaza and Al-Majdal, in addition to other unpaved roads connecting it to the neighboring villages. It is 18.5 kilometers from Gaza and has an average elevation of 25 meters above sea level. In 1945, its population reached 150 people distributed over 26 houses. Its residents, who were Muslims, used to go to Al-Majdal and the villages of Al-Jura and Ni’lia to obtain medical, educational and administrative services, while their main economic activity was irrigated agriculture.
Displacement
Israeli soldiers entered the village when they entered the city of Al-Majdal, which was on November 4-5, 1948, at the end of Operation Yoav.
Colonization
The Israeli town of Ashkelon overshadowed the village site.
The village today
The site shows the ruins of houses built of cement and plaster, and there are cactus bushes, doum palm trees, and sycamore trees, in addition to six tall eucalyptus trees. The lands surrounding the site are cultivated by a government development agency.
Reference: Walid Al-Khalidi, Lest We Forget, pp. 540-542.
