Yasur

The village stood on a plateau on the coastal plain, linked by secondary roads to one highway that led to the city of al-Majdal, to the southwest, and to another highway that led to Ramla, to the northeast. During the Mamluk period (1205–1517), a mail station between Gaza and Damascus was located in Yasur, although this was later transferred to the village of Bayt Daras. In 1596, Yasur was a village in the nahiya of Gaza (liwa' of Gaza), with a population of 303. It paid taxes on a number of crops, including wheat, barley, fruit, and sesame, as well as on other types of produce, such as goats, beehives, and water buffalos. In the late nineteenth century, the village of Yasur had a well to the south and large gardens to the north and east. It was densely populated; its adobe brick houses were built close together, separated by meandering, narrow alleys. The residents were Muslim. A handsome mosque was located at the village center, as were a number of shops. The center also contained an elementary school that was opened in 1923, for which enrollment reached 132 students in the mid-1940s. The villagers drew water for domestic use from wells. Agriculture was the backbone of their economy; they cultivated grain, citrus, olives, and vegetables. In 1944/45 a total of 636 dunums was devoted to citrus and bananas and 12,173 dunums were allotted to cereals; 180 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards. Grain cultivation relied on rainfall, whereas citrus and vegetables were irrigated. The inhabitants drew their irrigation water from wells that were 25–40 m deep.