Meiser (; , also known as Shaykh Maysar or Khirbat Maysar) is an Arab village in northern Israel. Located half a kilometre west of the Green Line, north of the city of Baqa al-Gharbiyye in the triangle area of Wadi Ara, it is one of three Arab villages under the jurisdiction of Menashe Regional Council. In it had a population of .
History Roman Empire Remains from the Early Roman era (end of the first century BCE–beginning of the first century CE) have been found here.Dagot, 2007, Horbat MesarZertal, 2016, pp. 292-294Massarwa, 2010, Horbat Mesar Three strata from the Roman-Byzantine periods was excavated in the centre of the village.Sa‘id, 2009, Horbat Mesar A bathhouse, dating from the same time, has also been found.Tabar and Gendelman, 2013, Horbat Mesar
Byzantine Empire Ceramics and other remains from the Byzantine era have been found here.Dauphin, 1998, p. 752Massarwa, 2009, Horbat Mesar (North) An excavation revealed remains dating from the end of the Byzantine period (7th century CE), and above it were remains of a residential house from the Abbasid period (9th–10th centuries CE).Sa‘id, 2008, Horbat Mesar
Ottoman Empire In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) found at Sheikh Meisir "foundations near a modern Mukam" (Muslim tomb).Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 68 In spite of this, Andrew Petersen, who inspected the Maqam in 1994, suggested "that the building may be considerably older than the nineteenth century."Petersen, 2001, p. 283
British Mandate In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Kherbet Maisir had a population of 49 Muslims.Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Jenin, p. 30
In the 1945 statistics Meiser was counted with Qaffin and Kh. el Aqaba, together they had a population of 1,570 Muslims,Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 21 with a land area of 23,755 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 76 Of this, 5,863 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 8,371 were used for cereals,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 127 while 40 dunams were built-up (urban) land.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 177
See also Arab localities in Israel Wadi Ara
References
Bibliography
External links Village website Welcome To Kh. al-Shaykh Meiser Survey of Western Palestine, Map 8: IAA, Wikimedia commons