In
1799, it was noted as an unnamed village on the map that
Pierre Jacotin compiled that year. An
Ottoman village list from about 1870 showed that
Samwil had 23 houses and a population of 62, though the population count included men, only. It was noted as a
Bedouin camp, 4,5 km north of Jaffa centre, and 1 km from the sea. In 1882, the
PEF's
Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Summeil as an ordinary
adobe village, which had a large
well, and a cave. Excavations revealed traces of
Late Ottoman infant jar-burials, commonly associated with
nomads or
itinerant workers of
Egyptian origins.
British Mandate era In the
1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the
British Mandate authorities, ''Mas'udiyeh'' had a population of 443; 437 Muslims and 6 Christians, (where the Christians all belonged to the Templar community), increasing in the
1931 census to 658; 654 Muslim and 4 Christians, in a total of 127 houses. On 20 December 1942, Al-Mas'udiyya was annexed into
Tel Aviv as part of a municipal border expansion. In the
1945 statistics, the village had a population of 850; 830 Muslims and 20 Christians. Al-Mas'udiyya had an elementary school founded in 1931, and in 1945 it had 31 students.
1948, aftermath In 1992, the village site was described: "The area is part of Tel Aviv. All that remains of the village is one deserted house that belonged to Muhammad Baydas. Cactuses, castor-oil (
ricinus) plants, and palm and cypress trees further mark the site. Nearby is the al-Mas'udiyya (or Summayl) bridge – an arched, steel structure." ==References==