Masil al-Jizl

The village stood on flat terrain and overlooked a wide, open area to the east, beyond which was the Jordan Valley. Two fords (makhadat ) across the Jordan called Makhadat al-Turaykhim and Makhadat al-Saghir constituted its gateway to the Jordan Valley in the east. One secondary road linked it to Baysan and another connected it to a highway leading from Baysan to Transjordan.

Masil al-Jizl was initially founded by members of the Arab al-Zinati Bedouin tribe. Some of their houses were scattered among the various springs from which they drew their water; others were clustered along the roads linking Masil al-Jizl to Baysan and other villages. Most of these houses were made of adobe and cane. The villagers were Muslims and earned their livelihood by cultivating crops such as grains and vegetables. In 1944/45 a total of 702 dunums was allocated to cereals; 252 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards. To the south of the village stretched the katar , a narrow strip of waste land along the Jordan, which was marked by palm trees growing along its edges. At least three archaeological sites flanked Masil al-Jizl: Tall al-Qitaf, Khirbat aI-Hajj Mahmud, and Tall al-Shaykh Dawud. They contained pottery fragments, flint artifacts, and the foundations of buildings. The remains of a small mosque were found nearby, at Tall al-Shaykh Muhammad al-Qabu, in 1929.