The depopulated village of Ma'alul / District of Nazareth

Location

Ma'lul stood on the northern edge of Wadi al-Mujaydil, facing the Palestinian village of al-Mujaydil approximately 2 kilometres to the south.

The village was approximately 6 kilometres west of Nazareth and had an average elevation of about 275 metres above sea level.

Two springs lay near Ma'lul, one to the northeast and another to the northwest.

A secondary road linked the village with the Nazareth–Haifa highway, which passed a short distance southeast of the site.

Ma'lul Through History

Ma'lul may have been established on the site of an earlier settlement known as Mahalol during the Roman period and later identified by the Crusaders as Maula.

In 1596, Ma'lul was a village in the nahiya of Tiberias in the Safad district, with an estimated population of approximately 77.

The inhabitants paid taxes on wheat, barley, goats, beehives, and other forms of agricultural production.

In the late nineteenth century, Ma'lul was described as an adobe-built village situated on a hill, with an estimated population of approximately 280.

Architecture and Public Facilities

The houses of Ma'lul were closely clustered and constructed of stone and mud, stone and cement, or concrete.

The population included both Muslims and Christians. The village contained a mosque and two churches, one Greek Orthodox and the other Greek Catholic.

Residents obtained domestic water from springs and wells in and around the village.

The Arab built-up area covered 29 dunams in the 1944/1945 statistics, while 35 built-up dunams were recorded under Jewish ownership within the statistical unit.

Population

The 1922 census recorded 346 inhabitants in Ma'lul.

By the 1931 census, the population had increased to 390 people living in 90 houses.

According to the 1944/1945 statistics, the village had 690 inhabitants: 490 Muslims and 200 Christians.

The estimate of approximately 800 inhabitants in 1948 is a later demographic estimate rather than an official Mandate census figure.

Palestine Remembered estimates the number of refugees and their descendants at approximately 4,915 in 1998.

Number of Houses

The 1931 census recorded 90 houses in Ma'lul.

The figure of approximately 184 houses for 1948 is a later estimate rather than an official census count.

The Ma'lul Land Dispute

Land ownership was one of the most important issues in Ma'lul's history during the British Mandate.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the villagers cultivated land much of which was owned by the Beirut-based Sursuq family.

In 1921, the Sursuqs sold most of Ma'lul's lands, except for approximately 2,000 dunams, to the Zionist Palestine Land Development Company.

Because the remaining land was insufficient to support the villagers, the company, at the request of the Mandate government, agreed to lease approximately 3,000 additional dunams back to them until 1927, with an option allowing the villagers to purchase the land before the lease expired.

In 1927, a lawyer representing the inhabitants stated that they wished to exercise their right to purchase the land. The company, however, claimed that the deadline had passed and that ownership had been transferred to the Jewish National Fund.

A prolonged legal dispute followed, while villagers continued cultivating part of the contested land.

In 1937, the Mandate authorities attempted to arrange a land exchange under which sufficient land near Ma'lul would be made available to the villagers in return for state land near Baysan being transferred to the Jewish National Fund, but the proposal was not implemented.

Negotiations resumed in 1946, producing an agreement in principle under which the JNF would relinquish 3,700 dunams near Ma'lul in exchange for 5,433 dunams near Baysan. Disputes over the proposed Baysan land prevented implementation, and the issue remained unresolved as late as May 1947.

Land Ownership

According to the 1944/1945 statistics, the Ma'lul statistical unit covered a total of 4,698 dunams.

Arab ownership amounted to 1,949 dunams, Jewish ownership to 2,719 dunams, while 30 dunams were classified as public land.

Agriculture and Economic Life

The inhabitants of Ma'lul depended primarily on agriculture and livestock raising.

Cereals and olives were among the principal crops, and villagers used a manual press to produce olive oil.

According to the 1944/1945 statistics, 784 Arab-owned dunams were devoted to cereals, while 650 Arab-owned dunams were irrigated or used for plantations.

A further 2,678 dunams of cereal cultivation were recorded under Jewish ownership.

Palestine Remembered records approximately 700 dunams planted with olive trees. This represents a crop category within cultivated land and should not be added separately to the overall land-use total.

Archaeology

In the late nineteenth century, a substantial Roman mausoleum known as Qasr al-Dayr stood immediately outside Ma'lul.

The mausoleum provides evidence of habitation or activity at the site during the Roman period.

Remains of old building foundations, graves, and other archaeological features were also recorded within the village site.

These remains support the possible association between modern Ma'lul and the settlement known as Mahalol in Roman times and Maula in Crusader sources.

Operation Dekel

Operation Dekel began on 8 July 1948 and continued until 18 July.

The operation aimed to expand Israeli control over western and Lower Galilee and resulted in the occupation of extensive areas, including Nazareth and numerous Palestinian villages.

Forces from the Sheva' (Seventh), Carmeli, and Golani Brigades participated in the operation.

During its second stage, Israeli forces advanced toward Saffuriyya, Nazareth, and the surrounding Palestinian villages.

The Occupation and Depopulation of Ma'lul

Ma'lul was occupied during the second stage of Operation Dekel as Israeli forces closed in on Nazareth.

The sources differ slightly over the precise date. Palestine Remembered gives 15 July 1948, while PalQuest's Operation Dekel account places the occupation of Ma'lul and al-Mujaydil on 14 or 15 July.

This article therefore uses the date range 14–15 July 1948.

PalQuest, transmitting an Israeli military account, states that a special unit of the Golani Brigade occupied Ma'lul and nearby al-Mujaydil.

Ma'lul was completely emptied of its Palestinian inhabitants, and most of its houses were subsequently destroyed.

Nazareth itself surrendered on 16 July, immediately after the occupation of Ma'lul.

Information derived from Israeli military sources is cited here only as transmitted through Walid Khalidi and PalQuest and not through direct reliance on the original Israeli sources.

Occupation and Depopulation Chronology

1. 01
   June 1948

   Settlement established at the village before its occupation

   Morris, as cited by Khalidi, states that the settlement of Timurim was established at Ma'lul in June 1948, the month before its occupation; this early date may indicate that it was erected on lands belonging to the village rather than on the village site. The settlement was later transferred to another location north of Qiryat Gat.

2. 02
   8 July 1948

   Beginning of the military operation

   Operation Dekel began on the night of 8 July; during it most of Lower Galilee, including Nazareth, was occupied, with the Sheva' (Seventh), Golani and Carmeli Brigades taking part.

3. 03
   14–15 July 1948

   Final occupation

   A crack unit of the Golani Brigade occupied Ma'lul and neighbouring al-Mujaydil in the second stage of Operation Dekel as the Israeli army closed in on Nazareth. Morris states that it was occupied on 15 July, one day before the capture of Nazareth, while a United Press report at the time indicated that it was occupied one day earlier; Morris adds that the village was completely emptied of its residents and its houses levelled, the sources giving no date for this.

4. 04
   1983

   Settlement on village lands

   The Jewish Agency completed the settlement of Timrat 1.5 km west of the village site, part of it on village land; an agricultural training farm of the same name had operated near the site in the 1950s and was later abandoned.

Settlements and Installations on Ma'lul's Lands

Nahalal

Walid Khalidi and PalQuest do not identify Nahalal as a settlement established on Ma'lul's lands. This article therefore does not list it as such without more specific cadastral evidence.

Timmorim

An account transmitted by Walid Khalidi states that Timmorim was established near Ma'lul in June 1948, approximately one month before the village was occupied.

The early date suggests that it may have been established on Ma'lul's lands rather than on the village site itself. Timmorim was later moved to another location north of Qiryat Gat.

Timrat

An agricultural training farm known as Timrat operated near the Ma'lul site during the 1950s, replacing the original Timmorim location, but was later abandoned.

Plans to reestablish Timrat were developed in the late 1970s, and construction was completed in 1983.

Timrat lies approximately 1.5 kilometres west of the Ma'lul village site, and part of it is located on village land.

Military Base

A military base was also established on Ma'lul's lands.

Kefar ha-Horesh, founded in 1933, and Migdal ha-'Emeq, founded in 1952, are located nearby but stand on lands that belonged to al-Mujaydil rather than Ma'lul, according to Walid Khalidi and PalQuest.

Ma'lul After the Nakba

According to the field documentation relied upon by Walid Khalidi, much of the village site became covered by a pine forest planted after the Nakba.

The mosque and both churches survived, together with remnants of several houses and piles of stone from destroyed buildings.

Parts of the Muslim cemetery and several graves near the mosque also remained visible.

Olive and fig trees and cactus plants continued to grow throughout the site.

At the time of Khalidi's field documentation, the mosque and churches were reportedly used on occasion for purposes associated with livestock.

Later Palestinian documentation published by Palestine Remembered records Easter services at one of Ma'lul's churches in 2006, indicating that the church had subsequently been restored and returned to religious use.

Khalidi's earlier field description should therefore be distinguished from later restoration and religious activity at the site.

Sources

• PalQuest – Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question: Ma'lul.
• PalQuest: معلول.
• PalQuest: Operation Dekel.
• Palestine Remembered: Ma'lul, Nazareth District.
• Walid Khalidi, All That Remains: Ma'lul, as reproduced by Palestine Remembered.
• Walid Khalidi, All That Remains, entry on Ma'lul.
• Government of Palestine, censuses of 1922 and 1931.
• Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, Village Statistics, 1945.