Welcome To al-Mazar - المزار (אל-מזאר)

District of Jinin Ethnically cleansed days ago	العربية Google Earth
	Gallery (7)

Statistic & Fact

Value

Occupation Date

May 30, 1948

Distance From District

9 (km) Northeast of Jinin

Elevation

400 (meters)

Before & After Nakba, Click Map For Details

Pre-Nakba Map showing before and after destruction

Map Location

See location #5 on the map

View from satellite

Military Operation

Operation Gidion

Attacking Units

Fourth Battalion of the Golani Brigade

Defenders

Yarmuk Battalion of Arab Liberation Army volunteers, and some local Palestinian militia and Iraqi Army.

Exodus Cause

Military assault by Zionist troops

Village Temains

al-Mazar was completely obliterated and defaced.

Ethnically Cleansing

al-Mazar inhabitants were completely ethnically cleansed.

Pre-Nakba
Land Ownership

Ethnic Group	Land Ownership (Dunums)*
Arab	14,472
Jewish	0
Public	29
**Total	14,501

*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
**Town Lands' Demarcation Maps

Land Usage
As of 1945

Land Usage	Arab (Dunum)*
Irrigated & Plantation	229
Olive Groves	68
Planted W/ Cereal	5,221
Built up	9
Arable	5,450
Non-Arable	9,042

*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics

Population

Year	Population*
1922	223
1931	257
1945	270
1948	313
Est. Refugees 1998	1,923

*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics

Number of Houses

Year	Number of Houses
1931	62
1948	75

Near By Towns

Zir'in ↖	Nuris ↑ (N)	Qumya ↗
Zionist Colonies ←	al-Mazar	→ al-Sakhina
↙ 'Arrana	↓ 'Arabbuna	↘ 'Arabbuna

Town's Name Through History

The village may have been named after the burial places for many of those who were killed during the decisive battle of 'Ayn Jalut (1260), in which the Mamluks of Egypt triumphed over the Mongols.

Inhabitants Place of Origin

The villagers traced their origins to al-Sa'diyyun nomads who in turn were descended from al-Shaykh Sa'd al-Din al-Shaybani (d. 1224), a prominent Sufi mystic from the village of Jaba' in the Golan Heights, Syria.

Town's Notable People

al-Mazar was the home of al-Shaykh Farhan al-Sa'di, a prominent leader of the 1936 Palestinian rebellion against the British Mandate.

Exculsive Jewish Colonies
Who Usurped Village Lands

Perazon, Meytav, and Gan Nir.

Village Before Nakba

The village stood on the flat, circular peak of Mount al-Mazar. The mountain sloped steeply on all sides except the southeast, where the land rose to join the peaks of the nearby Jaylun Mountains. AI-Mazar was linked by a dirt path to the village of Nuris below it (see Nuris, Jenin sub-disctrict) and by another path to two adjacent villages. It may have been named al-Mazar (Arabic for 'a shrine,' 'a place one visits') because it was the burial place for many of those who fell in the decisive battle of 'Ayn Jalut (1260), in which the Mamluks of Egypt triumphed over the Mongols. In the late nineteenth century, al-Mazar was a village built of stone on the summit of a mountain. Although the terrain was very rocky, a few olive trees were planted around the houses and a well had been dug to the southeast.

The people of al-Mazar were Muslims. They traced their origins to the al-Sa'diyyun nomads who in turn were descended from Shaykh Sa'd aI-Din al-Shaybani (d. 1224), a prominent Sufi mystic from the village of Jaba in the Golan, Syria. The village was inhabited by members of a Sufi order and was a place of Muslim pilgrimage. [[SWP (1881) II:85]] It was the home of Shaykh Farhan al-Sa'di, a prominent leader of the 1936 Palestinian revolt. AI-Mazar had a mosque in its eastern section.

The houses of al-Mazar occupied the peak of the mountain, surrounded by agricultural land. Agriculture, the backbone of the village economy, was based on grain, fruits, legumes, and olives. In 1944/45 a total of 5,221 dunums was allocated to cereals; 229 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, of which 68 dunums were for olives.

Village Occupation and Ethnic Cleaning

Israeli forces broke through to al-Mazar and occupied it after they had captured the villages of Nuris and Zir'in on 30 May 1948. The History of the War of Independence states that the unit involved was the Fourth Battalion of the Golani Brigade. Earlier, in April, Palmach headquarters had issued orders to its First Battalion 'to destroy enemy bases' in all three villages, but these orders do not seem to have been acted upon immediately. Shortly after occupying this village, Israeli forces went on to strike at the town of Jenin, which they did not succeed in holding.

Zionists Colonies on Village Lands

There are three Israeli settlements on village lands: Perazon (179216), founded in 1953; Meytav (178216), founded in 1954; and Gan Nir, founded in 1987.

Village Today

The site is overgrown with thorns and cactuses and strewn with stone rubble. None of the village houses or landmarks remain. Almond trees and cactuses grow on parts of the village lands. The hilly lands are used as grazing areas, and other parts are covered with forest (see photos section).

Source

Dr. Walid al-Khalidi, 1992: All That Remains.

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sa3di84	Al-Sadi	-
R_SA3DI	السعدي	jordan
muhammed Al-Sa`di	Alsa`di	amman
mansour	alsadi	-
Ahmad Tawfiq Saleem Al Sa'adi	Al Sa'adi	-
Amin Al-Sadi	Al-Sadi	-
goalsadi	alsadi	malaysia
Fadi Audah	-	-
isam alsadi	al-sadi	-

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