Welcome To al-Mujaydil - المجيدل (אל-מג'ידל)

District of Nazareth Ethnically cleansed days ago	العربية Google Earth
	Gallery (22)

Statistic & Fact

Value

Occupation Date

July 15, 1948

Distance From District

6 (km) South West of Nazareth

Elevation

230 (meters)

Before & After Nakba, Click Map For Details

Pre-Nakba Map showing before and after destruction

Pre-Nakba Aerial View

Map Location

See location #3 on the map

View from satellite

Attacking Units

Golani Brigade

Refugees' Migration Routes

About 1,200 refugees from al-Mujaydil had reportedly reached Nazareth by the end of July, 1948.

Village Temains

al-Mujaydil was mostly destroyed with the exception of the monastery and a partially destroyed church.

Ethnically Cleansing

al-Mujaydil inhabitants were completely ethnically cleansed.

Pre-Nakba
Land Ownership

Ethnic Group	Land Ownership (Dunums)*
Arab	18,165
Jewish	485
Public	186
**Total	18,836

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

Land Usage
As of 1945

Land Usage	Arab (Dunum)*	Jewish (Dunum)*
Irrigated & Plantation	1,685	34
Olive Groves	1,600	0
Planted W/ Cereal	15,037	437
Built up	34	0
Arable	16,722	471
Non-Arable	1,595	14

*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics

Population

Year	Population*
1596	22
19th century	800
1912	853
1922	1,009
1931	1,241
1945	1,900
1948	2,204
Est. Refugees 1998	13,535

*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics

Number of Houses

In (1931): 293 (includes 'Arab al-Khurayfat)

Near By Towns

	Ma'lul ↑ (N)
	al-Mujaydil	→ Yaffa
	↓ Affula

Schools

There were two elementary schools in al-Mujaydil, one for boys and the other for girls.

Local Council

al-Mujaydil had a local council that administered its local affairs.

Places of Warship

The village had a Roman Catholic church and a monastery.

Nearby Wadies & Rivers

The village is situated on the southern slopes of Wadi al-Mujaydil.

Water Supply

Several springs flowed in the vicinity of the Wadi al-Mujaydil..

Archeological Sites

Traces of a Roman road were found close to the village.

Exculsive Jewish Colonies
Who Usurped Village Lands

Migdal ha-'Emeq (founded by Iranian Jews in in 1952) and Yifat.

Village Before Nakba

The village stood on the gently-sloping, southern slopes of Wadi al-Mujaydil, on the Nazareth–Haifa highway. In 1596, al-Mujaydil was in the nahiya of Tabariyya (liwa' of Safad) with a population of twenty-two. It paid taxes on wheat, barley, fruit trees, goats, and beehives. In the late nineteenth century al-Mujaydil was described as a 'flourishing' village built of stone and mud. It was on the northern side of a small plateau, and olive groves were cultivated to the east and south. The number of its residents was estimated at 800 (in 1859); they cultivated 100 faddans (1 faddan = 100–250 dunums). Several springs flowed in the vicinity of the village, mainly in the southwest. Al-Mujaydil had a triangular outline; its houses were clustered closely together, and were made of stone and mud, stone and cement, or concrete. In 1945 it was the third largest village in the sub-disctrict in terms of population; it had 1,640 Muslims and 260 Christian inhabitants. There were two elementary schools in al-Mujaydil, one for boys and one for girls. The village also had a Roman Catholic church and a monastery, and a local council that administered its affairs.

A Survey of Palestine estimates the council's expenditures at 36 Palestinian pounds (P£) in 1929 but offers no figures for subsequent years. The Palestine Gazette shows that these expenditures amounted to P£80 in 1937 and then fell to P£34 in 1942, although the revenues continued to grow. Agriculture was the backbone of the economy; the most important crop was grain. In 1944/45 a total of 14,982 dunums was allotted to cereals; 1,685 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, the bulk of which (1,600 dunums) was planted with olive trees. AI-Mujaydil was the second largest olive producer in the sub-district and had two mechanical olive presses in operation. Traces of a Roman road were found close to the village, which may indicate that the region was opened to intensive settlement as early as Roman times.

Village Occupation and Ethnic Cleaning

Like neighboring Ma'lul, al-Mujaydil was occupied by a unit of the Golani Brigade, according to the History of the Haganah. That occurred on 14 or 15 July 1948, during the second stage of Operation Dekel (see 'Amqa, Acre sub-district), as the Israeli army closed in on Nazareth. The attack on this village misled the defenders of Nazareth into believing that the city would be attacked from the south. The History of the Haganah states: 'It seems that the Arabs of Nazareth were confident of their ability to repulse any attack from that direction [i.e. the south],' but it goes on to describe how the assault on Nazareth proceeded from the northwest, by Israeli units concentrated in the previously occupied town of Shafa 'Amr.

AI-Mujaydil was one of the villages in Lower Galilee that was completely emptied of its inhabitants and then razed to the ground. About 1,200 refugees from al-Mujaydil had reportedly reached Nazareth by the end of July 1948, but it is not clear whether they remained there.

Zionists Colonies on Village Lands

Jewish immigrants from Iran established the settlement of Migdal ha-'Emeq (172231) in 1952 on village land, less than 1 km southwest of the village site. The older settlement of Yif'at (171231), established in 1926 on what were traditionally village lands, is 2 km west of the site.

Village Today

Most of the site is covered with a pine forest that serves as an Israeli park. The monastery and parts of the (destroyed) church are the only remaining buildings on the site; monks still live in the monastery (see photos section). Remnants of destroyed houses and the walls of a cemetery are visible. Cactuses and pomegranate, olive, and fig trees grow around the site, which is dotted with wells.

Source

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

Want to browse more? 80,000 pictures were grouped in these gallaries:

Pre-Nakba Aerial view of the village / صورة من الجو للقرية اخذت قبل النكبة

Display Name	Clan/Hamolah	Country of Residence
ايمن محمد جبر احمد يوسف قويدر	ال سيف	عمان
رياض نصار	نصار	-
محمد غازي	-	Damascus, syria
لمية سلام	-	دمشق, سوريا
ebn el medjedel	-	algeria
الكرمل	-	-
سميه قويدر	ال سيف	-
ابو عبيد	عبيد	الناصرة
جمال صالح	الشناشري	-
hussam	-	ankara, Turkey

All Registered Members

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وقفة على اطلال المجيدل(الجزء الاول)-- بعدسة جواد واكد Duration: 19 min 10 sec
الذاكرة مفتاح العودة-الحلقة 55- المجيدل Duration: 23 min 22 sec

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