Al-Mazar, Haifa

The village name Mazar, which is Arabic for "shrine", "a place one visits", was probably meant to commemorate the many people who were killed and buried there in the wars against the Crusaders.Khalidi, 1992, p.178

A population list from about 1887 showed that el Mizar had about 85 inhabitants; all Muslims.Schumacher, 1888, p. [https://archive.org/stream/quarterlystateme19pale#page/n203/mode/1up 178]

In the British Mandate of Palestine period, in the 1922 census of Palestine ‘’Al Mazar’’ had a population of 134; all Muslims.Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Haifa, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n35/mode/1up 33]

In the 1931 census, Al-Mazar was counted together with Khirbat Al-Manara, Ijzim and Qumbaza. The total population was 2,160; 88 Christians, 2,082 Muslims, in a total of 442 houses.Mills, 1932, p. [https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas 91]

In the 1945 statistics the population was 210, all MuslimsGovernment of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. [http://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/VSpages/VS1945_p14.jpg 14] with a total of 7,976 dunams of land.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20I/Haifa/Page-048.jpg 48] Of this, 5 dunams were for citrus and bananas, 473 were plantations or irrigable land, 3,750 were for cereals,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20II/Haifa/Page-091.jpg 91] while 39 dunams were classified built-up, (urban), land.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20III/Haifa/Page-141.jpg 141]

File:Atlit 1932.jpg

File:Jaba 1945.jpg

The village was first raided by the Israel Forces (IDF) on May 17 during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, with the aim of "rendering [the village] unworthy of use." The IDF encountered only 10-20 Arabs, who ran away, and the troops proceeded to "burn what could be burned." Within days of the IDF's withdrawal, some of the villagers had returned, Arab militants and civilians. The village was permanently depopulated as a result of another IDF military assault in mid-July 1948.Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA438 438] Following the war the area was incorporated into the State of Israel and the kibbutz of Ein Carmel was established partially on al-Mazar's land in 1950.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}

The Maqam (shrine) was located on the lower slopes of a hill.Petersen, 2001, p. [https://www.academia.edu/21620056/Gazetteer_5_K-R 216] In 1881, E. H. Palmer described the name as possibly coming from St. John of Tyre, who was noted in this direction in 1187.de Vogüé, 1860, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Up4aAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA445 445]; as noted in Palmer, 1881, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp00conduoft#page/116/mode/1up 116] Ahya is also a name for John the Baptist.Palmer, 1881, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp00conduoft#page/116/mode/1up 116]

The shrine was surveyed by Ronen and Olami in 1964–65. They found a two roomed structure, facing east–west. The eastern room seemed the oldest; it was a domed rectangular room made of kurkar stone, where the surface were coated with plaster containing Byzantine pottery fragments. The western room was built of limestone.Ronen and Olami, 1978, as given in Petersen, 2001, p. [https://www.academia.edu/21620056/Gazetteer_5_K-R 216]

The shrine has now been destroyed, and the area has been converted into orchards.

{{reflist|25em}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book | editor =Barron, J.B. | title = Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922 |url=https://archive.org/details/PalestineCensus1922 |publisher = Government of Palestine | year = 1923}}
• {{cite book|title=Village Statistics, April, 1945 |url=http://web.nli.org.il/sites/nli/Hebrew/library/Pages/BookReader.aspx?pid=856390|author=Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics|year=1945}}
• {{cite book|title=Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine|url=http://www.palestineremembered.com/Articles/General-2/Story3150.html|first=S.|last=Hadawi|author-link=Sami Hadawi|year=1970|publisher=Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center|access-date=2009-08-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181208215837/http://www.palestineremembered.com/Articles/General-2/Story3150.html|archive-date=2018-12-08|url-status=dead}}
• {{cite book|title=All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_By7AAAAIAAJ |first=W.|last=Khalidi|author-link=Walid Khalidi|year=1992|location=Washington D.C.|publisher=Institute for Palestine Studies|isbn=0-88728-224-5}}
• {{cite book | editor = Mills, E. | title = Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas |url=https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas | publisher = Government of Palestine | location = Jerusalem | year = 1932}}
• {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C |first=B.|last=Morris |author-link=Benny Morris |year=2004 |title=The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited|isbn=978-0-521-00967-6 |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
• {{cite book|last=Palmer|first=E.H.|author-link=Edward Henry Palmer|year=1881|url=https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp00conduoft|title=The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer|publisher=Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund}}
• {{cite book|last=Petersen |first=Andrew |title=A Gazetteer of Buildings in Muslim Palestine (British Academy Monographs in Archaeology)|url=https://www.academia.edu/21620056 |volume =1 |year=2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-727011-0}}
• Ronen, Avraham. Olami, Ya'aqov.(1978): (in Hebrew): Atlit map, Archaeological Survey of Israel. (p. 63-65)
• {{cite journal | last = Schumacher | first =G.| author-link = Gottlieb Schumacher | title = Population list of the Liwa of Akka | journal = Quarterly Statement - Palestine Exploration Fund | volume = 20 | pages = 169–191 | url =https://archive.org/details/quarterlystateme19pale | year = 1888}}
• {{cite book|last=Vogüé, de |first=M.|author-link=Melchior de Vogüé |year=1860 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Up4aAAAAYAAJ |title= Les églises de la Terre Sainte}}

{{refend}}

• [http://www.palestineremembered.com/Haifa/al-Mazar/index.html Welcome To al-Mazar]
• [http://www.zochrot.org/en/village/49257 al-Mazar (Haifa)], Zochrot
• Survey of Western Palestine, Map 5: [http://www.iaa-archives.org.il/zoom/zoom.aspx?folder_id=93&type_id=6&id=8368 IAA], [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Survey_of_Western_Palestine_1880.05.jpg Wikimedia commons]
• [http://www.alnakba.org/villages/haifa/mazar.htm al-Mazar], from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center

{{Palestinian Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestine War}}

Category:Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War

Category:District of Haifa