Maghar, Israel#Demographics

Maghar is identified with Mearaia ({{langx|he|מעריה}}), a place mentioned in Jewish sources as the seat of the Bilgah priestly family following the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE.{{Cite journal |last=Avi-Yonah |first=Michael |date=1976 |title=Gazetteer of Roman Palestine |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43587090 |journal=Qedem |volume=5 |pages=79 |issn=0333-5844}}

Pottery remains from the early Roman period have been found here, together with architectural remains and pottery fragments from the Late Roman period.Jaffe, 2010, [http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=1341&mag_id=117 Maghar] A quarry has also been excavated.Jaffe, 2011, [http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=1832&mag_id=118 Maghar]

The city's name comes from the Arabic word for "the caves".

The village was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of Palestine, and in 1555 a tax was paid on silk spinning.Rhode, 1979, p. [https://www.academia.edu/2026845/The_Administration_and_Population_of_the_Sancak_of_Safed_in_the_Sixteenth_Century 145] In 1596 the village appeared in the tax registers as Magar Hazur, located in the nahiya of Tabariyya, part of Sanjak Safad with an entirely Muslim population consisting of 169 households and 17 bachelors. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on various agricultural products, including wheat, barley, olive trees, goats and/or beehives, in addition on a press for olives or grapes, a total of 14,136 akçe.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 187.Note that Rhode, 1979, p. [https://www.academia.edu/2026845/The_Administration_and_Population_of_the_Sancak_of_Safed_in_the_Sixteenth_Century 6] writes that the Safad register that Hütteroth and Abdulfattah studied was not from 1595/6, but from 1548/9

In 1838, el Mughar was noted as a Christian and Druze village in the Esh-Shagur district, located between Safad, Acca and Tiberias.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol. 3, 2nd appendix, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/133/mode/1up 133]Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol. 3, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/n256/mode/1up 239]

In 1875 Victor Guérin found the village, which he called el-Mehar, to be a large one with 1200 inhabitants. It was divided into three-quarters, with Muslim, Christian and Druse inhabitants.Guérin, 1880, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongogr01unkngoog#page/n470/mode/1up 457]-458 In 1881, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine described El Mughar as a "large stone-built village, containing about 1,100 Moslems, Druses, and Christians, situated on the slope of the hill, with extensive olive-groves to the south and west; a large spring and birkeh

gives a good supply of water."Conder and Kitchener, 1881, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp01conduoft#page/364/mode/1up 364]

A population list from about 1887 showed El Mughar el Hazzur to have about 1,360 inhabitants; 180 Muslims, 625 Druze and 420 Catholic Christians.Schumacher, 1888, p. [https://archive.org/stream/quarterlystateme19pale#page/n199/mode/1up 174]

File:PikiWiki Israel 16451 Geography of Israel.JPG khalwa in Maghar]]

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Mughar wa Mansura had a total population of 1377. Of these, 265 were Muslim, 676 Druze and 436 Christians.Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Tiberias, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n41/mode/1up 39] All the Christians were Roman Catholic.Barron, 1923, Table XVI, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n53/mode/1up 51] In the 1931 census the population of Maghar, together with Al-Mansura, was a total of 1733, in 373 inhabited houses. Of these, 307 were Muslim, 549 Christians, and 877 Druze.Mills, 1932, p. [https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas 83]

In the 1945 statistics the population of Maghar, together with Al-Mansura, was 2,140;Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20I/Tiberias/Page-072.jpg 72] 90 Muslims, 800 Christians and 1,250 others.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. [http://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/VSpages/VS1945_p12.jpg 12] who owned 55,583 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey. 7,864 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 18,352 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/Tiberias/Page-122.jpg 122] while 55 dunams were 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/Tiberias/Page-172.jpg 172]

File:PikiWiki Israel 18284 Cities in Israel.jpg

File:PikiWiki Israel 17800 Cities in Israel.JPG

During Operation Hiram, October 29–31, 1948, the town surrendered to the advancing Israeli army. Many of the inhabitants fled north but some stayed and were not expelled by the Israeli soldiers.Morris, 1987, p. 226 The town remained under Martial Law until 1966.

In 2005 Druze attacked Christians after rumors spread that some Christian youths created photo images of Druze girls as nude models and posted them on the internet.{{cite web|first =Jack|last =Khoury|url= https://www.haaretz.com/2005-02-11/ty-article/druze-christian-clashes-cool-off-in-maghar/0000017f-dbd5-d3a5-af7f-fbff802c0000 |title=Druze-Christian Clashes Cool Off in Maghar|date =February 11, 2005 |publisher=Haaretz}}{{cite web|url=https://www.news24.com/World/News/Clashes-over-naked-women-20050212|title=Clashes over 'naked women'|date =February 12, 2005 |publisher=News24}} Christian shops, vehicle, house and the church were vandalized. The clashes forced around 2,000 of the Christians to flee their homes.{{cite web|url=http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Patriarch-and-Nuncio-to-visit-village-where-Druze-attacked-Christians-2603.html|title=Patriarch and Nuncio to visit village where Druze attacked Christians|date =August 2, 2005 |publisher=Asianews}} According to Jack Khoury this clash may be a result of animosity between the wealthier Christian population and the poorer Druze. According to the police investigation, it turns out that a Druze youth had spread lie to his friends about the pictures.{{cite web|url=http://www.comeandsee.com/view.php?sid=608 |title=Druze teen admits spreading rumor that sparked Maghar riots|date =February 14, 2005 |publisher=Comeandsee}}{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/mar/14/israel|title= Christians flee homes after Druze youths riot|date =March 14, 2005 |publisher=The Guardian}} Dan Ronen the commander of Northern District commander called the violence "a pogrom".

During the 2006 Israel–Lebanon conflict two residents of Maghar were killed and several wounded in Hezbollah rocket and cluster bomb attacks.{{Cite news|title=In Israel: Arabs are among the dead and wounded in Hezbollah rocket attacks|work=Casualties of War: Families|url=http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/08/05/MNG21KBVH41.DTL|date=August 5, 2006|author=Kalman, Matthew|publisher=San Francisco Chronicle|access-date=2008-05-16}}{{Cite web|title=Lebanon/Israel: Hezbollah Hit Israel with Cluster Munitions During Conflict|url=http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/10/18/lebano14412_txt.htm|publisher=Human Rights Watch|access-date=2008-05-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081008011528/http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/10/18/lebano14412_txt.htm|archive-date=2008-10-08|url-status=dead}} On July 25, Doua Abbas, 15, was killed by a rocket that hit her house. On August 4, Manal Azzam, a 27-year-old mother of two, was killed, and two other residents were seriously wounded when a rocket hit their apartment building.[http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/CASUALTIES-OF-WAR-FAMILIES-IN-ISRAEL-Arabs-2514814.php Arabs are among the dead and wounded in Hezbollah rocket attacks]{{cite news|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3286247,00.html|title=3 killed in rocket attacks on north|author=Einav, Hagai|date=August 4, 2006|access-date=2008-05-16|work=Ynetnews}}

Following a Facebook post supporting the 2017 Temple Mount shooting by a Muslim resident of Maghar, the hometown of one of the Druze victims, two mosques in the village were attacked in two separate incidents on the nights of July 14 and 16 with stun grenades and gunfire resulting in minor property damage.[https://news.walla.co.il/item/3081346 Again: Stun grenade and gunfire at mosques in the village of the policeman killed in terror attack], Walla, July 17, 2017[http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-4990242,00.html "Incitement between Druze and Muslims": Grenades and gunfire in village where murdered policeman lived], YNet, July 17, 2017[https://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-4989382,00.html In response to a Facebook status endorsing the terrorist attack: Stun grenade thrown at Mosque in Maghar], YNET, July 15, 2017 Israeli Police were on the scene of the attacks within minutes, where they gathered evidence and opened an investigation.{{cite news |url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/mosques-in-slain-policemans-village-targeted-again/ |title=Mosques in slain policeman's village targeted again |last=Winer |first=Stuart |date=July 17, 2017 |work=Times of Israel |access-date=July 21, 2017}}

File:PikiWiki Israel 17793 Religion in Israel.JPG in Maghar]]

Most residents are Druze (57.9%), with Arab Christians (21%) and Muslim (21.1%) minorities.{{cite web|url=https://www.cbs.gov.il/he/publications/DocLib/2018/local_authorities16_1722/612_0481.pdf|title=Municipal Profiles – Maghar|publisher=Israel Central Bureau of Statistics|year=2016|access-date=January 8, 2019}}Gutterman, Dov. [https://www.fotw.info/flags/il-lcmgr.html Mughar (Israel)] CRW Flags. Many of the Druze residents serve in the IDF and Israel Police.[http://www.haaretz.com/news/druze-christian-clashes-cool-off-in-maghar-1.150057 Druze Christian Clashes Cool off in Maghar] The Christian population is mostly Melkite Catholic.

In August 2003 the Israel Circus School established a joint Jewish-Arab "Children’s Circus" together with its partner, Circus Maghar. A group of 20 Jewish and Arab children trained for the circus. In addition to local performances, the circus school toured Cyprus, giving workshops and performances for Christian and Muslim schools and community centers.{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100817215428/http://israelcircusschool.com/?page_id=2 Israel Circus School and Circus Maghar]}}

• Mansour Abbas (born 1974), politician
• Naim Araidi (1950–2015), professor of Hebrew literature at Haifa University and Bar Ilan University, was appointed Israel's ambassador to Norway in 2012[http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4238948,00.html Integration at Israel's embassy in Norway]
• Suliman Bashear (1947–1991), was a leading Druze Arab scholar and professor, who taught at Birzeit University, An-Najah National University, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Bashear was noted for his work on the early historiography of Islam
• Ihab Khatib, soldier{{cite news|last1=Mualem|first1=Mazal|title=Druze Knesset member slams Arab leaders as 'weak'|url=http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/07/hamad-amar-druze-liberman-israeli-arabs-leadership-kidnapp.html#ixzz4o804TkI|access-date=July 28, 2017|publisher=Al-Monitor|date=July 1, 2014}}
• Salman Masalha, poet, writer, essayist and translatorHannan Hever, [http://israel.poetryinternationalweb.org/piw_cms/cms/cms_module/index.php?obj_id=3148&x=1 "Not my Mother Tongue"]
• Daud Turki, a Palestinian-Arab poet and the leader of the Jewish-Arab socialist group called the Red FrontThe diaries of Abraham the Bolshevik http://www.aljabha.org/q/barhom-albolshofi.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090319225044/http://www.aljabha.org/q/barhom-albolshofi.pdf |date=March 19, 2009 }}

• Arab localities in Israel
• Druze in Israel

{{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 journal|last=Braun|first=Eliot |date=June 9, 2004|url=http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=74&mag_id=108 |title= Maghar Archive Report- Final Report|publisher=Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel|number=116}}
• {{cite book

|last1=Conder|first1=C.R.|author-link1=Claude Reignier Conder

|last2=Kitchener|first2=H.H.|author-link2=Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener

|year=1881|url=https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp01conduoft|title=The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology|location=London|publisher=Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund

|volume=1}}

• {{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

|last=Guérin|first=V.|author-link=Victor Guérin

|title=Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine

|url=https://archive.org/details/descriptiongogr01unkngoog|volume=3: Galilee, pt. 1|year=1880|publisher= L'Imprimerie Nationale|location=Paris|language=fr}}

• {{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}}

• {{cite book

| last1= Hütteroth |first1=W.-D.|author-link1=Wolf-Dieter Hütteroth

| last2=Abdulfattah|first2=K. |author-link2=Kamal Abdulfattah

| title = Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=wqULAAAAIAAJ | year = 1977 | publisher = Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft|isbn= 3-920405-41-2}}

• {{cite journal|last=Jaffe|first=Gilad Bezal’el |date=February 28, 2010|url=http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=1341&mag_id=117 |title= Maghar Final Report|publisher=Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel|number=122}}
• {{cite journal|last=Jaffe|first=Gilad Bezal’el |date=October 9, 2011|url=http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=1832&mag_id=118|title= Maghar Final Report|publisher=Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel|number=123}}
• {{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

|last=Morris |first=B. |author-link=Benny Morris

|year=1987

|title=The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem |isbn=0-521-33028-9 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/birthofpalestini00morr }}

• {{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 thesis|type=PhD

|last=Rhode |first=H.|author-link=Harold Rhode

|date=1979

|url=https://www.academia.edu/2026845

|title=Administration and Population of the Sancak of Safed in the Sixteenth Century |publisher=Columbia University}}

• {{cite book

|last1=Robinson|first1=E.|author-link1=Edward Robinson (scholar)

|last2=Smith|first2=E.|author-link2=Eli Smith

|year=1841

|url=https://archive.org/details/biblicalresearch03robiuoft |title=Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838| location=Boston|publisher=Crocker & Brewster|volume=3}}

• {{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}}

{{refend}}

{{Commons category}}

• [https://al-maghar.co.il/ar/ Official website] {{in lang|ar}}
• [https://www.facebook.com/magharCouncil/ Facebook page of Maghar]
• [http://www.palestineremembered.com/GeoPoints/Maghar_1389/index.html Welcome To Maghar]
• Survey of Western Palestine, Map 6: [https://web.archive.org/web/20150627182059/http://www.iaa-archives.org.il/zoom/zoom.aspx?folder_id=93&type_id=6&id=8369 IAA], [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Survey_of_Western_Palestine_1880.06.jpg Wikimedia commons]

{{Arab localities in Israel footer|uncollapsed}}

{{Northern District (Israel)}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Arab localities in Israel

Category:Arab Christian communities in Israel

Category:Druze communities in Israel

Category:Local councils in Northern District (Israel)