surround the houses. The site is very rocky. It is inhabited by Derwishes, and is a place of Muslimpilgrimage."
During the mandate period, at the time of the 1931 census, there were 62 inhabited houses in al-Mazar for a population of 257 Muslims. The village was home to Sheik Farhan al Sadi, a prominent leader in the 1936 Arab revolt in Palestine. In 1937, at the age of 75, he was executed by the British authorities for his participation in the revolt.
Agriculture was the backbone of the village economy, which was based on grain, fruit, legume, and olive cultivation. Toward the end of the mandate period, in 1944-45, the villagers allocated 5,221 dunums of land to cereals, 229 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, of which 68 dunums were for olives.
1948, and aftermath
On 19 April, 1948, Palmah HQ (headquarters) ordered the OC (operational command) of the First Battalion to, "destroy enemy bases in Mazar, Nuris and Zir'in Comment: with the capture of Zir'in, most of the village houses must be destroyed while [some] should be left intact for accommodation and defence." According to Benny Morris, the Israeli historian, the policy of destroying the Palestinian villages was characteristic of Haganah attacks in April-May 1948, just before the outbreak of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.However, the specific orders for Al-Mazar were either not acted upon, or did not succeed at once, as the village was not occupied until 30 May, 1948. By that time, it had been captured after an attack by Israeli soldiers from the Golani Brigade, along with the village of Nuris, which lay at the foot of the mountain.
Three Israeli settlements have been established on the land of al-Mazar: Perazon in 1953, Meytav in 1954, and Gan Nir in 1987. The Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi described what remained of al-Mazar in 1992:
The site is overgrown with thorns and cactuses and strewn with stone rubble. None of the village houses or
