2,000 dunams of Ma'alul's land to the Zionist Palestine Land Development Company. Zionist pioneers founded the moshav of Nahalal on that land the same year. The remaining 2,000 dunums were insufficient to support the village's population, so at the request of the Mandate government, the company agreed to lease an additional 3,000 dunams to the villagers until 1927. The villagers had the option to buy this land before the lease expired. According to the British Mandate's 1922 census of Palestine, Ma'alul had 436 inhabitants; 186 Muslims and 250 Christians, where all the Christians were Orthodox. By the 1931 census the population had decreased to 390; 228 Muslims, and 162 Christians, in a total of 90 houses. In the 1945 statistics the population of Ma'alul was 690; 490 Muslims and 200 Christians, with a total of 4,698 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, a total of 650 dunams were for plantations and irrigable land, 3,462 for cereals, while 29 dunams were built-up land. 1948, and aftermath The village was captured by the Israeli army on 15 July 1948 during Operation Dekel. The villagers were forced to leave and the houses destroyed. In 1949 an Israeli military base was built on village land. Walid Khalidi describes the remains of Ma'alul in 1992:The village site is now covered with a pine forest planted by the Jewish National Fund and dedicated to the memory of prominent Jews and some non-Jewish Americans and Europeans. A military base is also on the site. The mosque and two churches still stand, and are used intermittently as cow sheds by the residents of Kibbutz Kefar ha-Choresh. Overlooking Wadi al-Halabi, between the village site and the site of al-Mujaydil, is an Israeli plastics factory. Cactus, olive trees, and fig trees grow on the site, which is strewn with piles of stones. A few tombs in the Muslim cemetery across from the mosque can be seen. The main village site also contains the remains of houses. Documentary: Ma'loul Celebrates its Destruction Ma'alul was the object of the 1985 documentary film by Michel Khleifi; Ma'loul Celebrates its Destruction. References Bibliography External links Welcome To Ma'lul Ma'alul, Zochrot Survey of Western Palestine, Map 5: IAA, Wikimedia commons Ma'lul, at Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center Ma3lul photos from Dr. Moslih Kanaaneh The Palestinian narrative has won, By Oudeh Basharat, Haaretz, 24.03.2011 Arab villages depopulated during the 1948