al-Mazar also abandoned their villages. The ALA unsuccessfully attempted to recapture Zir'in two days later. On July 10, the Iraqi Army based in Jenin, intended to recapture the village, but were unable to break through Israeli lines, followed by another unsuccessful attempt on July 19, after the second truce of the war. The final armistice line was drawn just to the south of Zir'in. Israel Following the war, the area was incorporated into the State of Israel. The kibbutz of Yizre'el was established on the northwestern side of Zir'in in August 1948. The tower house In the 19th century this was described as the Castle of Zir'in, which was used as an inn (manzil) for travellers. A representative for the Palestine Antiquities Museum (PAM), Mr Husseini, visited Zir'in in 1941, and noted: "S-E. of Church in a lane a part of a wall about 8m. long with two rough courses of masonry...S. within house of Abdul Karim Abdul Hadi in an open yard more building foundations are visible to N. two medieval vaults known as el-Uqud." Denys Pringle believes the vaults are part of the destroyed Crusader castle, but according to Petersen, they could equally well be from the Mamluk time. Petersen, who inspected the place in 1994, notes that the appearance of the building indicate that it was constructed over a long period of time. Geography Situated on a plateau off the Mount Gilboa, Zir'in was not much higher than the surrounding Jezreel Valley at its southern and western sides, with an average elevation of above sea level. To the north and east was Wadi al-Jalut. Located north of Jenin, it was the northernmost locality in the Jenin District, and alongside a lateral road linking two highways; one towards Jenin, the other towards Baysan. Nearby localities included Nuris to the southeast, Sandala to the south, Zububa to the southwest, Sulam to the north, and Qumya to the northeast. In 1945, it consisted of 23,920 dunams. The majority of the village lands (20,964 dunams) were allocated for cereals, while the built-up area of Zir'in consisted of 81 dunams. Demographics Zir'in had a population of 22 in 1596 according to Ottoman records. In 1922, a British Mandate survey recorded a population of 722, rising to 978 in the 1931 census. According to Sami Hadawi's population survey, Zir'in had a population of 1,420, an increase of roughly 1.5% since 1931. All of