the village of al-Mazar, he notes the presence of a spring of the same name, Ain el-Mezar, and on the slopes of this side of the mountain, which are less steep, there were olive trees and wheat being cultivated. In the 1882 the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described the place as: "a village on the summit of the mountain. It is principally built of stone, and has a well to the south-east. A few olives surround the houses. The site is very rocky. It is inhabited by Derwishes, and is a place of Muslim pilgrimage." British Mandate era In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, al-Mazar had a population of 223, all Muslims, increasing slightly in the 1931 census to 257, still all Muslims, in a total of 62 inhabited houses. 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. In the 1945 statistics the population of Al-Mazar was 270 Muslims, with a total of 14,501 dunams of land. Of this, 5,221 dunums were used for cereals, 229 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, of which 68 dunums were for olives, while 9 dunams were built-up (urban) land. Farhan al-Sa'di (1856–1937) was born in al-Mazar. He is thought to be the first to use a weapon during the 1936 revolt. 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,