from six tons in 1928 to 1,622 tons in 1944. The major agricultural products were grain, vegetables, and fruit. In 1944/45 a total of 26 dunams was devoted to citrus and bananas, 6,593 to cereals and 287 dunams to orchards, mainly olives. In Sami Hadawi's land and population survey in 1945, the town had a population 1,490; 20 Christians and 1,470 Muslims, and a total land area of 14,250 dunams. Of this, Arabs used 26 dunums for citrus and bananas, 6,593 to cereals; 287 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, while a total of 123 dunams were built-up (urban) land. 1948 war In 1948, al-Tantura was within the area designated by the United Nations in the Partition Plan for the Jewish State. Some of the inhabitants were civil servants, working as policemen, customs officials and clerks at the Haifa Magistrates court. A paved road led to the Haifa Highway. The village was one of the most developed in the region. Some residents of Tantura had been involved in the armed Arab Revolt against the British, and three were killed in a skirmish with the British near the village. At the beginning of the 1948 Palestine war, the wealthier families fled to Haifa. Approximately 1,200 remained in the village, continuing to tend their fields, orchards, and ply their trade as fishermen. Tantura was part of an Arab enclave cutting off the road from Tel Aviv to Haifa. Following attacks by local Arab villages on Jewish traffic from Tel Aviv to Haifa, on May 9, 1948, the Haganah leadership decided to "expel or subdue" the villages of Kafr Saba, al-Tira, Qaqun, Qalansuwa and Tantura. On May 11, David Ben-Gurion advised the Haganah to "focus on its primary task", which according to the New Historian, Ilan Pappe, was the bi'ur (lit. cleansing) of Palestine. According to Tiroshi Eitan (a local commander), the people of Tantura were ready to surrender in early May but not prepared to relinquish their arms. Operation Namal The British controlled the Haifa port area until April 23, 1948. The rest of the city fell to the Carmeli Brigade of the Haganah commanded by Moshe Carmel in Operation Misparayim (scissors). After the Haganah gained control of Haifa, Arab villages on the slopes of Mount Carmel began attacking Jewish traffic on the main road to Haifa. The Alexandroni Brigade was tasked with reducing the Mount Carmel pocket of resistance. Morale