Info
District: Safed
Occupation date: 01/05/1948
Jewish settlements on village/town land before 1948: None
Jewish settlements on village/town land after 1948: None
Background:
Madahil Before 1948
The village was situated in a flat area on the northeastern edge of the al-Hula Plain, about 1 km east of Wadi Banyas. Madahil was less than 1 km south of Tall al-Turmus, a small mound that has produced evidence of a settlement dating to the fourth millennium B.C.
Occupation and Depopulation
A thrust into eastern Galilee was initiated on 15 April 1948 by aHaganah brigade specially formed for this purpose. Israeli intelligence reported in June that many Palestinians evacuated their villages during the offensive out of a fear of attack. According to Israeli historian Benny Morris, Madahil was one of these villages; its residents left on 30Apr11. Morris gives no information about their destination. The evacuation occurred before the Zionist assault on Safad on 10 -11 May and might have been hastened by an actual mortar attack by the Haganah. Such attacks were frequently launched on villages near Safad
Israeli Settlements on Village Lands
The settlement of Kefar Szold , though not on village lands, is 1.5 km southeast of the village site; it was founded in 1942.
The Village Today
There are no traces of any village structures. The site is covered with grass, cane, and cactuses. The surrounding land is cultivated by the settlement of Kefar Szold.
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Source: al-Khalidi, Walid (ed.). All that remains: the Palestinian villages occupied and depopulated by Israel in 1948. Washington DC: 1992.