In 1882 the
PEF's
Survey of Western Palestine described it as "a small ruined village, with springs".
British Mandate era In the
1922 census of Palestine conducted by the
British Mandate authorities, Al-Mansi had a population 72; 68 Muslims and 4 Christians, where the Christians were Roman Catholics. This had increased in the
1931 census to 467; 461 Muslims and 6 Christians, in a total of 98 houses. In the
1945 statistics, al-Mansi had 292 houses, most constructed from stone. It had one elementary school, a
mosque and a mill. The land used to be planted with
olives, cereals and vegetable. Al-Mansi had six springs in its vicinity which supplied it with drinking water. In 1945, it had a population of 1,200 inhabitants; 1,180 Muslims and 20 Christians, while 17 dunams were built-up (urban) areas. In addition to agriculture, residents practiced
animal husbandry which formed was an important source of income for the town. In 1943, they owned 1254 heads of
cattle, 995
sheep over a year old, 503
goats over a year old, 54
camels, 64
horses, 3
mules, 307
donkeys, 3298
fowls, and 112
pigeons.
1948 War and aftermath On 9 April 1948,
Golani troops informed their headquarter that "Our forces are fighting in ... Mansi ... We are preparing to destroy the villages when we evacuate them". The newspaper
Filastin reported that
Zionist forces had infiltrated al-Mansi on 9 April, resulting in an exchange of fire with the village's defenders. According to
Fawzi al-Qawuqji, the
Arab Liberation Army forces withdrew to al-Mansi on 11 April, after a "violent" counter-attack. On 12 April, al-Mansi and other villages in its vicinity were attacked by
Haganah troops, and their inhabitants evacuated, and its inhabitants became
refugees, most of them currently living in the
Palestinian refugee camps, or in
Jordan,
Syria,
Germany and the
United States. The following days, the buildings of al-Mansi were blown up by Haganah. Following the war the area was incorporated into the
State of Israel. The
kibbutz of
Midrakh Oz was built close to the village site in 1952, and uses part of the village's former lands. The Palestinian historian
Walid Khalidi described the village in 1992: "The remains of the school and the mosque are still standing in the midst of a thick undergrowth composed of vines and thorny bushes. The exposed foundations of the village buildings, surrounded by stone rubble, can be seen throughout the site. The agricultural kibbutz of Midrakh Oz occupies part of the adjacent land. The rest is used for growing avocado trees and raising poultry and cattle." Some of the people of al-Mansi in Jordan formed a social club in
Amman called
Diwan al-Mansi (), and in 2005 a book on al-Mansi was published. ==References==