The village may have been named
al-Mazar (Arabic for "shrine", "a place one visits"
Ottoman era During the period of
Ottoman rule over
Palestine, al-Mazar was captured and burned by
Napoleon's troops in April 1799 during the Syrian leg of his
military campaign in Egypt.
Pierre Jacotin named the village
Nazer on his map from that campaign. In 1870,
V. Guérin visited al-Mazar, describing it as a village with about 500 inhabitants, situated at the peak of ''Djebel Foukou'ah
, and surrounded by a belt of gigantic cactus plants. Numerous wells carved in the rock were said to point to the antiquity of the village. From the village, he could see the whole of Djebel Foukou'ah
, which he identifies as the Mount Gilboa of biblical scripture, as well as the Jezreel Valley, the Little Hermon (actually Djebel Dhahy
), Mount Tabor, and further north, the snowy peaks of Mount Hermon. Also seen from the village to the west and northwest were the Plain of Esdraelon and the Carmel Mountains; to the south, the mountains around Jenin; and to the east, before the Jordan River, what he calls the ancient country of Galaad
. He notes that the name of Mount Gilboa is preserved in the name of the village of Djelboun
, also situated on the mountain. Descending the mountain towards the west-southwest, at the base of 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. 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, 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. == Folklore ==