Ma'alul

Ma'alul معلول Ma'lul, Maalul, Maaloul, Mahlul
A restored Catholic Church of Ma'alul in July 2010
Etymology: from personal name[1]
1870s map 1940s map modern map 1940s with modern overlay map A series of historical maps of the area around Ma'alul (click the buttons)
Ma'alul Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 32°41′44″N 35°14′22″E / 32.69556°N 35.23944°E / 32.69556; 35.23944
Palestine grid	172/233
Geopolitical entity	Mandatory Palestine
Subdistrict	Nazareth
Date of depopulation	15 July 1948[4]
Area [3]
• Total	4,698 dunams (4.698 km2 or 1.814 sq mi)
Population  (1945)
• Total	690[2][3]
Cause(s) of depopulation	Military assault by Yishuv forces
Current Localities	Migdal HaEmek, Kfar HaHoresh, Timrat,[5][6] and an Israeli military base

Ma'alul (Arabic: معلول) was a Palestinian village, with a mixed population of primarily Muslims with a substantial minority of Palestinian Christians, that was depopulated and destroyed by Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Located six kilometers west of the city of Nazareth,^[7] many of its inhabitants became internally displaced refugees, after taking refuge in Nazareth^[8] and the neighbouring town of Yafa an-Naseriyye.^[9] Despite having never left the territory that came to form part of Israel, the majority of the villagers of Maalul, and other Palestinian villages like Andor and Al-Mujidal, were declared "absentees", allowing the confiscation of their land under the Absentees Property Law.^[10]

Today, much of the former village's lands are owned by the Jewish National Fund.^[11] All that remains of its former structures are two churches, a mosque and a Roman-era mausoleum, known locally as Qasr al-Dayr ("Castle of the monastery").^[7]