ed under military conditions, but nonetheless they expelled all the residents after a few days. There was a man who stayed and demanded the lands and then they deported him to Tarshicha. I heard that he was staying with the Bishara family. I lived there. I would present myself at the police station every day.
"One day I heard there was an assembly in Pki’in. I wanted to come to the assembly, to know what was happening with my wife and daughter. It was forbidden to go out of Tarshicha. My wife and my daughter had stayed in Majdal. I arrived at the assembly in Pki’in. The police came to look for us and some people took me to the house of some falahim [peasants]. The police didn’t find me. The following day I came to Tarshicha. They told me that the police had been looking for me. The captain told me that I had been in Pki’in, told me to clean the stables. I refused. He beat me. I told him he would pay for it. He brought me back to Acre. From there they brought me back to Tarshicha. I was detained. In the evening people from the army came, apologized for the beating, and said that I would be free on the condition that I would not complain about it to the Knesset or to a lawyer. Free to be in Tarshicha. If I submitted a complaint they would put me on trial. I agreed. I returned to the Bishara family. I wanted to go out to work, to leave the prison. I agreed not to complain. People from the communist party wanted me to complain. They submitted a parliamentary question to the Knesset. They took me to court and sentenced me to four months in Jaffa prison. I was released in September 1950.
"I arrived in Majdal. The army controlled the city. I saw people with furniture and clothing, there were people who wanted to leave for Jordan. Some of the people wanted to stay. The following day they took me to Acre and to Tarshicha. I hadn’t presented myself at the police station. I worked a little while. In November 1950 I got a letter that my wife and daughter were in Lod. I returned to Acre to get a permit to return. Reiss, the governor, was responsible for the whole Galilee. He said he would give me a house, I could go back to work. I told him that as long as he was in military uniform I didn’t want it. He gave me a letter. I returned to Lod, and from there to Ramle at the instructions of the communist party, to manage the branch. I didn’t want to be in the prison of Tarshicha. In Tarshicha I was in prison, I couldn’t leave the borders of the village. In Ramle I worked in agriculture and later in a factory, until I retired. I raised seven children.
"Before 1948 in Majdal they would weave, weaving was an important source of income for the residents of Majdal. Every house had a loom and people would make a living from it. The whole family would work. The standard of living was good. During World War II Majdal became wealthy, they let them bring fabric from India for weaving. The whole family would work on the loom. There were also lands and orchards. A large and wealthy city. They would come here from every area, to the shuk, to the flour mill. During the period of martial law they continued to work in weaving and agriculture in cooperation with the Histadrut [Israeli national labor union]. Mor, from the Histadrut, didn’t let them expel people. They were helpful. They couldn’t expel people without their agreement."
The forgotten history
In a 2003 event organized by an Israeli peace group, Abdullah Zakout was able to visit his former home, “Here was a coffee shop and there was the school", he pointed out as he walked in the streets of Ashdod.
Zakout makes sure he tells his own story in response to Israeli claims over the village. “Some time ago I visited the village and saw a family touring the area and their father telling them about it. I told him I used to live here, but he was surprised and said that there was nothing here but some ruins. I told him that this was not true and that 4,000 people used to live here including myself,” he said.
Zakout’s words encouraged the group to paint the name of the village in Arabic and Hebrew on the r