ABSTRACT
Deir al-Ghusun is like most of the Arab villages in the area, situated on a mountain. Deir al-Ghusun consists of three neighborhoods, each neighborhood not necessarily inhabited by members of one hamula. The first offshoots were established in the last quarter of the nineteenth century and the last at the end of World War I. The war in 1947–8 puts an end to tent dwelling in the Maritime plain. During the fighting the hamlets turned into military bases for the Arabs, while Israeli positions were established in the plain. According to the Rhodes Agreement, a narrow strip in the foothills with its twenty-seven Arab villages was transferred to Israel. After the March 1949 Rhodes Agreement, residents of the offshoots of Attil were allowed to return to Israel. The Israeli administration provided housing projects for these residents but they were not completed before 1961.
