Editing Magdala (section)

===British Mandate era===
[[Bellarmino Bagatti]] and another Franciscan friar who visited the village in 1935 were hosted by the [[Mukhtar]] Mutlaq, whose nine wives and descendants are said to have made up almost the whole of the population of the village at the time.<ref name=Schaebergp50/> Part of the site was acquired by the [[Franciscan#Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land|Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land]] sometime after 1935.<ref name=Pringlep28/><ref name=Schaebergp50/> During this period, Al-Majdal had a rectangular layout, with most of the houses crowded together, though a few to the north along the lakeshore were spaced further apart. Built of stone, cement, and mud, some had roofs of wood and cane covered with a layer of mud. It was the smallest village in the district of Tiberias in terms of land area. The Muslim inhabitants maintained a shrine for one Mohammad al-Ajami on the northern outskirts of the village. To the west of the village on the summit of the mountains, lay the remains of the [[Crusades|Crusader]] fortress of Magdala (later known as ''Qal'at Na'la'' ("the fortress of Na'la"). On the lakeshore about {{convert|1|km|mi|sp=us}} south of the village,  was a perforated black stone mentioned by Arab travellers in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Local belief held that the holes were caused by ants having eaten through it, and for this reason it was called ''hajar al-namla'', "the ant´s stone."<ref name=WK1992/>

At the time of the [[1922 census of Palestine]], Majdal had a population of 210 Muslims,<ref name="Census1922">Barron, 1923, Table XI, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n41/mode/1up  39]</ref> increasing to 284 Muslims living in 62 houses by the [[1931 census of Palestine|1931 census]].<ref name="Census1931">Mills, 1932, p.[https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas  83]</ref> The village economy was based on agriculture, vegetables and grain.<ref name=WK1992/>

In the [[Village Statistics, 1945|1945 statistics]] Al-Majdal had a population of 360 Muslims<ref name=1945p12/> with a total land area of 103 [[dunam]]s.<ref name=Hadawi72/> Of this, 24 [[dunam]]s were used for growing [[citrus]] and [[bananas]], and 41 dunums devoted to [[cereal]]s. Another 17 dunams were irrigated or used for orchards,<ref name=WK1992/><ref>Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p.  [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20II/Tiberias/Page-122.jpg 122]</ref> while 6 dunams were classified as built-up (urban) area.<ref name=Hadawi173>Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20III/Tiberias/Page-172.jpg 172]</ref>