in 1938, during the 1936–1939 arab revolt in palestine, the village was the scene of a massacre committed by british soldiers. on september 6, 1938, four soldiers of the royal ulster rifles (rur) were killed when their armoured car ran over a land mine near the village. in retaliation, british forces burnt the village down. after that, perhaps a few days later, about 50 arabs from the village were collected by the rur and some attached royal engineers. some who tried to run away were shot. then, according to british testimony, the remainder were put onto a bus which was forced to drive over a land mine laid by the soldiers, destroying the bus and killing many of the occupants. the village's inhabitants were then forced to dig a pit and throw all the bodies into it. arab accounts added torture and other brutality. the total death toll was about 20.