History: Bronze Age
According to the Survey of Western Palestine (SWP, 1882), it was possibly the place called Alpha in the list of Thutmes III.
Crusader-Ayyubid period
In the Crusader period it was known as la Feve or Castrum Fabe. It had a Templar castle (first mentioned in 1169/72), of which just some mounds remain. The area was under Crusader control between 1099 and 1187. In 1183 the Battle of Al-Fule took place here, between the Crusaders and the forces of Saladin.
In 1226, Syrian geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi mentioned it as being "a town in Jund Filastin," and formerly a Crusader castle between Zir'in and Nazareth. The area was again under Crusader control between 1240/1 and 1263.
Ottoman period
According to Denys Pringle, al-Fula, the Arab village, seems to have existed until the end of the sixteenth century.
In 1799, during Napoleon's Syrian campaign, the Battle of Mount Tabor was fought around Al-Fuleh.
In 1816, James Silk Buckingham described Fooli as a village. He observed there the remains of a large building, which he presumed was "Saracen". By the water wells he found two covers for sarcophagi, one was ornamented with sculptures. There were several other settlements in sight, all populated by Muslims.
In 1838, Edward Robinson described both Al-Fuleh and the adjacent Afuleh as "deserted".
In 1859 Al-Fuleh had 64 inhabitants, and the tillage was 14 feddans, according to the English consul Rogers. William McClure Thomson, in a book published the same year, noted that both El Fuleh and the adjacent Afuleh, were "both now deserted, though both were inhabited twenty-five years ago when I first passed this way." Thomson blamed their desertion on the bedouin.
In 1875 Victor Guérin noted the remains of multicoloured mosaics by Bir Fouleh. At this time, Al-Fuleh was the home of 15 Arab families.
According to Palmer (1881), the place was earlier named in Arabic al-Fuleh ("The beans"), also rendered as El Fuleh, al-Fula etc. In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Al-Fuleh as a small adobe village, "with a few stone houses in the middle. It stands on a swell of ground, and is surrounded by corn land, and has marshy ground to the north. The water supply is from wells west of the village. Round the site are remains of the ancient Crusader fosse." The Survey noted a ruined church about 200 meters SSE of the castle, which probably was the remains of the Crusader parish church. However, these remains were destroyed in 1939-1940.
A population list from about 1887 showed that Fuleh had about 300 inhabitants; all Muslims.
British Mandate: Kibbutz Merhavia
Kibbutz Merhavia was established in 1929 adjacent to moshav Merhavia, from which it took its name. The founders were members of Hashomer Hatzair who had immigrated from Galicia after World War I and had been living in Haifa, including Eliezer Peri, who later represented Mapam in the Knesset.
See Bædeker (1876): Route 15 page 345 ('Afûleh)
See Bædeker (1894): Route 24 page 242 ('Afûleh)
See Bædeker (1898): Route 27 page 277 ('Afûleh)
El-Fûleh.— From the heights of Ze` în we see in the plain, about 3 m. to the N.W., on the direct road to Nazareth, a little mound covered with ruins called el-Fûleh, “The Bean.” There are here the prostrate remains of a strong fortress, surrounded by a moat. About 100 yds. below it, in the bottom of the shallow wady, is a well, with the foundations of a massive square tower beside it. This is the castle of Faba (merely a translation of Fûleh), celebrated during the wars of the crusades, and garrisoned by the Knights Hospitalers and Templars. But it has been rendered still more famous in modern times as the central point of the battle between the French and Turkish armies in April 1799. Kleber had left Nazareth with all his troops in order to make an attack on the Turkish camp; but he was anticipated by the enemy, who advanced to meet him with 15,000 cavalry, and as many infantry, as far as the village of Fûleh. Kleber instantly drew up his little army in squares, with the artillery at the angles; and the formation was hardly completed when the immense mass came thundering down, threatening to trample their handful of enemies under their horses’ hoofs. The steady aim and rolling fire of the French veterans brought down the foremost of the assailants, and soon formed a rampart of dead bodies of men and horses; behind this they bravely maintained the unequal combat for 6 hrs, until at length Napoleon, with the cavalry and fresh divisions, arrived on the heights which overlooked the field of battle, and, amidst the multitudes with which it was covered, distinguished his men by the regular volleys which issued from their ranks, He instantly formed his plan. General Letoure was despatched with the cavalry and 2 pieces of artillery against the Mamelukes, who were in reserve near Jenîn. With the remainder he attacked the enemy on the two flanks and rear, while Kleber assumed the offensive in front. The Turks, thus exposed to a concentric fire, fled in utter disorder ; and hundreds were mowed down by the grape-shot as they floundered through the marshy plain. Such was the battle of Mount Tabor, as it is called, in which 3000 French resisted successfully the attacks of ten times their number, during a period of 6 hrs., in an open plain.