Majdal Selem () is a municipality in the Marjayoun District in Southern Lebanon.
Etymology According to E. H. Palmer, the name Majdal Islim means Islim's watch-tower, p.n.Palmer, 1881, p. 29
Kherbet Selem means Fortress of Peace, or Peace Fortress.
History In 1596, it was named as a village, Majdal Salim, in the Ottoman nahiya (subdistrict) of Tibnin under the Liwa Safad, with a population of 51 households and 8 bachelors, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 25 % on agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, olive trees, fruit trees, vegetable and fruit garden, orchard, goats, beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues" and a press for olive oil or grape syrup; a total of 9,110 akçe.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 181Note that Rhode, 1979, p. 6 writes that the register that Hütteroth and Abdulfattah studied was not from 1595/6, but from 1548/9
In 1875, Victor Guérin found that the village had about 300 Metawileh inhabitants.Guérin, 1880, p. 267 He further noted: "A mosque, now abandoned and falling into ruins, has succeeded here a Byzantine church, the materials of which have been used in building it. Over one of the windows is a stone (apparently once the lintel) with an old Greek inscription, the characters of which are too much defaced to be read. A monolithic column lies beside it, half buried in the ground, surmounted by a capital sculptured in form of open basket work."Guérin, 1880, pp. 267-268; as given in Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, pp. 136
In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described it as a "large village, built of stone, of ancient appearance, containing about 500 [..] Metawileh [..]. Situated on table land, surrounded by olives and arable land. Water supply from a large masonry birket and many cisterns."Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 89 They further noted: "Village containing several good lintels and remains of ruins; an ancient road leads from the village to the Birkeh."Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 136
On 15 February 1993, the village was attacked by Israeli helicopter gunships following an attack on SLA positions earlier in the day.Middle East International No 445, 5 March 1993, Publishers Lord Mayhew, Dennis Walters MP; February chronology p.15 During the 1996 Israeli seventeen day bombardment of south Lebanon the Nepalese UNIFIL position in Majdal Selem was hit by eight shells and extensively damaged.Middle East International No 532, 16 August 1996; Michael Jansen p.20
On 5 December 1997, three civilians were killed by a roadside bomb. The bomb was believed to have been planted by an Israeli commando special unit. Including this event forty-three civilians had been killed in southern Lebanon in 1997.Middle East International No 565, 19 December 1997; Michael Jansen pp.7&9
On 8 January 2024, Israeli forces killed Wissam al-Tawil, the deputy commander of Hezbollah's Redwan Force, in an airstrike against his vehicle in Majdal Selem. . Following the 2026 conflict with Israel, Hezbollah buried 39 of is fighters in a mass funeral alongside 4 civilians killed during the war .
Demographics In 2014 Muslims made up 99.61% of registered voters in Majdal Selem. 99.37% of the voters were Shiite Muslims. https://lub-anan.com/المحافظات/النبطية/مرجعيون/مجدل-سلم/المذاهب/
References
Bibliography
External links Majdal Selem , MajdalSelem.org Majdel Selm, Localiban Survey of Western Palestine, Map 2: IAA, Wikimedia commons