The village was established atop the Roman period town of Thella, mentioned by the first century AD Jewish author Josephus as a village located near the Jordan River, marking the eastern boundary of Upper Galilee.[4][5]
Archaeological discoveries from preceding eras include a fragment of an Aramaic dedication, dating from the 4th to 7th centuries CE, and the remnants of a medieval structure believed to be part of a synagogue.[6]
Under the Ottoman Empire, in 1596, Tulayl was a part of the nahiya ("subdistrict") of Jira, under the administration of Safad Sanjak, with a population of 215, or 36 households and 3 bachelors, all Muslims. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 25% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, bees, and water buffalos; a total of 3,107 Akçe. 1/12 of the revenue went to a Waqf.[7][8]
In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described the place as having "modern cattle-sheds and traces of ruins of basaltic stone".[9] The houses were built of adobe and cane.[4] In the second half of the 19th century,after the Algerian followers of Abdelkader El Djezairi had been defeated by the French in Algeria, they sought refuge in another part of the Ottoman Empire, and were given lands in various locations in Ottoman Syria, including Tulayl, and the nearby villages of Dayshum, Ammuqa, Al-Husayniyya and Marus.[10]
During this period Tulayl expanded westward while al-Husayniyya expanded eastward, and the two became contiguous, sharing a school and other amenities. The population was Muslim, and were mostly farmers and fishermen.[4] A large number of inhabitants were employed in cereal farming.[13]
Tulayl was captured by Israel during its offensive Operation Yiftach in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, probably according to Israeli historian Benny Morris in April 1948. According to Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi in 1992, "The village site is thickly covered with grass and other vegetation, including some eucalyptus and palm trees. Only one old stone house, with an arched doorway, remains standing."[4]
^Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 178. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 500
^Note that Rhode, 1979, p. 6Archived 2019-04-20 at the Wayback Machine writes that the register that Hütteroth and Abdulfattah studied was not from 1595/6, but from 1548/9
Abbasi, Mustafa (2007). "From Algeria to the Holy Land: Algerian communities in the Galilee, from the late Ottoman period to 1948 / הקהילה האלג'יראית בגליל משלהי השלטון העות'מני עד שנת 1948". Horizons in Geography / אופקים בגאוגרפיה (68/69): 56–72. ISSN0334-3774. JSTOR23716446.
