Lifta
لفتا Lefta | |
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![]() Depopulated homes of the village of Lifta | |
Etymology: Lifta, personal name[1] | |
A series of historical maps of the area around Lifta (click the buttons) | |
Location within Mandatory Palestine | |
Coordinates: 31°47′43″N 35°11′47″E / 31.79528°N 35.19639°E | |
Palestine grid | 168/133 |
Geopolitical entity | Mandatory Palestine |
Subdistrict | Jerusalem |
Date of depopulation | January 1948[2] |
Repopulated dates | 1948–2017 by Jews |
Area | |
• Total | 8,743 dunams (8.743 km2 or 3.376 sq mi) |
Population (1948[3]) | |
• Total | 2,958 |
Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault by Zionist paramilitary forces |
Current Localities | Western suburb of Jerusalem |
Lifta (Arabic: لفتا; Hebrew: ליפתא) was a Palestinian village on the outskirts of Jerusalem. The village's Palestinian Arab inhabitants were expelled by Zionist paramilitary forces during the 1948 Palestine war.
During the Ottoman period, the village was recorded to have a population of 400 Arabs, all Muslim households. In 1834, a battle took place in the village during the Palestinian Peasants' Revolt. A British 1922 census registered Lifta's population at 1,451, all Muslims.[4]
Prior to 1948, the village had orchards, several olive presses, a winepress, in addition to a modern clinic, two coffeehouses, two carpentry shops, barbershops, a butcher, and a mosque.[5][6] In the 1945 statistics the population of Lifta was 2,250; 2,230 Muslims and 20 Christians.[7] In addition, a small number of Jews resided in the village, and one former Jewish inhabitant described the relationship her family and the Palestinian Arab majority as 'excellent'.[6]
During the 1948 Palestine war, a massacre occurred on 28 December 1947, when a Jewish militia launched a machine-gun and grenade assault on a cafe in Lifa. The mukhtar's home was also incinerated by the Zionist forces and 20 buildings were blown up as the village was put under siege.[8] The village's Palestinian Arab inhabitants were expelled, and the abandoned village was later repopulated by Jewish immigrants until 1970s. In July 2017, Israel declared Lifta (called Mei Neftoach) as a national nature reserve.[9] It has been referred to as the "Palestinian Pompeii".[10]
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