Lifta is one of the few remaining Nakba villages, whose residents were deported or fled during and before the war of 1948. Israel has prevented the Palestinians who left their homes from returning to them and when the war ended, it confiscated their land and property. This week, Activestills documented Palestinian women visiting the site along with the usual religious Jewish-Israeli hikers and tourists.
Photos by Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org
The Bridge of Strings, or Chords Bridge, is seen through the window a house in the depopulated Palestinian village of Lifta, located on the edge of West Jerusalem, Israel, March 4, 2014. During the Nakba, the residents of Lifta fled attacks by Zionist militias beginning in December 1947, resulting in the complete evacuation of the village by February 1948. (Photo by Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)
Almost all of the hundreds of empty Palestinian villages were destroyed after the war and in subsequent decades. In Lifta, 55 of more than 400 hundred homes survived, together with the original cemetery, vineyards and a pool of rain and spring water.
Because nobody lived in Lifta, it was left undeveloped. Except for the damage caused by time, tourists and homeless people who occupied some of the empty homes, parts of the village remain as they were left by the Palestinians who lived there more than 60 years ago, making it a unique historical site.
A tour group of Palestinian young women from Sakhnin, Israel, and a group of Jewish boys visit the spring in the depopulated Palestinian village of Lifta, located on the edge of West Jerusalem, Israel, March 4, 2014. During the Nakba, the residents of Lifta fled attacks by Zionist militias beginning in December 1947, resulting in the complete evacuation of the village by February 1948. (Photo by Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)
Recognizing the special value of Lifta, Israel declared the village and its surroundings a natural reserve.
In 2012, an Israeli court delayed a plan to build luxury homes on the site.
At the time, attorney Sami Ershied told the court, on behalf of the village’s former residents:
“Given that Lifta is an abandoned village and its original owners live as refugees only a few hundred meters away, no construction should be done there, certainly not construction that will destroy the village and totally divest the original residents of their rights,” the appellants argued.
A group of Jewish boys visit the depopulated Palestinian village of Lifta, located on the edge of West Jerusalem, Israel, March 4, 2014. During the Nakba, the residents of Lifta fled attacks by Zionist militias beginning in December 1947, resulting in the complete evacuation of the village by February 1948. (Photo by Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)
An ultra-orthodox Jewish man walks in the depopulated Palestinian village of Lifta, located on the edge of West Jerusalem, Israel, March 4, 2014. During the Nakba, the residents of Lifta fled attacks by Zionist militias beginning in December 1947, resulting in the complete evacuation of the village by February 1948. (Photo by Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)
The ruins of a house remain standing in the depopulated Palestinian village of Lifta, located on the edge of West Jerusalem, Israel, March 4, 2014. During the Nakba, the residents of Lifta fled attacks by Zionist militias beginning in December 1947, resulting in the complete evacuation of the village by February 1948. (Photo by Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)
Related:
Court nixes building project, saves unique Nakba village
Stepping over the line by accident: Still possible, ever more disturbing
Correction:
A previous version of this article stated that an Israeli court had nixed plans to develop the site. In fact, the court only delayed the plans by canceling a tender.
