Lifta
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| Lifta | ||
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| Arabic | لفتا | |
| Also Spelled | Lefta | |
| District | Jerusalem | |
| Population | 2,550 (1945) | |
| Jurisdiction | 8,743 dunams (8.7 km²) | |
| Date of depopulation | by February 1948 | |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault by Jewish forces | |
| Current localities | Western suburb of Jerusalem | |
Lifta (Arabic: لفتا; Hebrew: מי נפתוח Mei Niftoach, lit. spring of; Aramaic for corridor ) was a village on the outskirts of Jerusalem which existed since biblical times and is named after Pharoe Merneptah. It was the north most demarcation point of the territory of the Tribe of Judah [1]. In recent history, the last Arab residents left by February 1948. Located in Israel, the village, which was originally five kilometers west of the Old City of Jerusalem, has been overtaken by the growing city. Its still vacant homes and the spring for which it is named are now a park on the hillside between Highway 1's western entrance into the city and the Romema neighbourhood.
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[edit] History
The site has been populated since ancient times; Nephtoah (Hebrew: נפתח) is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as a border between the Israelite tribes of Judah and Benjamin. [2] The Romans and Byzantines called it Nephtho, and the Crusaders referred to it as Clepsta.
In 1834, there was a battle in which the Egyptian Ibrahim Pasha amd his army defeated local rebels, led by al-Shaykh Qasim al-Ahmad, a prominent local ruler.
In 1917 the villagers received the British forces with white flags and, as a symbolic gesture, the keys to the village. (Gilbert, 157-168)
On the 28th December 1947 five or six people were shot dead by Irgun or Lehi members in a village coffee house.[citation needed] The village was attacked during the next weeks, and by February 1948 the village was completely depopulated, when the villagers left to what would become Jordanian East Jerusalem.
In 1948 the population was about 2,500. There was one school for boys and one for girls in the village, which was mostly Muslim.
[edit] Culture
- See also: Palestinian people#Culture
Lifta was known to be among the wealthiest communities in the Jerusalem area, and their embroiderers were reported to be among the most artistic.[3] Thob Ghabani bridal dresses were very popular in Lifta and in Malha. These dresses were made of ghabani, a natural cotton covered with gold color silk floral embroidery produced in Aleppo, and were much more narrow than other dresses and with sleeves which were not as wide as normal. The sides, sleeves and chest panel of the dress were all adorned with silk insets. These dresses were normally ordered from Bethlehem by the future bride. (Stillman, p. 42, 44 (ill.)) The married women of Lifta used the distinctive conical shaṭweh head-dress [4], embellished with their bride-money. Beside being used in Bethlehem, it was only used in Lifta, Ain Karm, Beit Jala and Beit Sahur. (Stillman p.37)
[edit] References
- Major Vivian Gilbert: The Romance of the last Crusade, London, 1936
- Yedida Kalfol Stillman: Palestinian Costume and Jewelry, 1979, ISBN 0-8263-0490-7
[edit] See also
- List of Irgun attacks during the 1930s
- List of villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war
- Palestinian costumes
[edit] External links and references
- Yakub Odeh: Lifta refugee
- Remembering Lifta February 25, 2005
- F.A.S.T. - Lifta Preservation Joint project on the reconstruction of memory and the presrvation of Lifta May 14, 2006
- Zochrot appeals to the Regional Planning Committee to oppose plans to build on the remains of Lifta
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![[4]](http://www.palestineheritage.org/dec_201.gif){kind=link}