Lifta, a Jerusalem-area Arab village abandoned in 1948, is named as one of 25 endangered sites on the 2018 World Monuments Watch list.
Sponsored by the World Monuments Fund, the biannual list is made up of sites endangered by “human conflict and urbanization to natural disaster and climate change.” The list of sites — from ancient ruins to contemporary structures — is meant to be a call to action for conservation, community engagement, and sustainable development, according to WMF.
Lifta, located on hills just outside of Jerusalem, was chosen because “rhe ruins of a Palestinian village in Jerusalem are threatened by a redevelopment plan that has faced popular opposition,” according to the WMF website.
View of Lifta, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, December 17, 2016. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
In a recent feature on Lifta in The Times of Israel, it was described as a hillside hamlet that was completely emptied 70 years ago during Israel’s 1948 War of Independence. The occupants were never permitted to return, but in contrast to hundreds of other Arab villages that were left empty, bulldozed and subsequently built over after the war, Lifta has remained virtually untouched.
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