Village memory · Palestine

Al-Walaja

الولجة

Jerusalem districtDepopulated 1948

Al-Walaja, a terraced village of springs and olive groves west of Jerusalem, was emptied in October 1948 — but its people rebuilt on the fragment of their lands that fell on the West Bank side of the armistice line. Today the rebuilt village is hemmed in by settlements and nearly ringed by the separation barrier.

• 1,656 residents before 1948