Village memory · Palestine

Qula

قُولَة

Ramla districtDepopulated 1948

Qula stood on a limestone hill on the western slope of the Ramallah mountains, built over the Crusader fortress of Cola, a village of 1,010 at an important crossroads north of Lydda. It changed hands four times in eight days in July 1948 between Israeli brigades and the Arab Legion, and the Israeli official history records heavy Israeli losses in the fighting for it. A forest covers the site; the school is the only landmark left.

• 1,010 residents before 1948