 Prior to 1948, the village had a modern clinic, two coffeehouses, two carpentry shops, barbershops, a butcher, and a mosque.In the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine Lifta, Romema, and Shaykh Badr which were strategically located on the road leaving Jerusalem to Tel-Aviv, were an operational priority for Jewish forces.Lifta was told by Arab leadership to evacuate its women and children in order to host a military company, and on 4 December 1947 some Arab families left.