 However, the Qasim al-Ahmad family remained powerful and ruled the region southwest of Nablus from their fortified villages of Deir Istiya and Bayt Wazan some due north of Lifta.In 1838 Edward Robinson noted Lifta as a Muslim village, located in the "Beni Malik" area, west of Jerusalem.Robinson hired muleteers from Lifta, noting that in Lifta "every peasant keeps his mule and usually accompanies it".