Situated on a small plateau composed of volcanic stone, it was connected to Hittin by a dirt road and overlooked Wadi Hamam and Lake Tiberias.

[3] Agriculture was the primary economic sector, with olives and grain being the principal crops grown, with a large number of inhabitants were employed in cereal farming, which occupied about 29% of the land area.

According to Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi, no published accounts of Khirbat al-Wa'ra al-Sawda's capture by Israeli forces during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War have been recorded.

A second possibility was that it was seized in the course of Operation Dekel in mid-July as Israeli forces advanced eastward after capturing Nazareth.

The report entailed that Jewish troops rounded up 15 men from Khirbat al-Wa'ra al-Sawda' who were later taken to the nearby Arab village of Eilabun and shot them, killing all but one.