[6] A dig in the Rephaim Valley carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority in the region of the Malha Shopping Mall and Biblical Zoo uncovered a village dating back to the Middle Bronze Age II B (1,700 – 1,800 BCE).

[7] According to the archaeologists who excavated there in 1987–1990, Malha is believed to be the site of Manahat, a Canaanite town on the northern border of the Tribe of Judah (Joshua 15:58–59[clarification needed]).

The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on wheat, barley, and olive and fruit trees, goats and beehives; a total of 8,700 akçe.

[16][17] During a visit in the 1870s, Clermont-Ganneau recorded a local tradition stating that the residents could be categorized into two distinct origins: one group hailing from Transjordan and another from Egypt.

[18] In 1883, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described the village as being of moderate size, standing high on a flat ridge.

[26] In the early part of the war, Al-Maliha, along with al-Qastal, Sur Baher and Deir Yassin, signed non-aggression pacts with the Haganah.

[27] On April 12, 1948, in the wake of the Deir Yassin Massacre, villagers from al Maliha, Qaluniya and Beit Iksa began to flee in panic.

[30] The first Palestinian fedayeen raid in Israel took place in November 1951 in Malha when a woman, Leah Festinger, was killed by infiltrators from Shuafat, at the time part of Jordan.

[31] Under the aegis of the Jerusalem Municipality, the neighborhood was modernised and a large housing development was established on the nearby hill and its eastern slopes.