They paid a fixed tax-rate of 33,3 % on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, vines or fruit trees, and goats or beehives; a total of 7,500 akçe.

[21] The old village, less than two kilometers northwest of the new town on the Israeli side of the Green Line, was captured by the Harel Brigade of the Palmach in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

[24] In January 1952, an IDF patrol seized two Arab villagers in a field 300 meters on the Jordanian side of the armistice line and brought them to an abandoned house in Walaja, where they were killed.

[29] Land confiscation orders issued by the IDF in August 2003 showed that the route of the barrier will completely surround the residents of the village, allowing them only one entry/exit point.

[27] In April 2005, fruit orchards were cut down and homes were demolished due to the absence of building permits to make place for the construction of the barrier.

[30] In April 2010, Gush Etzion settlers and residents of al-Walaja united to protest the extension of security fences around Jerusalem.

The event was partially coordinated by the Kfar Etzion-based organization ארצשלום ("Land of Peace") dedicated to building contacts between Jewish settlers and West Bank Arabs.

[32] In September 2018, four houses built without planning permission were destroyed by Israeli border police, injuring about 40 people in the process.

[33] Lawyer Itai Peleg representing some of the villagers wrote that Israel had for years refused to approve a master plan for the village and that "there is no dispute that the State of Israel and its various authorities and the Jerusalem municipality give the residents of al-Walaja no service whatsoever other than ‘home demolition service.’"[33] Though technically their lands are incorporated into the Jerusalem municipality, the Israeli authorities have refused to issue most residents blue cards.

When U.S. President Barack Obama was visiting Israel, Rabbeh invited him to his cave but the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem sent a brief note of regret saying this could not be arranged.

[37][36] The 'Ain el-Haniya spring (also spelled Ein Haniya or Hanniya) in the Rephaim Valley, located on village lands, but separated from it by the West Bank barrier, flows from among the ruins of a Roman nymphaeum and boasts a number of archaeological remains.

Once restoration and development work was completed in 2018, the site was reopened as part of the Refa'im Valley Park, but only Israelis were allowed access to it.

[38][39][40] A Christian tradition places here the baptism of the royal Ethiopian treasurer by the deacon Philip, known as the Evangelist, and the ruins of a Byzantine church are standing next to the spring.