The village is in the Wadi Ara area of the northern Triangle, 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) northeast of Umm al-Fahm.

[5] According to archeological evidence, Zalafa location has been settled continuously since the Iron Age, but with a decline in the Ottoman era.

[3] In 1870, French explorer Victor Guérin found Zalafa "almost completely deserted",[7] and in the 1870s it was described as "a small ruined village with a well" by the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP).

[9] During the 19th and first half of the 20th century, Zalafa was one of the settlements of the so-called "Fahmawi Commonwealth" established by Hebronite clans belonging to Umm al-Fahm.

The Commonwealth consisted of a network of interspersed communities connected by ties of kinship, and socially, economically and politically affiliated with Umm al Fahm.

Zalafa's residents drew water from nearby springs and the village lacked basic services such as schools, clinics, local government, banks, etc.

The residents of Aqqada and Swisa refused the arrangement and considered their villages as part of Umm al-Fahm, though they already received civil services such as water and education from Zalafa.

It borders the Megiddo Regional Council to the north, with Givat Oz to the northeast and the municipal boundaries of Umm al-Fahm on the south.

Zalafa's soil is fertile with an abundance of underground water, which aided the development of agriculture, the village's primary source of income and sustenance in its early history.

53.2% of the male workforce worked in construction; 9% in manufacturing; 8.2% in wholesale, retail trade, and Auto Mechanism; 7.5% in transport, storage, and communications; and the rest in other sectors.