The village was situated in a flat area on the central coastal plain, less than 4 km northeast of the Ramla-Jerusalem highway. Paths linked it to neighboring villages, especially 'Innaba, from which secondary roads led to Ramla, either directly or via the Ramla-Jerusalem highway. Some of the village lands were covered by forests, comprised mainly of oak and carob (kharrub in Arabic) trees. (The village name was probably a reference to the carob trees.) The French traveler Guérin, who visited Palestine several times in the mid-nineteenth century, described Kharruba as a hamlet 
, and it was later classified as a hamlet by the Mandate-era Palestine Index Gazetteer. Its adobe houses, closely packed together in no particular pattern, were separated by narrow alleys. Its population was predominantly Muslim. The residents purchased basic staples from the marketplaces of surrounding villages, where they also sold their goods. Kharruba's economy expanded toward the end of the Mandate and house-building increased. The villagers cultivated grain, vegetables, and fruits. Fruit groves were concentrated along the northeast and southwest sides of the village. In 1944/45 a total of 1,629 dunums was allocated to cereals; 25 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards.
