Sheikh Jarrah
Encyclopedia
Sheikh Jarrah is a predominantly Palestinian
neighborhood in East Jerusalem
on the road to Mount Scopus
.
, taking its name from the tomb of Sheikh Jarrah. The tomb, dated to 1201, is the burial place of Husam al-Din al-Jarrahi, an emir
and physician to Saladin
("jarrah" means surgeon in Arabic). In the 12th century, he established a zawiya
(literally "angle, corner", also meaning a small mosque or school) known as the Zawiya Jarrahiyya ("surgery zawiya"). He was buried on the grounds of the school. 'Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi
, a scholar from Damascus
, who travelled to Jerusalem in 1690, was received at the school by a group of dignitaries and spiritual leaders. The tomb is situated inside a mosque built in 1895 on Nablus Road
, north of the Old City and the American Colony. Prayer at the shrine is said bring good luck, particularly for those who raise chickens and eggs.
A two-story stone building incorporating a flour mill, Qasr el-Amawi, was built opposite the tomb in the 17th century. Sheikh Jarrah began to grow as a Muslim nucleus between the 1870s and 1890s. Several famous families, among them the Nashashibi
s, built homes in the upscale northern and eastern parts of the neighborhood . In the western part, houses were smaller and more scattered.
A Jewish observer at the start of the 20th century wrote of Sheikh Jarrah:
At the Ottoman census of 1905, the Sheikh Jarrah nahiye (sub-district) consisted of the Muslim quarters of Sheikh Jarrah, Hayy el-Huseyni, Wadi el-Joz and Bab ez-Zahira, and the Jewish quarters of Shim'on Hatsadik and Nahalat Shim'on. Its population was counted as 167 Muslim families, 97 Jewish families, and 6 Christian families. It contained the largest concentration of Muslims outside the Old City. In 1918 the Sheikh Jarrah quarter contained about 30 houses.
During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, 14 April, 78 Jews, mostly doctors and nurses, were killed on their way to Hadassah Hospital
when their convoy was attacked
by Arab forces as it passed through Sheikh Jarrah, the main road to Mount Scopus. In the wake of these hostilities, Mount Scopus was cut off from West Jerusalem. On 24 April the Haganah
launched an attack on Sheikh Jarrah as part of Operation Yevusi
but they were forced to retreat after action by the British Army
.
From 1948, Sheikh Jarrah was on the edge of a UN-patrolled no-man's land between West Jerusalem and the Israeli enclave on Mount Scopus. A wall stretched from Sheikh Jarrah to Mandelbaum Gate, dividing the city.
In 1956, the Jordan
ian government moved 28 Palestinian
families into Sheikh Jarrah who were displaced from their homes in Israeli-held Jerusalem during the Israeli War of Independence. As permanent ownership transfer was illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention
, the area was placed under the jurisdiction of the Jordanian Custodian of Enemy Property
.
During the Six-Day War
of 1967, Israel captured East Jerusalem, including Sheikh Jarrah. In 1972, the Sephardic Community Committee and the Knesset Yisrael Committee went to court to reclaim their property in the neighborhood. In 1982, they demanded rent for this property and the Supreme Court of Israel
ruled in their favor. The tenants were allowed to remain as long as they paid rent.
s and consulates opened in Sheikh Jarrah:
The British
Consulate at 19 Nashashibi Street, the Turkish
Consulate next door at 20 Nashashibi Street, the Belgian
Consulate, the Swedish
Consulate, the Spanish
Consulate, and the UN mission at Saint George Street.
Tony Blair
, envoy of the Diplomatic Quartet
, stays at the American Colony Hotel when visiting the region.
. In the 1990s a new dual carriageway
with 2 lanes in each direction and a separate bus
lane was built west of the neighborhood, which will be connected to the Jerusalem Light Rail
.
compound, and the Nahlat Shimon neighborhood. At the same time, according to Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
, foreign investors from Arab states, particularly the Persian Gulf
, are actively seeking to purchase properties to further Palestinian interests. Many offers have been made to families in the neighborhood to sell their property to Jewish and Saudi groups.
In 2001, Israeli settlers moved into a sealed section of the al-Kurd family's house and refused to leave, claiming the property was owned by Jews. In 2008, the Jerusalem District Court ruled that the Shimon Hatzadik property belonged to the Sephardi Community Committee. The Arab families had protected tenant status as long as they paid rent but several families refused to pay, ending in their eviction. The al-Kurds were evicted in November 2008. Muhammad al-Kurd, the head of the family, died eleven days later. The court ruling was based on an Ottoman
-era bill of sale whose authenticity was challenged in 2009 on the grounds that the building had only been rented to the Sephardi group. Fawzieh al-Kurd continued to protest the eviction, moving into an encampment in East Jerusalem.
In August 2009, the court evicted the al-Hanoun and al-Ghawi families from two homes in Sheikh Jarrah and Jewish families moved in based on a Supreme Court
ruling that the property was owned by Jews. The United Nations
coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Robert H. Serry
condemned the decision: "These actions heighten tensions and undermine international efforts to create conditions for fruitful negotiations to achieve peace." The US State Department
called it a violation of Israel's obligations under the Road map for peace
. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat
said "Tonight, while these new settlers from abroad will be accommodating themselves and their belongings in these Palestinian houses, 19 newly homeless children will have nowhere to sleep." Yakir Segev of the Jerusalem municipal council responded: "This is a matter of the court. It is a civil dispute between Palestinian families and those of Israeli settlers, regarding who is the rightful owner of this property... Israeli law is the only law we are obliged to obey."
Lawyers for the Jewish families argued that documents from the Ottoman Empire originally used to prove that a Jewish Sephardic organization had purchased the land in question in the 19th century are indeed valid, while Palestinian lawyers brought with them documents from Istanbul's Ottoman archives indicating that the Jewish organization that claims to own the land only rented it, and as such was not the rightful owner, the Kurd family claims that when they pressed the court to look at the new evidence, they were told "it's too late". Moreover, the Palestinian families and their supporters maintained that Ottoman documents that Israel's Supreme Court had validated were in fact forgeries, and that the original ruling and therefore evictions relating to that ruling should be reversed. The lawyer for the Israeli families emphasized that the land deeds were authentic, according to many Israeli courts The Israeli court decision (resulting in the aforementioned evictions) stated that the document presented by the Palestinian families was a forgery, while the document of Jewish ownership was authentic.
Protesters at Sheikh Jarrah perceive the case as a double standard based on ethnicity, as Jews are given the right to claim property lost in the 1948-1949 Arab-Israeli war; however, Palestinians, who lost their properties in Israel during the same war, are not permitted to reclaim lost properties due to Israel's Absentee Property Law.
is an institution of The Order of St John
that provides eye care in the West Bank, Gaza
and East Jerusalem. Patients receive care regardless of race, religion or ability to pay. The hospital first opened in 1882 on Hebron Road opposite Mount Zion
. The building in Sheikh Jarrah opened in 1960 on Nashashibi Street.
, one of the last members of the Great Assembly, the governing body of the Jewish people after the Babylonian Exile. According to the Babylonian Talmud, Shimon HaTzadik met with Alexander the Great when the Macedonian army passed through the Land of Israel
and convinced him not to destroy the Second Temple. For years Jews made pilgrimages to his tomb in Sheikh Jarrah, a practice documented in travel literature. In 1876, the cave and the adjoining land, planted with 80 ancient olive trees, were purchased by the Jews for 15,000 francs. Dozens of Jewish families built homes on the property. Other landmarks in Sheikh Jarrah are a medieval mosque
dedicated to one the soldiers of Saladin
, St. George's Anglican Cathedral
and the Tomb of the Kings
.
. The mufti, who never lived in it, transferred property rights to his personal secretary, George Antonius
and his wife, Katy. After the death of George Antonius in 1942, his widow Katy invited many of Jerusalem's elite to her house, though only one Jew. While living in the house, Katy Antonius had a highly publicized affair with the commander of the British forces in Palestine, Evelyn Barker
. In 1947, the Jewish underground Irgun
blew up a house nearby. Antonius left the house, and a regiment of Scottish Highlanders was stationed there. After the 1948 war, it was taken over by the Jordanian authorities and turned into a pilgrim hotel. In 1985, it was bought by the American Jewish millionaire Irving Moskowitz
and continued to operate as a hotel, renamed the Shefer Hotel. The Israeli border police used it as base for several years. In 2007, when Moskowitz initiated plans to build 122 apartments on the site of the hotel, the work was condemned by the British
government. In 2009 the plan was modified, but was still condemned by the U.S. and U.K. governments, Permission to build 20 apartments near the hotel was given in 2009, and formal approval was announced by the Jerusalem municipality on March 23, 2010, hours before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
met with President Barack Obama
. The Haaretz
reported that, "an existing structure in the area will be torn down to make room for the housing units, while the historic Shepherd Hotel will remain intact. A three-story parking structure and an access road will also be constructed on site." The hotel was finally demolished on January 9, 2011.
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
neighborhood in East Jerusalem
East Jerusalem
East Jerusalem or Eastern Jerusalem refer to the parts of Jerusalem captured and annexed by Jordan in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and then captured and annexed by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War...
on the road to Mount Scopus
Mount Scopus
Mount Scopus , جبل المشهد , جبل الصوانة) is a mountain in northeast Jerusalem. In the wake of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Mount Scopus became a UN protected Jewish exclave within Jordanian-occupied territory until the Six-Day War in 1967...
.
History
Sheikh Jarrah was established on the slopes of Mount ScopusMount Scopus
Mount Scopus , جبل المشهد , جبل الصوانة) is a mountain in northeast Jerusalem. In the wake of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Mount Scopus became a UN protected Jewish exclave within Jordanian-occupied territory until the Six-Day War in 1967...
, taking its name from the tomb of Sheikh Jarrah. The tomb, dated to 1201, is the burial place of Husam al-Din al-Jarrahi, an emir
Emir
Emir , meaning "commander", "general", or "prince"; also transliterated as Amir, Aamir or Ameer) is a title of high office, used throughout the Muslim world...
and physician to Saladin
Saladin
Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb , better known in the Western world as Saladin, was an Arabized Kurdish Muslim, who became the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He led Muslim and Arab opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant...
("jarrah" means surgeon in Arabic). In the 12th century, he established a zawiya
Zaouia
A zaouia or zawiya is an Islamic religious school or monastery. The term is Maghrebi and West African, roughly corresponding to the Eastern term madrassa...
(literally "angle, corner", also meaning a small mosque or school) known as the Zawiya Jarrahiyya ("surgery zawiya"). He was buried on the grounds of the school. 'Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi
Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi
Shaykh Abd al-Ghani al-Nablusi , an eminent Muslim scholar and Sufi, was born in Damascus in 1641 into a family of Islamic scholarship. His father, Isma'il Abd al-Ghani, was a jurist in the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam and a contributor to Arabic literature...
, a scholar from Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
, who travelled to Jerusalem in 1690, was received at the school by a group of dignitaries and spiritual leaders. The tomb is situated inside a mosque built in 1895 on Nablus Road
Nablus Road
The Nablus Road is one of the traditional routes into Jerusalem's walled city. Starting at the Damascus Gate, it is the ancient road north.-Places of interest:* The Garden Tomb* The Dominican School of Biblical Research and Saint Stephen's Monastery...
, north of the Old City and the American Colony. Prayer at the shrine is said bring good luck, particularly for those who raise chickens and eggs.
A two-story stone building incorporating a flour mill, Qasr el-Amawi, was built opposite the tomb in the 17th century. Sheikh Jarrah began to grow as a Muslim nucleus between the 1870s and 1890s. Several famous families, among them the Nashashibi
Nashashibi
Nashashibi is the name of a prominent Palestinian family based in Jerusalem. Many of its members held senior positions in the government of Jerusalem. Raghib al-Nashashibi was Mayor of Jerusalem .- History :...
s, built homes in the upscale northern and eastern parts of the neighborhood . In the western part, houses were smaller and more scattered.
A Jewish observer at the start of the 20th century wrote of Sheikh Jarrah:
In the past years a whole neighbourhood of our Muslim fellow citizens established northeast of our city, from the field of the Tomb of Simon the Just and eastward — a neighbourhood of large excellent-looking, wonderful, perfectly beautiful houses, without anyone in our city noticing it without going there specially to see it.
At the Ottoman census of 1905, the Sheikh Jarrah nahiye (sub-district) consisted of the Muslim quarters of Sheikh Jarrah, Hayy el-Huseyni, Wadi el-Joz and Bab ez-Zahira, and the Jewish quarters of Shim'on Hatsadik and Nahalat Shim'on. Its population was counted as 167 Muslim families, 97 Jewish families, and 6 Christian families. It contained the largest concentration of Muslims outside the Old City. In 1918 the Sheikh Jarrah quarter contained about 30 houses.
During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, 14 April, 78 Jews, mostly doctors and nurses, were killed on their way to Hadassah Hospital
Hadassah Medical Center
Hadassah Medical Center is a medical organization that operates two University hospitals at Ein Kerem and Mount Scopus in Jerusalem, Israel, as well as schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing, and pharmacology affiliated with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.The hospital was founded by Hadassah,...
when their convoy was attacked
Hadassah medical convoy massacre
The Hadassah medical convoy massacre took place on April 13, 1948, when a convoy, escorted by Haganah militia, bringing medical and fortification supplies and personnel to Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus was ambushed by Arab forces....
by Arab forces as it passed through Sheikh Jarrah, the main road to Mount Scopus. In the wake of these hostilities, Mount Scopus was cut off from West Jerusalem. On 24 April the Haganah
Haganah
Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
launched an attack on Sheikh Jarrah as part of Operation Yevusi
Operation Yevusi
Operation Yevusi was a Palmach military operation carried out during the 1948 Arab Israeli War to assert Jewish control over Jerusalem. The operation, commanded by Yitzhak Sadeh, lasted two weeks, from 22 April 1948 to 3 May 1948. Not all objectives were achieved before the British enforced a...
but they were forced to retreat after action by the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
.
From 1948, Sheikh Jarrah was on the edge of a UN-patrolled no-man's land between West Jerusalem and the Israeli enclave on Mount Scopus. A wall stretched from Sheikh Jarrah to Mandelbaum Gate, dividing the city.
In 1956, the Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
ian government moved 28 Palestinian
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
families into Sheikh Jarrah who were displaced from their homes in Israeli-held Jerusalem during the Israeli War of Independence. As permanent ownership transfer was illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention
Fourth Geneva Convention
The Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, commonly referred to as the Fourth Geneva Convention and abbreviated as GCIV, is one of the four treaties of the Geneva Conventions. It was adopted in August 1949, and defines humanitarian protections for civilians...
, the area was placed under the jurisdiction of the Jordanian Custodian of Enemy Property
Custodian of Enemy Property
The Custodian of Enemy Property is an institution that handles property claims created by war. In wartime,civilian property may be left behind or taken by the occupying state. In ancient times, such property was considered war loot, and the legal right of the winner...
.
During the Six-Day War
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...
of 1967, Israel captured East Jerusalem, including Sheikh Jarrah. In 1972, the Sephardic Community Committee and the Knesset Yisrael Committee went to court to reclaim their property in the neighborhood. In 1982, they demanded rent for this property and the Supreme Court of Israel
Supreme Court of Israel
The Supreme Court is at the head of the court system and highest judicial instance in Israel. The Supreme Court sits in Jerusalem.The area of its jurisdiction is all of Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories. A ruling of the Supreme Court is binding upon every court, other than the Supreme...
ruled in their favor. The tenants were allowed to remain as long as they paid rent.
Consulates and diplomatic missions
In the 1960s, many diplomatic missionDiplomatic mission
A diplomatic mission is a group of people from one state or an international inter-governmental organisation present in another state to represent the sending state/organisation in the receiving state...
s and consulates opened in Sheikh Jarrah:
The British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Consulate at 19 Nashashibi Street, the Turkish
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
Consulate next door at 20 Nashashibi Street, the Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
Consulate, the Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
Consulate, the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
Consulate, and the UN mission at Saint George Street.
Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
, envoy of the Diplomatic Quartet
Quartet on the Middle East
The Quartet on the Middle East, sometimes called the Diplomatic Quartet or Madrid Quartet or simply the Quartet, is a foursome of nations and international and supranational entities involved in mediating the peace process in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Quartet are the United Nations, the...
, stays at the American Colony Hotel when visiting the region.
Transportation
The neighbourhood's main street, Nablus Road, was previously part of route 60Highway 60 (Israel)
Highway 60 is a north-south intercity road in Israel and the West Bank that stretches from Beersheba to Nazareth.-Route:The route is also known as the "Route of the Patriarchs" since it follows the path of the ancient highway that runs along the length of the central watershed, and which...
. In the 1990s a new dual carriageway
Dual carriageway
A dual carriageway is a class of highway with two carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation...
with 2 lanes in each direction and a separate bus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
lane was built west of the neighborhood, which will be connected to the Jerusalem Light Rail
Jerusalem Light Rail
The Jerusalem Light Rail is a light rail line, the first of several rapid transit lines planned by Israel for Jerusalem, Israel's capital city. Construction began in 2002 and ended in 2010, when the testing phase began. It was built by the CityPass consortium, which has a 30-year concession to...
.
Property disputes
Jewish groups have sought to regain property in Sheikh Jarrah they say were once owned by Jews, including the Shepherd Hotel compound, the Mufti's Vineyard, the building of the el-Ma'amuniya school, the Simeon the Just/Shimon HaTzadikSimeon the Just
Simeon the Just was a Jewish High Priest during the time of the Second Temple...
compound, and the Nahlat Shimon neighborhood. At the same time, according to Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs is a public policy think tank devoted to research and analysis of critical issues facing the Middle East. The center is located in Jerusalem, Israel...
, foreign investors from Arab states, particularly the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
, are actively seeking to purchase properties to further Palestinian interests. Many offers have been made to families in the neighborhood to sell their property to Jewish and Saudi groups.
In 2001, Israeli settlers moved into a sealed section of the al-Kurd family's house and refused to leave, claiming the property was owned by Jews. In 2008, the Jerusalem District Court ruled that the Shimon Hatzadik property belonged to the Sephardi Community Committee. The Arab families had protected tenant status as long as they paid rent but several families refused to pay, ending in their eviction. The al-Kurds were evicted in November 2008. Muhammad al-Kurd, the head of the family, died eleven days later. The court ruling was based on an Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
-era bill of sale whose authenticity was challenged in 2009 on the grounds that the building had only been rented to the Sephardi group. Fawzieh al-Kurd continued to protest the eviction, moving into an encampment in East Jerusalem.
In August 2009, the court evicted the al-Hanoun and al-Ghawi families from two homes in Sheikh Jarrah and Jewish families moved in based on a Supreme Court
Supreme Court of Israel
The Supreme Court is at the head of the court system and highest judicial instance in Israel. The Supreme Court sits in Jerusalem.The area of its jurisdiction is all of Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories. A ruling of the Supreme Court is binding upon every court, other than the Supreme...
ruling that the property was owned by Jews. The United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Robert H. Serry
Robert H. Serry
Robert H. Serry , is a Dutch diplomat who currently serves as the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and the UN Secretary-General’s Personal Representative to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority.A career diplomat, Serry has served in...
condemned the decision: "These actions heighten tensions and undermine international efforts to create conditions for fruitful negotiations to achieve peace." The US State Department
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
called it a violation of Israel's obligations under the Road map for peace
Road map for peace
The roadmap for peace or "road map" for peace is a plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict proposed by a "quartet" of international entities: the United States, the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations. The principles of the plan, originally drafted by U.S. Foreign Service...
. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat
Saeb Erekat
Saeb Muhammad Salih Erekat Saeb Muhammad Salih Erekat Saeb Muhammad Salih Erekat (also Erakat; Ṣāʼib ʻUrayqāt or ʻRēqāt, born April 28, 1955 in Jordanian controlled East Jerusalem was the Palestinian chief of the PLO Steering and Monitoring Committee until 12 February 2011...
said "Tonight, while these new settlers from abroad will be accommodating themselves and their belongings in these Palestinian houses, 19 newly homeless children will have nowhere to sleep." Yakir Segev of the Jerusalem municipal council responded: "This is a matter of the court. It is a civil dispute between Palestinian families and those of Israeli settlers, regarding who is the rightful owner of this property... Israeli law is the only law we are obliged to obey."
Lawyers for the Jewish families argued that documents from the Ottoman Empire originally used to prove that a Jewish Sephardic organization had purchased the land in question in the 19th century are indeed valid, while Palestinian lawyers brought with them documents from Istanbul's Ottoman archives indicating that the Jewish organization that claims to own the land only rented it, and as such was not the rightful owner, the Kurd family claims that when they pressed the court to look at the new evidence, they were told "it's too late". Moreover, the Palestinian families and their supporters maintained that Ottoman documents that Israel's Supreme Court had validated were in fact forgeries, and that the original ruling and therefore evictions relating to that ruling should be reversed. The lawyer for the Israeli families emphasized that the land deeds were authentic, according to many Israeli courts The Israeli court decision (resulting in the aforementioned evictions) stated that the document presented by the Palestinian families was a forgery, while the document of Jewish ownership was authentic.
Protesters at Sheikh Jarrah perceive the case as a double standard based on ethnicity, as Jews are given the right to claim property lost in the 1948-1949 Arab-Israeli war; however, Palestinians, who lost their properties in Israel during the same war, are not permitted to reclaim lost properties due to Israel's Absentee Property Law.
St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital
The St John of Jerusalem Eye HospitalSt John Eye Hospital Group
The St. John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital Group is a Foundation of The Order of St John, the oldest order of chivalry in the world. The Hospital Group is based in Jerusalem and is the main provider of eye care in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem...
is an institution of The Order of St John
Knights Hospitaller
The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta , also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta , Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature. It is the world's...
that provides eye care in the West Bank, Gaza
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
and East Jerusalem. Patients receive care regardless of race, religion or ability to pay. The hospital first opened in 1882 on Hebron Road opposite Mount Zion
Mount Zion
Mount Zion is a place name for a site in Jerusalem, the location of which has shifted several times in history. According to the Hebrew Bible's Book of Samuel, it was the site of the Jebusite fortress called the "stronghold of Zion" that was conquered by King David, becoming his palace in the City...
. The building in Sheikh Jarrah opened in 1960 on Nashashibi Street.
St. Joseph's French Hospital
The St. Joseph's French Hospital is situated across the street from St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital and is run by a French Catholic charity. It is a 73-bed hospital with three main operating theaters, coronary care unit, X-ray, laboratory facilities, and outpatient clinic. Facilities in internal medicine, surgery, neurosurgery, E.N.T., pediatric surgery and orthopedics.Shrines and tombs
The Jewish presence in Sheikh Jarrah centered around the tomb of Shimon HaTzadikTomb of Simeon the Just
The Tomb of Simeon the Just is an ancient tomb in Jerusalem believed to be the burial place of Simeon the Just.-History:The tomb is located in the Shimon HaTzadik neighborhood adjoining Sheikh Jarrah. According to a long-standing Jewish tradition, it is the tomb of Simeon the Just and his students...
, one of the last members of the Great Assembly, the governing body of the Jewish people after the Babylonian Exile. According to the Babylonian Talmud, Shimon HaTzadik met with Alexander the Great when the Macedonian army passed through the Land of Israel
Land of Israel
The Land of Israel is the Biblical name for the territory roughly corresponding to the area encompassed by the Southern Levant, also known as Canaan and Palestine, Promised Land and Holy Land. The belief that the area is a God-given homeland of the Jewish people is based on the narrative of the...
and convinced him not to destroy the Second Temple. For years Jews made pilgrimages to his tomb in Sheikh Jarrah, a practice documented in travel literature. In 1876, the cave and the adjoining land, planted with 80 ancient olive trees, were purchased by the Jews for 15,000 francs. Dozens of Jewish families built homes on the property. Other landmarks in Sheikh Jarrah are a medieval mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
dedicated to one the soldiers of Saladin
Saladin
Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb , better known in the Western world as Saladin, was an Arabized Kurdish Muslim, who became the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He led Muslim and Arab opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant...
, St. George's Anglican Cathedral
St. George's Cathedral, Jerusalem
thumb|rightSt. George's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Jerusalem, established in 1899. It is the seat of the Bishop of Jerusalem of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East....
and the Tomb of the Kings
Tombs of the Kings (Jerusalem)
The Tombs of the Kings are a collection of rock cut tombs in East Jerusalem, 820 meters north of the Old City "al-Quds" walls in Al-Shaykh Jarrah suburb ....
.
Shepherd Hotel
The Shepherd Hotel in Sheikh Jarrah was originally a villa built for the Grand Mufti of JerusalemGrand Mufti of Jerusalem
The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem is the Sunni Muslim cleric in charge of Jerusalem's Islamic holy places, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque.-Ottoman era:...
. The mufti, who never lived in it, transferred property rights to his personal secretary, George Antonius
George Antonius
George Habib Antonius, CBE was a Lebanese-Egyptian author and diplomat, settled in Palestine, one of the first historians of Arab nationalism. Born in Deir al Qamar in a Lebanese Orthodox Christian family, he served in the British Mandate of Palestine. His 1938 book The Arab Awakening was...
and his wife, Katy. After the death of George Antonius in 1942, his widow Katy invited many of Jerusalem's elite to her house, though only one Jew. While living in the house, Katy Antonius had a highly publicized affair with the commander of the British forces in Palestine, Evelyn Barker
Evelyn Barker
General Sir Evelyn Hugh Barker KCB KBE DSO MC was a British Army general in World War II, and commander of British forces in the Mandate Palestine from 1946 to 1947...
. In 1947, the Jewish underground Irgun
Irgun
The Irgun , or Irgun Zevai Leumi to give it its full title , was a Zionist paramilitary group that operated in Mandate Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the earlier and larger Jewish paramilitary organization haHaganah...
blew up a house nearby. Antonius left the house, and a regiment of Scottish Highlanders was stationed there. After the 1948 war, it was taken over by the Jordanian authorities and turned into a pilgrim hotel. In 1985, it was bought by the American Jewish millionaire Irving Moskowitz
Irving Moskowitz
Irving I. Moskowitz is a Florida-based businessman who built a business running hospitals and legal gambling in California. He is the founder of the eponymous "Moskowitz Foundation" which was created "to help people in need regardless of race, creed, politics or religion"...
and continued to operate as a hotel, renamed the Shefer Hotel. The Israeli border police used it as base for several years. In 2007, when Moskowitz initiated plans to build 122 apartments on the site of the hotel, the work was condemned by the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
government. In 2009 the plan was modified, but was still condemned by the U.S. and U.K. governments, Permission to build 20 apartments near the hotel was given in 2009, and formal approval was announced by the Jerusalem municipality on March 23, 2010, hours before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel. He serves also as the Chairman of the Likud Party, as a Knesset member, as the Health Minister of Israel, as the Pensioner Affairs Minister of Israel and as the Economic Strategy Minister of Israel.Netanyahu is the first and, to...
met with President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
. The Haaretz
Haaretz
Haaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
reported that, "an existing structure in the area will be torn down to make room for the housing units, while the historic Shepherd Hotel will remain intact. A three-story parking structure and an access road will also be constructed on site." The hotel was finally demolished on January 9, 2011.