Seidemann Corrupting History

In a recent mailing sent out by Kares Shapiro and Mark Gold of "Partners for Progressive Israel" on the issue of Sheikh Jarrah, they include an appeal by Danny Seidmann 

along with a clip of him speaking, ominously, about a renewal of the "Naqba" and quoting him about the legal aspect of the property dispute so:

They purchased the claims to the East Jerusalem property from the earlier Jewish owners and took the Palestinian residents to court in order to evict them—to make way, it must be noted, not for descendants of the Jewish residents, but for settlers who never lived there, and who ultimately seek to drive out Palestinian presence from the city.

The Arabs living there at present, it should be noted have no connection to that area of Jerusalem or the former resident either. They were resettled from other areas in the city. In fact, the history of Silwan itself, Kfar Shiloah in the Hebrew, is one of ethnic-leansing of its Jewish residents - not during the 1948 war, when the aggressive Arabs lost their intended war of Jewish extinction - but during the 1930s, during yet another round of Arab terror.

In other words, the Jewish expulsion resulted not from mutual hostilities or an attack by Jews on Arabs but by Arab aggression on Jewish civilians seeking to eradicate their existence in the neighborhood a decade prior to the Naqba situation (itself brought upon the Arabs by their lawlessness, their violence, their rejection of diplomacy and compromise).

I am no lawyer but I do know the history of the conflict and Seidemann is corrupting our understanding of what happened, when it happened and for what purpose. When that happens, the law becomes irrelvant.

A 'New Settlement'? "New"? Really?

Here's the latest from Peace Now:

A new settlement in Sheikh Jarrah

On July 16, the Jerusalem regional planning committee is intended to discuss several plans for settlements within Palestinian neighbourhoods. Of those, 4 plans will be discussed for the Um Haroun neighbourhood (located within Sheikh Jarrah)...two of the plans include the demolition of homes of 5 Palestinian families.The two plans for 13 housing units in Sheikh Jarrah will be established on properties in which 5 Palestinian families currently reside. These properties are under a legal battle through which settlers seek the evacuation of these Palestinian families. Although the Palestinian families are legally regarded as protected tenants they reside in properties that prior to 1948 were Jewish owned, and the Israeli law enables Israeli citizens to return to properties that were owned by Jews prior to 1948...

The accompanying map:

First, Um Haroun neighborhood?

Or...

Nahalat Shimon (Hebrew: נחלת שמעון‎‎. lit. Simeon's Estate) is a Jewish religious neighborhood in East Jerusalem. Nahalat Shimon was founded in 1891 by Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jewish Kollels, to house poor Yemenite and Sephardi Jews.

Second, new?

Or... 

The cornerstone of the neighborhood was laid in 1890, near the Tomb of Simeon the Just....The land was purchased in 1890 and the first homes were built soon after, housing 20 impoverished families. In 1947, there were 100 Jewish homes in the neighborhood. In March 1948, the British ordered the residents to evacuate within two hours due to mounting Arab violence.

You don't believe they had to leave due to Arab-initiated violence, in contradiction to a UN resolution of November 29, 1947?

And where is the Nashashibi Quarter?

Three, and you thought UNESCO was bad for Jewish history and national identity?

Think again.  And think about Peace Now.

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Is Sheikh Jarrah Actually Nob?

As I have published before, the campaign of solidarity with the Arab residents of Sheikh Jarrah (has it fizzled out?) is one big cheat on Jewish history, Jewish property rights on the one hand, while, on the other, a cover-up for Arab ethnic cleansing and theft of identity.

I have now found a recent article which adds one more quite interesting element to the affair.

It's by Professor Boaz Zissu, and appeared in the IEJ 62 (2012), pp. 54–70:-

Excavations near Nahmanides Cave in Jerusalem and the Question of the Identification of Biblical Nob 

The article discusses the possibility of the identification of a conjectured residency location with biblical Nob and situating it in the higher areas of the American Colony or of the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood.

Let's get oriented:

The author explains

IN June 2001, a salvage excavation was conducted in the upper section of Kidron Valley (known in Arabic as Wadi al-Joz and in Hebrew as Na¢al Ha-Egoz), some 50 m. north of Nahmanides Cave...Among the ancient features scattered on both banks of the valley are open limestone quarries and burial caves, including the Cave of Simeon the Just and the Minor Sanhedrin Cave from the Second Temple period, both of which have been investigated in the past.  Nahmanides Cave, mentioned in the past by Dalman (1930: 180) and Pierotti, who published a drawing of it (1864: pl. 57), derives its name from a medieval Jewish tradition that Nahmanides used to pray in it after moving to Jerusalem c. 1267 (Vilnay 2004: 177–178). It is a huge underground limestone quarry...

He then points out that Nov (1 Sam. 22:19; Isa. 10:28–32; Neh. 11:32) was conjectured to be north of Jerusalem lends credence to the possibility the indeed the biblical town of Nob could be located at this site 

because of the proximity of this place to the walls of the capital.

Moreover,

Jerusalem was in sight from Nob: ‘This very day shall he halt at Nob, waving his hand at the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem’ (Isa. 10:28–32)...In the days of the Restoration Period, Nob is mentioned as one of the localities in the region of Benjamin (Neh. 11:32), situated south of Gibªeah (Tell el-Ful), near ªAnatot (identified as modern ªAnata) and ªAnaniah (identified with the village of el-ªAzzariyeh).

As for the archaeology,

Robinson believed that Nob should be located upon the ridge of the Mount of Olives...Albright looked for Nob at Ras el-Mesarif (Mount Scopus) or at at-Tur (atop of the Mount of Olives)...Aharoni identified Nob at ªIsawiyeh (1968: 340, 356), while Eshel located it at Shuªafat (1987). These identifications are, however, unlikely, since no archaeological finds have been uncovered to support them and, moreover, they do not overlook Jerusalem. Barkay, Fantalkin and Tal suggested locating Nob at Givªat Shapira (2002:65–66)...

and concludes

The two possible locations suggested here — the area of the American Colony or the Sheikh Jarra¢ neighbourhood — are both topographically high, thus providing a view of Jerusalem, as described in Isaiah.

So, another case of national identity theft by Arabs and their supporters.

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Distending

Ma'ariv reports (in Hebrew) that another plot in the reclaimed Shimon HaTzaddik neighborhood, ethnically cleansed of its Jews by Arabs in January 1948, will be developed.

Here's a picture of the site (to the right) and an aerial photo identifying other areas in the neighborhood (to the left):

The plan is that a public parking lot, with proper vehicular access, be constructed.  It will take a few months for all to be in order but Jerusalem Municipal Council member Rabbi Yaakov Halperin (Torah Judaism) is confident all will be okay.

Maariv, of course, starts off the story on the theme of 'provocation' and 'expected demonstrations' proving that reporting is a secondary effort to either stirring things up or plain selling newspapers through sensationalism.

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Hadassah Convoy Massacre Memorial

Friday, April 8, 2011 at 10:30 AM:

If you demonstrate at the Shimon HaTzaddik neighborhood that you might refer to as Sheikh Jarrah, you can come early and identify as humanists with the memory of the slaughter by Arabs of over 70 Jews, all of them Hadassah Hospital workers who dispensed medicine and health services to Arabs up until their deaths.

Meeting point is at Highway 1 at the corner of the Leonardo Hotel, formerly the Olive Tree.

Eliada Bar-Shaul will act as guide.  In Hebrew.

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Forget 'Sheikh Jarrah', The Action is at Mt. of Olives

For Your Information:

Israel Government Officials, US Jewish Leaders, Israeli Activists to Inspect Mt. of Olives Cemetery 'Crisis' on Friday

Visit Will Emphasize "Shocking and Unacceptable" Conditions
at World's Oldest—but Violence-Fraught—Jewish Cemetery

US Jewish leaders currently in the country for the Conference of Presidents Mission and local Israeli advocates, together with government officials, will visit the Mount of Olives Cemetery (Har Hazeitim) to witness vandalism and explore violence at the world's most ancient Jewish cemetery on Friday, February 18.

The International Committee for the Preservation of Har Hazeitim (ICPHH) and leaders from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations will conduct the on-site visit. Minister of Public Affairs and the Diaspora Yuli Edelstein, COP Executive Vice Chair Malcolm Hoenlein, senior officials from the Jerusalem Development Authority as well as other Jewish and Israeli leaders will take part.

The ICPHH is committed to countering the rampant desecrations, violence directed at visitors and illegal Arab construction on land zoned for cemetery use...

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The UN is Concerned

The UN is concerned:

Evictions and house demolitions are a growing humanitarian concern for..says the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The consequences for families can be devastating: In addition to losing their homes, their main source of physical and economic security, families are faced with high legal bills, fines and charges, including the cost of their own eviction, OCHA says.

Was that about Jewish families? During the War of Independence in 1947 when Jewish families had to flee Shimon HaTzaddik neighborhood that became known, incorrectly, as Sheikh Jarrah, which was actually a nearby neighborhood? During the disengagement? At satellite outposts?

Nope.


That was about "Palestinians living in East Jerusalem".



Source

(Kippah tip: SR)


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