They were empty of Jews. Not one. And these areas were the heart of the Jewish national homeland. Jews had been living there.
During 1948-1967, no Jews lived in those areas because they were removed by 1948 or later, they were not permitted to reside in the area. And they were removed in an organized ethnic-cleansing campaign between 1920-1948 led by the Mufti with notable pogroms in 1920, 1921, 1929 and then the 1936-39 period.
The area itself had been occupied by Jordan (Judea and Samaria) and by Egypt (Gaza) during the 1948 war launched by Arabs against the nascent Israel. Most of those areas were scheduled to become part of an Arab start according to the recommendation of the United Nations in its November 29, 1947 Partition Plan.
While that plan was accepted by the Jewish community living in Mandate Palestine, the Arabs rejected it and began violent murderous hostilities the next day.
Those occupations by Jordan and Egypt were illegal and never recognized internationally. While Gaza was under a regime of military occupation, Jordan annexed the area and attached it to its kingdom of the east of the Jordan River. It awarded the territory the name 'West Bank' in April 1950.
But to return to the Jews of those areas. I have blogged previously about Gaza's Jews. And of Judea and Samaria and those are just two of many.
I have just read Dothan Goren's "U'Va L'Tzion Goel" which details land purchases by Jews at the end of the Ottoman period of occupation of the Land of Israel specifically motivated by religious goals in and around Jerusalem. Last week I referenced it to detail land purchases north of Jerusalem in close proximity to the Tomb of Samuel the Prophet.
Now I will list the most outstanding instances of land purchases up until 1914 or so in and around Jerusalem.
And let's recall: the Jewish people are the only people that were required to buy back their stolen and occupied homeland.
Area of Western Wall
Starting in the early 19th century, building and courtyards were purchased adjacent to the Kotel alleyway in the Mugrhabi Quarter by Moses Montiefiore 1828, Shmarya Luria 1833-35, the Sefardi Community Trust 1845. During his 1888 visit, Edmond Rothschild attempted to arrange for a transfer of ownership of the whole quarter as it was Waqf category. In 1908, the Odessa Geula Society tried as did David Tzvi Schneerson in 1911. In 1915 even Pasha Djemal suggested the houses near the alleyway be bought up by the Jews. Immediately after the city's conquest by England, attempts were renewed.
Outside the Old City
In 1878, the Garden of the Kings Tombs or Kalba Shua was purchased by Amalia Bertrand but in 1885, her executor Péreire, transferred ownership to the French Consulate.
The first pf several purchases adjacent to the the Cave of Shimon HaTzaddik took place in 1876. Just west of there was founded the Nahalat Shimon neighborhood that by 1916 included 93 families and 253 persons.
Areas at the Sanhedria Tombs were purchased in 1914.
All throughout the 19th century, parts of the Mount of Olives cemetery were purchased from nearby villagers to enlarge the ancient plots to accommodate the growing Jewish population needs.
In 1840, the Meyuchas family bought land in Kfar Shiloach (Silwan) and after the arrival of Jews from Yemen in the 1880s, additional plots were obtained. It as known as the Yemenite Village and at its height, the community was home to 144 Yemenite Jewish families.
I've already blogged on the purchases near the Tomb of Samuel the Prophet north of Jerusalem.
Some pictures of that era around Jerusalem showing how sparse was the domiciles in the area:
Emek Refaim -
North of the Old City and in the upper left-hand side, the Batei Hungarim is marked 11-
Wadi Joz and environs -
In the south, the right to renovate Rachel's Tomb had to be bought.
Directly opposite the Tomb, two plots were bought by the Kalischer Family and by Nathan Strauss (of Macy's fame):
In 1875, Mordechai Yaffe bought a plot of land across from Rachel's Tomb as an envoy of Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Kalischer, who believed that reclaiming the land of Eretz Yisrael was the first step toward the redemption of the Jewish people...[but] the Ottomans declared it abandoned property, and the Muslim Waqf (religious trust) illegally occupied it in 1924...Nearby, the Jewish philanthropist Nathan Strauss purchased another piece of property [in 1912], which was transferred to the Jewish National Fund upon his death in 1931.
Even land in Anata was purchased through an intermediary in 1914. And earlier, Qalandia:
^
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment