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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Shimon HaTzadik Neighborhood - Early 1948

For those who think that Sheikh Jarrah and Shimon HaTzadik are one and the same, and also forget Nahlat Shimon neighborhood, here's a map of hostilities between Jewish and TransJordanian and local Arab forces in the area in early 1948:-

and a newspaper clipping from September 6, 1946 on a fight that broke out between Jewish and Arab youths in the area:

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At Long Last, A Street Sign (And Another)

At the entrance to the Kotel Katan near the Iron Gate in the Muslim Quarter, north of the Western Wall Plaza (you have visited the site, yes?)

And since we're discussing names of streets, how's this:

a) the neighborhood

b) the street

And there we have a problem.

^

Oz & Grossman; Giono & Giraudoux

.

Elliot Green on the Shimon HaTzaddik issue.

^

More on the History of Shimon HaTzaddik

On September 8, 2010, the newspaper Makor Rishon weekend issue contained an article by Dothan Goren on the history of the Shimon HaTzaddik neighborhood.

A summary follows:

The Tomb of Shimon HaTzaddik (Simon the Pious) was well-visited during the 19th century, known as El-Yehuddiyah. Candles were lit at the tomb on Shabbat eve, on the New Month and on the anniversary of the death of Shimon HaTzaddik which is 29 Tishrei. Prayers for rain and prenuptial ceremonies were also conducted there. Sefaradim held ceremonies there on the day following Shavuot and it became a alternative location for the festivities of Lag B'Omer. Not only Jews but Muslims and Christians would attend the Lag B'Omer happening. This is found in the writings of Avraham Shmuel Hirschberg, Following the 1903 pogroms in Kiev, a special prayer day was conducted there for the victims and the remnants who needed help. Rachal Yanait visited the 1909 Lag B'Omer festivity and distributed a booklet on Bar Kochba. During the years 1912-1914, the sports club, HaMaccabi, conducted a march to the site for Lag B'Omer with sports exercises and speeches against Christian proselytizing and in favor of the Hebrew language.

In the years after mid-19th century, an Arab neighbor took advantage of a lessening of interest in the site and muscled in, charging a fee for entrance to the prayer sites. In 1872, Rabbi Yakir Giron came to Jerusalem from Turkey and was approached by Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Kalischer to serve as the head of property purchasing in the city. On 17 Shvat 1873, Giron reported on the possibility of buying the section of land where the tomb is located. A down payment was sent and a plea was published in European Jewish press to collect further funds. In the meantime, Rav Kalischer thought to send the 100 families of Jewish community of Nicrest (?), Romania then under stress, to the neighborhood. In HaMaggid of 24 Iyar 1873, a report was published on the matter. The plan collapsed when Rav Giron died in February 1874 and Rav Kalischer lost money in a Jaffa real estate project.

In the winter of 1875-1876, following Rav Kalischer's death, Rabbis of Jerusalem raised enough money to purchase the olive grove property which included the tomb of Shimon HaTzaddik and another nearby burial area, Little Sanhedrin. Due to Ottoman land registry law, the property had to be listed as communal religious property with the Haham Bashi, Rabbi Avraham Ashkenazi, Rabbi Makalisch and Rabbi Meir Auerbach as sponsors. They deal was reported as completed in HaLevanon 28 Shvat 1876 at a cost of 5000 rubles. Its area was 24 kirat (kirat = 175 m2). On 8 Kislev 1889, a contract was signed to divide the plot between the Sefradi Association and that of the Knesseth Yisrael. Conrad Schick was the surveyor. On 11 Adar 1890, a section on the eastern side with a smaller section from the south were transferred to the Ashkenazim and the western section became property of the Sefaradim. On 7 Tishrei 1890, a ceremony was conducted to mark the beginning of the building project In Shvat 1891, the Ashkenzaim began a similar project but it was moved to the center of town (currently between the Nahlaot neighborhood and Betzalel Street). Thirteen apartments and one synagogue were constructed over the next decade. Yemenites were the residents. In 1907, a guest house was begun but only finished at the beginning of World War One. In 1916, 13 families consisting of 45 persons resided there.

West of Shimon HaTzadik, the Nahalat Shimon neighborhood was established. By 1897, there were 22 households of Haabi, Yemenites and Georgians. In 1908 there were 44 synagogues there and by 1916, there were 93 households with 259 persons. In the summer of 1918 for some months, Haim Weizmann assisted improvements on the property and the tombs with funds from the Zionist Commission. The area was overcrowded and suffered poor sanitary conditions. In 1938, the residents of Shimon HaTzaddik fled to Nahalat Shimon briefly due to attacks by Arab rioters and a synagogue was desecrated and many houses ransacked. In 1939, Nahalat Shimon numbered 440 persons.

In late 1946, the municipality approved a renewal development plan. Differences in redividing the plots between the Sefaradi and Ashkenazi communities prevented a Tabu registration. The resulting hostilities caused an exodus of the Jewish residents and the neighborhoods were desolated and taken over by the Jordan army.

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So, It Is "Shimom HaTzaddik"

From Gush Shalom:-

Demonstration in Sheikh Jarrah:

Down with the Settler Police - Sheikh Jarrah is Palestine!

In both Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah, the cooperation between the police and other state authorities, on the one hand, and the settlers, on the other hand, is not just political but also ideological. The entire police force, from the minister to the most junior policeman, refers to Sheikh Jarrah as "Shimon Hatzadik" {Shimon the righteous) - the name chosen by the settlers. When a police document mentions the "residents of the neighborhood", the reference will always be to Jews, and never to Palestinians, who are perceived as a nuisance.

Now is the time to protest against this criminal collaboration!

Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan are Palestinian neighborhoods - and their inhabitants have the full right to be protected from police brutality and oppression!

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Left, Liberal, Lost

Spotted at those demos at the Shimon Hatzaddik neighborhood where Jews are not allowed to live, according to the lost left liberals of Israel:-




That reads:

There is no sanctity in a city that is occupied.


What's in a mind that is "occupied" by Arab propaganda and post-Zionist claptrap?



Source

Read Carefully: How Many "Settlements"?

This is going around regarding left-wing extremism:-

Friday 2/7/2010
Returnig to Sheikh Jarrah
Continuing the struggle! Strengthening the solidarity!
against the settler and police violence, the house demolitions and the eviction of families.

The vigil will start at 16:00
At Shiekh Jarrah garden, Damascus road (next to the American Colony)
You can join us for the march (at 15:00) from Damascus gate to Sheikh Jarrah

New - from the vigil there will be tours to the various settlements in the Sheikh Jarrah
For more information: justjerusalem@gmail.com, Yuval - 054-7982889

Transportation from Tel Aviv will leave from Arlozerov train station at 14:30. for more information call: Lihi - 0504880969

So,

a) there's a spelling typo "returning"

b) just how many "settlements" are there in Shimon HaTzadik? Are there "Arab settlements", too?


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How Akiva Eldar Twists The News

Here is something from an attack by Ha-Ha-Haaretz's Akiva Eldar, on tours promoted by Im Tirzu at the Shimon HaTzaddik neighborhood:-

Last Friday the tour organizers were accorded a free public service announcement on the Reshet Bet radio excursions program "On the Way to Nature." Under the neutral heading "A tour on the trail of heritage sites in East Jerusalem," the editor of the program, Michael Miro, recommended a "tour in the Shimon Hatzadik neighborhood". He told listeners that in advance of Jerusalem Day, Im Tirtzu is organizing tours of the neighborhood established 120 years ago by Jews from inside the city walls.

"They led a full life with synagogues and Torah, Sabbath pittas and hamin (cholent), as well as unforgettable celebrations in honor of the holy man, Shimon Hatzadik. Jewish settlement was renewed at the site, and many conflicts are raging over this," continued Miro, a lover of the land.

Those interested can observe up close Arabs living in tents ever since pioneering Jewish men and women threw them out of their homes. Im Tirtzu: if you will it, this is Zionism 2010.

Wait, but didn't the Arabs kick out, expel and otherwise ethnically cleanse the neighborhood of its Jews in 1948?

Here's The Anti-Zionist Poster of the Shimon HaTzaddik Campaign

The slogans:

We will not be Stopped

Halt the Settlement at Sheikh Jarrah

Struggling for Jerusalem

Against the "Judaization of East Jerusalem"

Reading From Left to...Left

Here is a short paragraph describing the situation of the Shimon HaTzaddik compound:

Sheikh Jarrah is a Palestinian neighborhood north of the Old City of Jerusalem. On the western side of the neighborhood, is an area of 18 dunams known as the Shimon Hatsadik compound, in name of the great high priest from the Second Temple era, who is buried there according to some traditions. A small Jewish community that settled in the late 19th century around the tomb was dispersed gradually beginning in the 1920s and 1930s and through 1948.

That was from Ir Amim's site.

Now you know what the problem is?

The Jews went into dispersion.

Of course, they were ethnically cleansed from the neighborhood which wasn't an Arab neighborhood other than a few houses built at about the same time the Jews began constructed there.

Lie. Deceive. Laundry your language (as the Hebrew phrase goes).

That Bet Yochanan House: Jews In Jerusalem East

From a recent Women in Green field trip to observe Jewish residency in Jerusalem East on February 14th 2010 including Abu Tor, Beit Yonathan in Silwan, named for Jonathan Pollard, Ma'ale Zietim, then Beit Achim, Beit Orot on the Mt of Olives and finally the Shimon HaTzaddick neighborhood:



above: Bet Yochanan


this is the entrance to the Shimon HaTzadik tomb:

the ladies:
Chaim Luria explaining at Shimon HaTzadik neighborhood:



and Nadia Matar (with an Arab woman displaying a bit of displeasure in background):




Photo credits: Gemma Blech

Terror?

These lefties are so sinister:

Jerusalem will not become Hebron
No to the settler terror in Sheikh Jarrah
Join the struggle against the settler enterprise in Sheikh Jarrah

Over the past two weeks there have been two instances of settlers

threatening Palestinians with weapons.

We must not stand by the settler terror!

Come to Sheikh Jarrah this week!

We will gather in Sheikh Jarrah for a protest watch at 15:00

Orwellian.

So Liberal and Humanist Those Lefties

Last Yom Yerushalayim, my wife and I visited Bet HaChoshen on the way back from the Moskowitz Prize Ceremony. The ride we hitched was with Haggai and Debbie Segel and their son and family live in the building. Her post.

Here's a story on the house:

There, high above the mostly Arab neighbourhood, flies one of the largest Israeli flags you'll ever see. Its metal flagpole is anchored in a pair of four-storey homes, joined together by brick passageways.

The tandem of houses, now known as Beit Hoshen, once housed to two large Arab families who reportedly sold them to a man from a nearby community. He, in turn, sold them to a Jewish organization called Elad. Seven religious Israeli families now live in the building, much to the consternation of their Arab neighbours.

The hoshen was the breastplate worn by the High Priest in the days of the Jewish Temple. It's an appropriate name, since the magnificent view from the top floors of the house is of the Temple Mount - and Dome of the Rock - where the Temple is believed to have stood.

Beit Hoshen stands amidst a cluster of Arab homes, just above the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus is said to have spent his last night before being tried and crucified.

The Elad house is more concerned with the perils of these times: Its windows are covered with heavy metal screening, every centimetre of its perimeter is viewed from one of several video cameras, and two well-armed security guards have little patience with a snooping journalist.

"They want our home, now," said a Palestinian neighbour, fearful of giving his name. "We refuse."

Other properties in the Arab area, however, are now Jewish-owned. The Seven Arches Hotel, a popular spot where tourists pose on camels with the golden Dome of the Rock in the background, changed hands in the past few weeks and permits were issued last month for the construction of 24 homes adjacent to a nearby Jewish yeshiva.

But pay attention to this candor about Sheikh Jarrah:

In the central Arab neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, several Palestinian families were removed from homes they had lived in for 50 years when another Jewish organization produced documents that showed Jewish title to the homes prior to 1948.

"No one disputes the fact that they have a legal right to the homes," said Ms. Noy of Ir Amim.

"But it's a political mistake to do this."

"At a certain point," she said, "they [all the takeovers] will make negotiation impossible."

Ms. Noy says her organization tries to be realistic. "There are almost 200,000 Jews living in east Jerusalem," she said, "and there's no way all of them are ever going to leave."

She notes that while the international community considers all the areas to be occupied territory, Ir Amim distinguishes between the bigger, more established neighbourhoods - such as Pisgat Zeev and French Hill - and the newer settlements.

"We accept the older ones," she said. "They'll have to stay as part of Israel. But the new right-wing settlements are driving a stake through the heart of the Arab communities."

"They have to be stopped."

So liberal and humanist.

Orwellian Speak

In Sheikh Jarrah there has been a recent escalation in settler violence. In addition to vandalism, threatening, stone throwing and beating, during the last week settlers have pointed weapons towards the Palestinians.

We know that Israeli presence in the neighborhood deters the settlers from extreme violent behavior.

Visits (even short ones) during the day as well as presence at night are essential in securing the Palestinians safety.

To sign up in advance for a day/night shift (we especially need shifts during the weekends) - Maya
mayou22@gmail.com or 0547423044.

Just in case you don't get the point, actually, there has been an escalation in Arab violence for which these demos are providing cover and encouragement.

Here's a mention and there's this clip where you can see Arab name-calling.