Shuafat
Shuafat (
Next to the Shuafat neighbourhood there is a
Shuafat borders
Shu'fat is located in the part of the West Bank which was included in the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem after its occupation in 1967.Etymology
Conder and Kitchener suggested that Shuafat's name derives from the Jewish king Jehoshaphat, but it could be a corruption of Mizphe or Sapha. It is possible that the name of this town was altered by the Crusaders or that it was slightly modified from the word Sh'af (plural Sh'afat), which means mountain top.[6]
Edward Henry Palmer gave "p.n" as the meaning for the name, (""p.n": (proper name) after a name, mean either that it is a common Arabic personal appellation, or that it is a word to which no meaning can be assigned"), and added "The village is said by the peasantry to have been named after a king Shafat (perhaps Jehoshaphat)."[7]
Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau reported several traditions regarding the name of the village. According to one tradition, told by a local woman, Sha'fat was known in ancient times under the name of Alaikou. According to a second tradition, it was known in the past as Deir Mahruk, "the burned covent". A third tale, "evidently of Christian origin", also linked the place to Jehoshaphat. It asserted that "there was once upon a time at Sha'fat a king named Yachafat, who is mentioned in the Tora; it was he who gave his name to the country". Clermont-Ganneau noted that the Hebrew name Jehoshaphat does not contain the 'ayin that exists in Sha'fat, and therefore, this tale was an "entirely artificial tradition", which was possibly influenced by the nearby valley of Josaphat.[8]
History
The area of Shuafat has been intermittently settled, with the oldest architectural findings dating to the Chalcolithic period 7000 years ago.
Late 19th-century Biblical historians have suggested that it might be linked to
Second Temple Period
Following a 1991 archaeological dig conducted by Alexander Onn and Tzvi Greenhut which unearthed a 2nd century BCE fortified agricultural settlement near Shuafat, an underground room in the complex was dated to the early first century BCE, and identified as a prayer room or synagogue. Subsequently, this interpretation of the site was strongly questioned.[10][11][12] In 2008, Rachel Hachlili stated that the structure is no longer considered to have been a synagogue.[17] The settlement was abandoned after being severely damaged by the 31 BCE earthquake.[12]
Jewish tombs dating to this period have also been discovered at Ramat Shlomo, at what was formerly known as Shuafat Ridge.[18] A large quarry, possibly linked to Herod's expansion of the Second Temple, dating to the period has also been found in Ramat Shlomo.[19]
During an archaeological salvage dig conducted near the Shuafat refugee camp in preparation for the laying of the tracks for the Jerusalem Light Rail system, the remains of a Jewish settlement from the Roman period were discovered.[20] The settlement was on the main Roman road leading northward from Jerusalem towards Shechem/Flavia Neapolis.[21] It was inhabited between the two main revolts of the Jews against the Romans, as it was established after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE and was suddenly abandoned around 130 CE, shortly before the outbreak of the Bar Kokhba revolt (132-36).[22][2] It is described as a 'sophisticated community impeccably planned by the Roman authorities, with orderly rows of houses and two fine public bathhouses to the north.'[2]
At the time of its discovery, the site was said to be the first indication of an active Jewish settlement in the area of Jerusalem after the city fell in 70 CE,[23] and with a presumed total surface area of c. 11 dunams (minimum length 310 m, width c. 35 m),[20] it was also considered the largest Jewish settlement of the time "in the vicinity of Jerusalem".[24] The main indication that the settlement was a Jewish one is the large and varied assemblage of chalkstone vessels found there.[23] Such vessels, for food storage and serving, were only used by Jews because they were believed not to transmit impurity.[23] Some of the vessels discovered there belong to a type only found after 70 CE.[22] An even more conclusive archaeological evidence of the Jewish character of a settlement is the presence of Jewish ritual baths, several of which were found during later work.[23][2][13]
The presence of the public bathhouses, the delay in finding Jewish ritual baths, and the discovery of imported Italian and Greek wine produced by non-Jews, which the very purity-concerned Jews of the time would have avoided, made researchers at first speculate whether the settlement might have been a mixed Jewish-Roman (pagan) one, with the bathhouses operated by Jews for the benefit of Roman soldiers.[23][21] The quality of the buildings and other findings, such rich coin hoards, cosmetics, stone vessels and imported wine, attest to the wealth of the inhabitants.[24][23]
Late Roman and Byzantine periods
The abandoned or destroyed site was resettled on a smaller scale in the second–fourth centuries CE, with agricultural terraces recently exposed west of Shuʽfat Street.[13]
Crusader period
The place was known to the
Remains of a
Mamluk period
Archaeologists discovered that agricultural terraces from the area were built and covered with topsoil during the
Ottoman period
The village was incorporated into the
In 1838, Edward Robinson described Shuafat as a small Muslim village with the remains of an old wall,[32][33] while de Saulcy, who saw it in 1851, wrote that "this village has the appearance of a castle of the middle ages with a square keep."[34]
The French explorer Guérin visited in 1863 and noted that the village was situated on an elevated plateau "from which one can make out perfectly the cupolas and minarets of Jerusalem," and that it counted 150 inhabitants. He described the houses as for the most part fairly old and vaulted internally.[35] He noted the remains of a church called al-Kanisa, facing east. He thought it was a Frankish church.[36] He also passed by in 1870.[37] An official Ottoman village list from about 1870 showed 23 houses and a population of 90, counting men only.[38][39]
In 1883, the
The Ottomans built a road in the same place as the old Roman road linking Jerusalem to Nablus.[21]
British Mandate period
In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Sha'afat had a population 422, all Muslims,[41] increasing in the 1931 census to 539, still all Muslims, in 123 houses.[42]
In the 1945 statistics the population of Shu'fat was 760, all Muslims,[43] and it had 5,215 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey.[44] 484 dunams were for plantations and irrigable land, 2,111 for cereals,[45] while 62 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[46]
Jordanian period
The town of Shuafat was to be the most northernmost point of the corpus separatum proposed in 1947 for Jerusalem and its surrounding villages, which "in view of its association with three world religions" was to be "accorded special and separate treatment from the rest of Palestine and should be placed under effective United Nations control".[47]
In mid-February, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni, leader of Palestinian irregulars in the area, tried to persuade the residents of Shuafat to attack the neighbouring Jewish village of Neve Yaakov but the invitation was declined.[48][49] On 13 May the villagers were evacuated on orders from the Arab Legion. Shortly afterwards the Palmach captured Shuafat, destroying many of the buildings.[50] Shuafat was then occupied by Jordan, which annexed the West Bank in April 1950.[51]
Jordan's king Hussein also built a palace here.[52]
In 1961, the population of Shuafat was 2,541,[53] of whom 253 were Christian.[54]
Shuafat refugee camp
In the wake of the 1948 war, the Red Cross accommodated Palestinian refugees in the depopulated and partly destroyed Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City.[55] This grew into the Muaska refugee camp managed by UNRWA, which housed refugees from 48 locations now in Israel.[56] Over time many poor non-refugees also settled in the camp.[56] Conditions became unsafe for habitation due to lack of maintenance and sanitation, but neither UNRWA nor the Jordanian government wanted the negative international response that would result if they demolished the old Jewish houses.[56]
In 1964, a decision was made to move the refugees to a new camp constructed on mostly Jewish land near Shuafat.[56] Most of the refugees refused to move, since it would mean losing their livelihood, the market and the tourists, as well as reducing their access to the holy sites.[56] In the end, many of the refugees were moved to Shuafat by force during 1965 and 1966.[55][56]
1967 and aftermath
After the Six-Day War in 1967, East Jerusalem, including the town and refugee camp, was occupied and later annexed by Israel and were incorporated into the Jerusalem municipal district.[2][57] The residents were offered Israeli citizenship, but most refused it as they considered the area to be illegally occupied. Many accepted permanent residency status instead.[2]
According to
- 1,494 Rekhes Shufat (Ramat Shlomo)[59]
- 1,446 dunams for Ramot Allon)[59]
- 416 dunams for Ramat Eshkol[59]
- 239 dunams for Pisgat Amir[59]
- 394 dunams for French Hill)[59]
The Shuafat refugee camp is the only
The Shuafat Ridge next to the township was declared a 'green zone' to stop Palestinians in Shuafat from building there, until the opportunity arose to unfreeze its status as a green area and open it up for a new Jewish neighbourhood, as Teddy Kollek openly admitted.[61]
In a survey conducted as part of the research for the book Negotiating Jerusalem (2000), it was reported that 59% of Israeli Jews supported redefining the borders of the city of Jerusalem so as to exclude Arab settlements such as Shuafat, in order to ensure a "Jewish majority" in Jerusalem.[62]
In July 2001, the Israeli authorities destroyed 14 homes under construction in Shuafat on the orders of then mayor
As prime minister, Ehud Olmert questioned whether the annexation of areas like Shuafat into the Jerusalem area was necessary.[65] The Israeli initiative to transfer control of the area to the Palestinian National Authority led to a split in the community: A camp official favored being under Palestinian sovereignty, while the neighborhood's mukhtar rejected the plan, citing his residents' participation in Israeli elections as well as the danger of Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel.[66]
In 2012, Sorbonne scholar Prof. Sylvaine Bulle cited the Shuafat refugee camp for its urban renewal dynamic, seeing it as an example of a creative adaptation to the fragmented space of the camps towards creating a bricolage city, with businesses relocating from east Jerusalem there and new investment in commercial projects.[67]
Three stations of the First 'Red' Line of the Jerusalem Light Rail are situated in Shuafat: Shuafat North, Shuafat Central and Shuafat South.[68][69]
The neighbourhood's Main Street, Shuafat Road, was previously part of route 60. In the 1990s a new route was built to the east of the neighbourhood, a dual carriageway with 3 lines in each direction, relieving traffic congestion along the road.
In 2014, the 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khdeir was kidnapped from near his home in Shuafat. He was then murdered by his kidnappers, who were Jewish extremists.
See also
References
- ^ de Saulcy, 1854, p. 116
- ^ a b c d e f g Isabel Kershner (June 5, 2007). "Under a Divided City, Evidence of a Once United One". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-07-28.
- ^ UNWRA. "Shu'fat refugee camp". Retrieved 2014-08-24.
- ^ a b "New checkpoint opened at entrance to Shuafat". The Jerusalem Post. December 2011. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
- ^ "Jerusalem Neighborhood Profile: Shuafat Refugee Camp". Ir Amim. August 2006. Archived from the original (DOC) on 2011-08-22. Retrieved 2008-02-01.
- ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP III, p. 13-14; 164
- ^ Palmer, 1882, p. 326
- ^ Clermont-Ganneau, 1896, Vol. 2, p. 472-473
- ^ Haaretz, Jerusalem Even Older Than Thought: Archaeologists Find 7,000-year-old Houses, 17 February 2016 [1]
- ^ a b Rainer Reisner, 'Synagogues in Jerusalem,' in Richard Bauckham The Book of Acts in its First Century Setting, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1995 pp.179–212 p.192
- ^ a b Lee I. Levine (2005). The Ancient Synagogue (2nd. ed.). Yale University Press. p. 72.
The case for a synagogue or prayer hall at this site appears to have evaporated.
- ^ ISBN 978-9004161160.
Unless further excavations or more detailed information can strengthen the case for the identification of this building as a synagogue, the authors believe the claim should be withdrawn.
- ^ a b c d Yeger, David (22 January 2017). "Jerusalem, Shuʽfat (A): Final Report". Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel (HA-ESI). 129. Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). Retrieved 28 July 2018.
- ^ a b Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, pp. 13–14
- ^ Geikie, 1887, pp. 158–159.
- ISBN 0-8028-2400-5.
shuafat.
- ^ Rachel Hachlili, Ancient Synagogues - Archaeology and Art: New Discoveries and Current Research,, BRILL, 2013 p.39.
- ISBN 9789004123731.
A Second Temple Period Tomb on the Shuafat Ridge, North Jerusalem
- ^ ROSENFELD, Amnon, et al. "BUILDING STONES FROM A QUARRY IN NORTHERN JERUSALEM PROBABLY USED IN THE TEMPLE MOUNT: 5 YEARS AFTER THE DISCOVERY." 2014 GSA Annual Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia. 2014.
- ^ a b Sklar-Parnes, Deborah A. (8 May 2005). "Jerusalem, Shu'fat: Ramallah Road". Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel (HA-ESI). 117. Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). Retrieved 28 July 2018.
- ^ a b c "Post-Roman [sic] Ancient Jewish Village Discovered: Finding calls into doubt belief that all Jews fled Holy Land after Roman destruction". 4 January 2006. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
- ^ a b Adler, Yonatan
- ^ a b c d e f Amiram Barkat (2006-01-02). "Shuafat dig reveals first sign of Jewish life after destruction of Second Temple". Haaretz. Retrieved 2018-07-28., Haaretz
- ^ a b Israel Antiquities Authority (10 April 2007). "Remains of Jewish settlement revealed in the Shu'afat neighborhood of Jerusalem". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs website. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
- ^ a b Pringle, 1997, p. 94
- ^ Pringle, 1998, #235, pp. 316–317
- ^ Röhricht, 1893, RRH, pp. 153–154, No 576
- ^ Guérin, 1868, p. 395
- ^ Schick, 1891, p. 200
- ISBN 978-0-521-55401-5, retrieved 2024-02-09
- ^ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 120
- ^ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 2, p. 318, vol 3, p. 75
- ^ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 121
- ^ de Saulcy, 1854, pp. 114–116
- ^ Guérin, 1868, pp. 395–402
- ^ Ellenblum, 2003, p. 241
- ^ Guérin, 1874, p. 185
- ^ Socin, 1879, p. 160
- ^ Hartmann, 1883, p. 127 noted 26 houses
- ^ Schick, 1896, p. 121
- ^ Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Jerusalem, p. 14
- ^ Mills, 1932, p. 43
- ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 25
- ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 58
- ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 104
- ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 154
- ISBN 90-04-08286-7.
- ^ Morris, 1987, p. 38
- ^ "American Newlyweds in Israel, 1948". American Jewish Historical Society. 11 April 2011. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
- ^ Morris, 1987, pp. 67, 113, 158
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- ISBN 1-56656-557-X.
- ^ Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 14
- ^ Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, pp. 115-116
- ^ a b Meron Benvenisti (1976). Jerusalem: The Torn City. Isratypeset. p. 70.
- ^ a b c d e f Avi Plascov (1981). The Palestinian Refugees in Jordan 1948–1957. Frank Cass.
- ^ Noah Browning, 'In bleak Arab hinterland, hints of Jerusalem's partition,' Reuters December 20, 2013.
- ^ Shu’fat Town Profile, ARIJ, 2013 p. 13
- ^ a b c d e Shu’fat Town Profile, ARIJ, 2013 p. 14
- ^ "Jerusalem Neighborhood Profile: Shuafat Refugee Camp". Ir Amim. August 2006. Archived from the original (DOC) on 2011-08-22. Retrieved 2008-02-01.
- ^ Eyal Weizman, Hollow Land: Israel's Architecture of Occupation, Verso Books 2012 p.50
- ISBN 0-7914-4537-2.
- ^ Violence flares in Jerusalem as Israeli bulldozers destroy dozen 'illegal' homes[dead link], The Independent
- ^ Tracy Wilkinson (July 10, 2001). "Israel Razes 14 Arab Homes at Refugee Camp". Los Angeles Times. p. in print edition A-4. Retrieved 2008-09-07.
- ^ Meranda, Amnon (October 15, 2007). "Olmert hints at possible concessions in Jerusalem". Ynetnews. Ynet. Retrieved 2008-02-01.
- ^ "Shuafat area residents split over plan to divide Jerusalem in two". The Jerusalem Post. October 2007. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
- ^ Esther Zandberg (2008-10-23). "Their Shoafat outshines her Paris". Haaretz. Retrieved 2012-12-04.
- ^ Stations Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "The Jerusalem Light Rail Map", Citypass, archived from the original on 2010-06-13, retrieved 2009-11-08
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- Barron, J. B., ed. (1923). Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922. Government of Palestine.
- Conder, C.R.; Kitchener, H.H. (1883). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology. Vol. 3. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
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- Geikie, C. (1887). The Holy Land and the Bible. Vol. 2. London: Cassell.
- Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics (1964). First Census of Population and Housing. Volume I: Final Tables; General Characteristics of the Population (PDF).
- Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics (1945). Village Statistics, April, 1945.
- Guérin, V. (1868). Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine (in French). Vol. 1: Judee, pt. 1. Paris: L'Imprimerie Nationale.
- Guérin, V. (1874). Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine (in French). Vol. 2: Samarie, pt. 1. Paris: L'Imprimerie Nationale.
- Hadawi, S. (1970). Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine. Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center.
- Hartmann, M. (1883). "Die Ortschaftenliste des Liwa Jerusalem in dem türkischen Staatskalender für Syrien auf das Jahr 1288 der Flucht (1871)". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 6: 102–149.
- Hütteroth, Wolf-Dieter; Abdulfattah, Kamal (1977). Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century. Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten. Vol. Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft. ISBN 3-920405-41-2.
- Mills, E., ed. (1932). Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas. Jerusalem: Government of Palestine.
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- ISBN 978-0-521-00967-6.
- Palmer, E. H. (1881). The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
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- Robinson, E.; Smith, E. (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838. Vol. 2. Boston: Crocker & Brewster.
- Robinson, E.; Smith, E. (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838. Vol. 3. Boston: Crocker & Brewster.
- Röhricht, R. (1893). (RRH) Regesta regni Hierosolymitani (MXCVII-MCCXCI) (in Latin). Berlin: Libraria Academica Wageriana.
- Saulcy, L.F. de (1854). Narrative of a journey round the Dead Sea, and in the Bible lands, in 1850 and 1851. Vol. 1, new edition. London: R. Bentley.
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- Schick, C. (1896). "Zur Einwohnerzahl des Bezirks Jerusalem". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 19: 120–127.
- Socin, A. (1879). "Alphabetisches Verzeichniss von Ortschaften des Paschalik Jerusalem". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 2: 135–163.
- Tobler, T. (1854). Dr. Titus Toblers zwei Bücher Topographie von Jerusalem und seinen Umgebungen (in German). Vol. 2. Berlin: G. Reimer. (pp. 899- 890)
External links
- Welcome To Shu'fat
- Shu'fat Town (Fact Sheet), Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem, ARIJ
- Shu’fat Town Profile, ARIJ
- Shu’fat aerial photo, ARIJ
- Survey of Western Palestine, Map 17: IAA, Wikimedia commons