The homes were owned by Jews who were expelled from their homes in 1938 by Arab rioters
By Nosson Shulman: Licensed Tour Guide of VIP Israel Tours & Authentic Virtual Tours (click here to check out his free trailer videos)
Last week after 87 years, 15 Jewish families returned to the homes in Shiloach (the Hebrew name for Silwan) where they had been forcibly evacuated during the Great Arab Revolt between 1936-39. They joined 22 Jewish families already living in the neighborhood as well as more than 20,000 Arabs. In addition, the nearby Jewish neighborhood of Ma’ale Zeitim (located within the Arab neighborhood of Ras al-Amud) has 106 families.
At one time, walking a few minutes from one neighborhood to the next involved significant risk (in both Ras Al-Mud and Silwan intense anti-Semitism is rampant). With these homes once again in Jewish hands, there is now an unbroken continuum between all of the Jewish families.
The Shiloach neighborhood was started in the early 1880s by devout Yemenite Jews who sold everything they had to immigrate to Israel in 1881. They believed that it was their duty to settle the land of Israel in preparation for the coming of Messiah. Impoverished and without a home in Jerusalem, they had no choice but to sleep in ancient burial caves. Having mercy on them, the Jewish world came together to build new houses for the families, and in time the community grew to the point where they were 160 families and five synagogues.
In the late 1930s with the encouragement of the pro-Nazi, Grand Mufti (a close friend of Hitler) local Arabs rioted throughout the country in order to kill Jewish inhabitants and get the British, who ruled the land, to limit Jewish immigration. In response, the British issued the infamous White Paper which almost entirely cut off legal Jewish immigration to Israel at a time when Jews were trying desperately to escape from Europe. In Shlioach, the Jewish families were forcibly evacuated by the British and their homes were taken over by Arab Squatters.
When Israel liberated Jerusalem in 1967, many attempts were made by the Jewish community to retrieve their stolen property. In the court the wheels of justice moved slowly (some cases are still pending) likely due to fear of international pressure. In many cases, the Jews had to rebuy their own land from the squatters. In other cases, the courts ruled the Jews were legal owners but that the Arab families had the right to continue living there as long as they paid a token amount of rent (often the equivalent of only about $60). Many refused for years to pay, stating that the Israeli courts were illegitimate, which eventually led to their evictions.
In 2015, one of the Synagogues was returned to the Jewish community, and today houses the Ohel Shlomo Synagogue and a small Yeshiva (place of intense Torah study). Though the community faces hostility regularly (only last week firebombs were thrown onto some of their properties with young kids) community life is rich, and those living there would never consider leaving. They live with purpose and see it as their mission to make sure Jerusalem is never divided.
Nosson Shulman is a journalist and Licensed Tour Guide in Israel specializing in Biblical tours. To allow tourists to experience Israel during the Corona era, he created the new hit Israel tour video series which brings Israel to the home of viewers by simulating actual tours. To check out his free sneak preview tour videos, click here
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