Here you will find a fabulous piece of reporting by the Forward’s Ben Lynfield on the destruction of the Mughrabi Quarter of Jerusalem on the last day of the Six Day War in 1967 so as to create a plaza for Jews to go to the Western Wall. “Palestinians Mourn Neighborhood Razed by Israel in Shadow of Western Wall.” A 50-year-old woman was killed inside her home by a bulldozer; 135 houses were destroyed– and the Forward honors this legendary historical narrative.
First an excerpt, and then some of the readers’ comments. They’ll set your hair on fire. Lynfield:
“They celebrate and we cry,“ said Mohammed Ibrahim Mawalid, 85, a resident of the Old City. “They celebrate the liberation of Jerusalem as they view it. But we remember the disasters.”
One of the disasters that still haunts Mawalid is a mass demolition that eradicated his old Palestinian neighborhood. It was carried out at Judaism’s holiest site on the last day of the Six Day War and the first day of the ceasefire. It was just a few days after David Rubinger shot his iconic picture of young awestruck Israeli soldiers standing before the ancient stones at the Western Wall just after having taken over the area.
The soldiers then were standing in the Mughrabi Quarter, which encompassed most of what is today the long, wide plaza in front of the Western Wall. Its destruction is an event either unknown or repressed by most Israelis and Jews who visit the Kotel. It is deleted from public discourse about the Old City. But for some Palestinians it is still a sore wound.
Mawalid’s home once stood in this area, along with 135 other buildings, including three mosques and two zawiyas, or pilgrim hospices. Palestinian historians say that some of the Mughrabi Quarter buildings were more than seven centuries old, dating back to the time of Saladin’s son, al-Afdal. But Israeli bulldozers erased them June 10 and June 11, on the orders of Israeli Chief of Staff Moshe Dayan, to enable large numbers of worshippers to come to the Western Wall for Shavuot prayers the following week. Now, not even a plaque marks the site. It is as if the Mughrabi Quarter never existed.
Some of the commentary:
pleepleus: They can return to live in the former Mughrabi district when the Temple Mount is returned to its rightful owners. Our holiest site is not the Kotel, but the mount behind it.
Art Wegweiser: Nothing like a religious argument to support stomping on the rights of others who are not members of ones particular group of chosen. Hardly a week goes by when the “democracy” called Israel does not demonstrate reprehensible tyrannical and autocratic actions and violations of international standards of decency. Whenever I am asked, as a Jew, about my possible support of Israel, I point out that it is constantly diminishing and evolving into disgust and the disgrace of a once noble enterprise.
Matt613: What you are criticizing is not a religious argument. It is a statement of fact. Without the demolition, the Kotel would still be next to a miserable alley with little or no access to Jews, due to the confined space. I suppose you think that it is better to limit access. Be that as it may Governments all over the world take property to provide access to areas they deem important. In a lot of nations the owners are not even entitled to compensation for the taking. Where is your criticism of those practices? Or do you feel Israel is the only nation that deserve condemnation?
Zubelee: And we fell the pain of the mosques on our Holy site. No one asked the ‘religion of peace’ to build in front of the Kotel as well as making it into a garbage dump.If anyone doesn’t like it give it a thousand thumbs downs.Oh BTW i thought Philistines were always there but i guess I’m wrong [These are people who in a few hours lost everything. We lost an eight-centuries-long tradition of North Africans and Andalusians in Jerusalem that was an important element of historic Jerusalem.”] Also along the road to Jerusalem many of the Arabs’ aren’t Arabs at all but Bosnian muslim settled there by the Turks ‘
Melvin Bonzarelli: The ‘displaced’ Arab residents can always move to Gaza or Ramallah. There are plenty of other filthy, overcrowded slums in those places. They’ll feel right at home.
Lemondrop613: When the Old City was in their hands the Jordanian Army blew up 28 synagogues but the Forward sheds not a tear for them.The liberals always reserve their tears for those who would (Rachmana L’tzlan do us in in two seconds)….
Jerusalem Arabs are enemies of Israel .Having lived there I can tell you from first hand experience this is true. The oldest and most sacred cemetery to the Jewish People is on the Mt. of Olives. Vandals hit it everyday. The Forward could not give a rats snot about that.Only running articles on how we need to put olives on our seder table to honor the terrorists and those who support them. And you are wrong.The Arabs of Jerusalem do support HAMAS. Why wouldn’t they?
All classic pilpul responses except for Art Wegweiser.
As to Israel’s right to take property by eminent domain, no-one seems to recognize the (possible, likely, absolute?) violation of international laws of war for the occupier to destroy or “take” property except for reason of military necessity. That’s not what happened here. I know, I know, law, shmlaw. But isn’t it odd that these writers and commenters take Israeli ownership for granted? And, on the other hand, that Israel’s newish requirement that foreigners seeking entrance to the occupied West Bank must get a military permit to do so, whereas they can visit “Israel” w/o one. In this single instance, it seems that State of Israel is identifying Territory of Israel, something which it doesn’t always do, such as “Made in Israel” product labels for West Bank products/produce.
As to Israel’s right to take property by eminent domain, no-one seems to recognize the (possible, likely, absolute?) violation of international laws of war for the occupier to destroy or “take” property except for reason of military necessity.
The exception for “military necessity” does not apply to private property.
The prohibition contained in Article 46 of the regulations attached to the 4th Hague Convention of 1907 does not allow for any such exception:
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hague04.asp#art46
The destruction of the Mughrabi Quarter, on Dayan’s order at the end of the 1967 war , is not an episode we should be proud of or justify , yet we shouldn’t forget the wholesale destruction and desecration of Jewish property and synagogues in the Jewish Quarter during Jordanian rule. For example :The Hurva synagogue.
The Temple Mount was nothing but a garbage dump for 700 years until ‘Umar ibn Al Khattab (RA) conquered Jerusalem, and built Al Aqsa and Dome of the Rock. Jews complain, but if it weren’t for Muslims, it’d be in ruins right now (or atleast would’ve been before Israel became a state)
Also for the Morrocan quarter, of course Israel cares more about Jews rather than people actually living there.
Some of those comments in ‘Forward’ are ridiculous.