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The
destruction of the Maghrebi Quarter in Jerusalem was one of the
first points of the Israeli campaign to change Jerusalem’s Arab
character after the conquest of 1967. On the 3rd day of
the Six Day War, Israeli paratroopers entered the Old City of
Jerusalem in order to conquer the Temple Mount, Dome of the Rock and
Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Maghrebi Quarter which dates back to 1320 a.d.
was razed to the ground and it’s Arab inhabitants evicted in order
to enlarge the area in front of the Western or Wailing Wall. Two
ancient mosques, Al-Buraq and Al-Afdali were destroyed as well as
the desecration of the historic Mumillah
cemetery in which many famous Muslim heroes were entombed.
The loss of personal
properties, homes, businesses, schools, and mosques cannot
be calculated.
Statistics, architectural planning, and urban layout information has
been
wiped from text books
and records as if the 647 years of the Maghrebi Quarter did not
exist. For the Israeli
occupiers, it is enough that the Western Wall was located a little
too
near the Maghrebi
Quarter to warrant it’s destruction. The Western Wall was expanded
from the original 22
meters to 60 meters due to the demolishing of the Arab area. The
Maghrebi Quarter of
Jerusalem was the second smallest quarter located within the old
city
walls, the
smallest being the Jewish quarter until 1967.
A testimony from one of
the displaced families of the Maghrebi Quarter sketches out
some of the losses
incurred. The Abu Saud families were residents of Old Jerusalem
until
the destruction in 1967
of the Maghrebi quarter. The Abu Saud residences consisted of 21
branches of their
family living within villas and apartments. Small businesses, a
bookstore,
the Abu Saud Mosque
were demolished along with the rest of the quarter to make way for
the Jewish expansion.
Due to the close proximity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of
the Rock to the
Maghrebi quarter, the Abu Saud families had set up a School for
Islamic
Studies. This was also
razed to the ground. One of the elder occupants from the Abu
Saud family, Um Musa,
refused to move from her chair in her home on the day of
destruction. She was
threatened by Israeli Occupation Authorities to leave otherwise they
would bring the
building down upon her head. “Destroy my house but I will not leave
my
home, I remain here.”
The IOA proceeded to manhandle Um Musa and physically carried
her outside to
watch the annihilation of her home.
These activities were
repeatedly condemned by international opinion as endangering
Muslim holy sites and
threatening their ancient foundations. This led the UN General
Assembly and Security
Council to pass several resolutions condemning Israel’s
excavations and
appealing to it to preserve Jerusalem’s historical heritage. UNESCO
has
repeatedly called upon
Israel to desist from altering the city’s cultural, structural and
historical character,
but to no avail. The Archbishop of Canterbury, after his visit to
Jerusalem in 1971
remarked,” It is distressing indeed that the building program of the
present authorities is
disfiguring the city and its surroundings in ways which wound the
feelings of those who
care for its historic beauty and suggest an insensitive attempt to
reclaim as an Israeli
city one which can never be other than the city of the three great
religions and their
peoples.”
None of the large or
small families of the Maghrebi Quarter took compensation for
their demolished
properties. The IOA offered to buy the properties for a nominal fee
in
order to appease their
guilt from the theft and destruction of Arab properties. The Arab
families refused any
sale or compensation to give validity to the fact that this was an
illegal
and forced
implementation by the Israelis.
Till today the families
of the Maghrebi Quarter visit the demolished sites of their
homes in order to
remember the heritage of their fathers and forefathers.
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