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Today, Thursday, the 26th of Tammuz, marks the 40th anniversary of a moving ceremony that began in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem and ended on the Mt. of Olives. Some 40 fighters and others who were killed in the battle for Old Jerusalem in 1948 had been buried in a pit there, because of the siege; in 1967, after the city was liberated and unified, they were reburied on the Mt. of Olives.The Jewish community of the Old City, numbering some 2,000 people in 1947, was essentially under siege by the end of that year. The Arabs of Jerusalem did this simply by blocking off Zion Gate and Jaffa Gate, the two portals by which the Jews were able to leave the dense Jewish Quarter and enter the New City.Intense fighting began in the Old City just after the establishment of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948. The Israeli forces attempted more than once to break through Zion Gate and take over the Old City, but did not succeed.Meanwhile, Jordan's Arab Legion continued to capture more and more of the Jewish Quarter-until the fateful Friday, May 28, when the Jewish Quarter fell.It was on that day that the remaining 1,600 residents were gathered into the Batei Machseh Square, adjacent to Beit Rothschild, and the official surrender papers were signed, giving Jerusalem over to Jordanian control. Some 1,300 women, children and elderly were evacuated to Jewish Jerusalem, while close to 300 males were taken prisoner. Of the latter, only about 30-40 were combatants-but the Arab Legion commander feared he would not be able to explain to his superiors how he was unable to defeat such a small fighting force for nearly two weeks, and so he took as captives another few dozen wounded men and some 200 non-combatant males as well.That Sabbath, for possibly the first time in over 700 years, not a single living Jew remained in Jerusalem.However, some 40 dead Jews did remain. They were those who had been killed in the previous two weeks of fighting, but could not be removed from the Old City for burial because of the battles.Though burial had never been permitted in the Old City, the rabbis agreed that the situation left no other choice. On May 21, a pit was dug near Beit Rothschild, and 23 of the dead, which had been kept in the Misgav Ladach hospital in the quarter, were buried there. Five days later, another 11 bodies were interred. To read more go to:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/123053
As in the days of Noah...
