The struggle for Jerusalem includes delving into the city’s Jewish history and encouraging Jewish building in it. The Sovereignty Movement’s tour in the northern and eastern parts of the capital was intended precisely for that purpose.
Dozens of Jerusalem lovers took part in a special tour of several of Jerusalem’s lesser-known historical sites. The tour was held as an integral part of the call to the Israeli government not to allow the city to be divided, not only with declarations but also by building and strengthening Jewish settlement and Jewish heritage in all parts of the capital.
The tour began with a visit to Atarot, where the establishment of a Jewish neighborhood is planned on land registered in the Tabu by Jews, where the Jerusalem airfield operated until the intifada broke out, which caused it to become inactive.
Shalom Pollack, of “Im Eshkachech”, explained the strategic importance of Atarot in stopping the Arab attempt to limit the borders of Jerusalem from the north. The Jerusalem City Council recently approved the construction plan for about 10,000 housing units in the new neighborhood of Atarot for discussion and approval by the district committee, a move that has been delayed and postponed for years.
“The Jewish neighborhood in Atarot will break the Arab continuity closing off Jerusalem from the north, so this is a critical place”, says Pollack, who views the two places, eastern Jerusalem and northern Jerusalem, as extremely important strategic focal points in the present battle for the sake of history and for the sake of a secure, Jewish future for a united Jerusalem.
Later the participants went to the neighborhood of Shimon Hatzadik, guided by Member of City Council Yonatan Yosef, who spoke of the ancient heritage of the place.
The first stop on the tour was the small Sanhedrin Cave located in the Shimon Hatzadik compound, with 23 tombs that are about two thousand, three hundred years old. Yonatan Yosef showed the visitors a historical inscription at the site and the placement of the mezuza in the entrance to the cave in which the participants of the tour descended.
Yonatan told the story of the encounter between Shimon Hatzadik and Alexander the Great with additional details about the special personal history of Shimon Hatzadik and conditions of that era. Yonatan Yosef asked the participants of the tour which nation, besides the Jewish People, has such an ancient history in Jerusalem. There is no other nation.
From there, the participants went to the neighborhood itself and visited the synagogue where Yonatan Yosef’s grandfather, Rav Ovadia Yosef, zt”l, used to pray as the cantor, where he also celebrated his Bar Mitzvah and where he delivered his first sermon.
Yonatan Yosef expounded, describing the story of the redemption of the neighborhood by the Jewish pioneers seeking to restore it to its previous state. Yosef told of the day when the pioneers, including himself, came in, led by Rabbi Benny Elon, obm. On that day, Faisal Husseini, the PA’s representative in Jerusalem, in the beginning of the nineties also came to the site. Yonatan Yosef’s father, Rav Ya’akov Yosef, zt”l, listened to Husseini’s speech, which completely distorted the history of the place, falsely stating that the Jews were stealing the place. Rav Ya’akov Yosef protested vigorously in Arabic and asked Husseini whether the Arabs indeed engrave stars of David on their houses, as could be seen on the doorposts of the homes in the neighborhood and whether indeed the Arabs leave writings in Hebrew on their houses…
Husseini understood that he could not continue his speech near Rav Yosef, who did not restrain himself regarding Husseini’s remarks and went down. “There was something very symbolic in this, that he went down and we remained on the mountain”, says Yonatan Yosef.
The Sovereignty Movement views the building boom in Jerusalem as a vital need to strengthen the unity of the city and the Israeli sovereignty in it. “Declarations and promises are not enough. We must demand deeds that will constitute a direct continuation of the chain of Zionist challenges of more than 120 years. The necessary task now is building, and expanding Jerusalem into a metropolis, along with stopping international pressure for the return of dangerous ideas of dividing Jerusalem, such as the pressure to open an American consulate for the PA”.