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Historic Jewish Sites in Eastern Jerusalem

(Jerusalem Post) Gabriel Barkay - One may mistakenly assume that areas within Jerusalem containing large Arab populations are of less historical significance to Jews and Christians, yet nothing can be further from the truth. Within the Arab neighborhood of Shuafat is the hill of Tel el-Ful. In 1922, American archaeologist William F. Albright identified Tel el-Ful as the biblical city of Gibeah, recounted in the Book of Samuel as the site from where King Saul, Israel's first king, ruled. On this site, an ancient fortress was discovered, believed by some archaeologists to date to his reign. Jebl Mukaber has long been associated by tradition as the place referred to in the story of the Binding of Isaac recounted in the Book of Genesis, where Abraham "looked and saw the place from afar." Topographically, this would have been the first place from where Abraham would have been able to see Jerusalem and Mount Moriah - the Temple Mount. Terms like east and west Jerusalem may sound definitive, but Jerusalem's rich archaeological heritage is not bound by any arbitrary lines in the sand. The writer, a professor at Bar-Ilan University, is the co-director of the Temple Mount Sifting Project and was the recipient of the Jerusalem Prize for Archaeological Research.
2019-05-10 00:00:00
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