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Disputed Hotel in Jerusalem's Old City Was in Jewish Hands for Nearly 100 Years
(Israel Hayom) Ariel Kahana - The building in Jerusalem's Old City known today as the Petra Hotel, near Jaffa Gate, which the Jewish Ateret Cohanim association purchased from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate 20 years ago, is currently subject to an international campaign to prevent any Jewish presence at the site. However, historical research shows that the hotel was Jewish-owned from the first half of the 19th century until 1931. During the British Mandate, the hotel was a magnet for both Jewish and British leaders. In 1918, the cornerstone of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem was laid there. The 1929 Arab riots ultimately led the hotel's owner at the time, Yerachmiel Amdursky, to abandon the Amdursky Hotel. According to Hebrew University Professor Emeritus Ruth Kark, the original hotel was established by the Amzaleg family who made aliyah to Israel from Gibraltar. The family maintained ownership of the property until 1895, with it being reopened as the Amdursky Hotel in 1903. Deputy Jerusalem Mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, herself an immigrant from Gibraltar, has embarked on an international media campaign to fight back against attempts to prevent the hotel's transfer to Ateret Cohanim.