After the Six-Day-War, the Israeli Ministry of Interior sent workers to the newly reclaimed Jewish Quarter in an attempt to locate the owners of abandoned properties. Much to their surprise they learned that many of the homes in the Jewish Quarter were actually owned by Arabs and had been rented to Jewish tenants, while a majority of the homes to the north of the Temple Mount in the direction of Damascus Gate were Jewish-owned properties.
Until the riots of 1920, 1921, 1929, and 1936, Jews and Arabs lived together and worked together in this area of the Old City, with Jews the majority on many streets. There were over 20 synagogues and Torah institutions outside of the Jewish Quarter of today. In the wake of the riots, the Jews who survived either left the Old City or pulled back into the present day Jewish Quarter, which the British had designated as a Jewish ghetto.
In the 1980's a movement started to reclaim Jewish homes throughout the Old City. Today there are over 60 families, scores of yeshiva students, synagogues and yeshivas, educational and recreational facilities in this area.
For more information and tours of the Old City, please contact Yeshivat Ateret Cohanim - Jerusalem Reclamation Project at 02-628-4101 or visit their website
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