Abu Tor, also Abu Thor or ath-Thori, (; , lit. Arabic meaning "Father of the Bull"; In Hebrew also called גבעת חנניה (Giv'at Hanania), lit. " Hananiah's hill") is a mixed Jewish and Arab neighborhood in

East Jerusalem East Jerusalem (, ; , ) is the portion of Jerusalem that was Jordanian annexation of the West Bank, held by Jordan after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to West Jerusalem, which was held by Israel. Captured and occupied in 1967, th ...

, built on a prominence south of the Old City.

Geography

Abu Tor is bounded by the Valley of Hinnom on the north, by the Valley of Azal (Wadi Yasul/Nahal Azal) on the south, Hebron Road and the old Jerusalem Railway Station to the west, and the Sherover Promenade, Armon HaNetziv and Peace Forest to the south. About Abu Tor - Har Refaim Synagogue, Abu Tor, Jerusalem The "official" Hebrew name of the neighborhood is ''Givat Hananya'' ("Hananya's Hill").Studies in Historical Geography and Biblical Historiography
Zecharia Kallai

Etymology

According to a traditional story, during the Ayyubid period after

Saladin Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, h ...

captured Jerusalem in 1187, the area of Abu Tor was assigned by

Al-Aziz Uthman Al-Malik Al-Aziz Uthman ibn Salah Ad-Din Yusuf (1171 – 29 November 1198) was the second Ayyubid dynasty, Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt. He was the second son of Saladin. Life Before his death, Saladin had divided his dominions amongst his kin: Al-A ...

to an officer in Saladin's army.Moudjir ed-dyn, 1876, p
290
orig page 488, cited in Canaan, 1927, p
286
/ref> His name was Sheikh Shehab ed Din, but he was called "Sheikh Ahmed et Toreh" (Sheikh Ahmed of the bull) or "Abu Tor" (the man with the bull, or the father of the bull) as he was said to have accompanied Saladin riding on a bull.Palmer, 1881, p
318
/ref>Warren and Conder, 1884, p
397
/ref>

Location

The hill on which Abu Tor stands was called "Jebel Deir Abu Tor" (mountain of the monastery of Abu Tor), or the "Hill of Evil Counsel", referring to a legend that it was the site of the house of

Caiaphas Joseph ben Caiaphas (; c. 14 BC – c. 46 AD) was the High Priest of Israel during the first century. In the New Testament, the Gospels of Gospel of Matthew, Matthew, Gospel of Luke, Luke and Gospel of John, John indicate he was an organizer of ...

, where

Judas Judas Iscariot (; ; died AD) was, according to Christianity's four canonical gospels, one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. Judas betrayed Jesus to the Sanhedrin in the Garden of Gethsemane, in exchange for thirty pieces of ...

plotted to betray Jesus. A monastery or convent dedicated to St. Mark (whose emblem was an ox) may have once been there.Canaan, 1927, p
287

History

Late Ottoman period

Abu Tor was developed as a residential quarter in the late 19th century by Muslim and Christian Arabs from Jerusalem. A Jewish neighborhood called Beit Yosef was established in 1888.

British Mandate

Abu Tor was incorporated into the Jerusalem municipal district during the British Mandate period.

Israel

From the establishment of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

in 1948 until 1967, the border between Israel and

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

ran through Abu Tor. The first four roads beyond Hebron Road were Israeli and the remaining roads were Jordanian. In January 1949, Israel and Jordan, represented by

Moshe Dayan Moshe Dayan (; May 20, 1915 – October 16, 1981) was an Israeli military leader and politician. As commander of the Jerusalem front in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Chief of General Staff (Israel), Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defe ...

and Abdullah el-Tell, held talks on the status of Jerusalem. Dayan presented the partition of Jerusalem as a common interest, and offered an exchange of territories that included the military post in Abu Tor, but his offer was turned down.

Demography

Abu Tor is one of the few Jerusalem neighborhoods with a mixed Arab and Jewish population. Due to its mixed population, many journalists, diplomats and United Nations employees choose to live there. While the Jewish section of Abu Tor is predominantly secular, the neighborhood has two synagogues - Har Refaim Synagogue for

Ashkenazi Jews Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium CE. They traditionally speak Yiddish, a language ...

on Nachshon Street, and Shalom V'Achva Synagogue for

Sephardi Jews Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

. Abu Tor had a population of 15,500 in 2010.

Urban development

A large multiplex cinema, the Sherover complex, is located in Abu Tor. The center, just off Hebron Road, houses seven movie theaters, coffee shops and restaurants, an auditorium, a library, classrooms and art galleries. The complex, which began operating in 2015, also screens films on the Sabbath.

References

Bibliography

* (p
432
* * (p
100
* * * *

External links

*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 17
IAAWikimedia commons
{{coord, 31, 45, 49.1, N, 35, 13, 57.5, E, display=title Neighbourhoods of Jerusalem 19th-century establishments in Asia Populated places established in the 19th century