WhatsappA group of violent Islamic extremists were finally ordered out of the apartment they had been squatting in located in the historic Jerusalem Jewish neighborhood of the Shiloach and instead of leaving peacefully – they lit the two story apartment on fire.
The Shiloach neighborhood of Jerusalem was an historic Jewish neighborhood settled by Yemenite Jews in 1882. The neighborhood flourished and expanded throughout the early 1900s. However, after the Arab pogroms of the 1920s, the Jews began to leave. By 1938 the Arab pogroms took their toll and the British removed the remaining Jews, calling them refugees and promised to return them to their properties since the Arab violence subsided. That never happened.
Arab clans moved into the area and renamed it Silwan. These clans destroyed much of the Jewish buildings and squatted in the central Yemenite Beit Knesset. In 2004, the first Jewish families began to return and now after a lot of hard work, investment, and significant court rulings, there is a growing Jewish neighborhood of 42 families.
The arson on the Jewish property is a significant attack that thankfully did not hurt anyone and yet the message is clear - ”do not move here.”
Daniel Luria, the Executive Director of Ateret Cohanim, an organization dedicated to renewing Jewish life in all of Jerusalem said the following: “The “Al Aqsa flood” war is real and unfolding in the Shiloach. Violent Arabs burned down two apartments that were meant to be returned to Jewish hands and officially to the Sanctified Trust in the old Yemenite village of Shiloach after the courts ruled that the Arabs had had no rights and were illegal squatters in those apartments. Police and court appointed authorities had planned to remove the Arabs next week. Instead- the Arabs including local violent clans burned down the complex.”
Visiting the complex today so soon after the arson, the destruction was palpable and the smell of the fire was still in the air. Arab neighbors screamed at the workers trying to clean it up and verbally taunted city officials and police. No matter who the family is that moves into the apartment after it is renovated, they will need even more security than is already given to Jewish families in the Shiloach who are routinely attacked – especially at night.
