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Israel - Jerusalem: City of Peace

by Mike Levy

Jerusalem – City of Peace.

The very name seems to suggest the holy, the spiritual and these days the temporal tide of protest. Though there is little to unite this ‘united city’ where Arab East barely acknowledges Jewish West (and vice versa) except for disputed settlement activity.

But outside the old city walls, and beyond the politics, this ancient place is a city bursting with great bars, restaurants, shops and art galleries.

Nowhere in Jerusalem is there anywhere artier or craftier than Yemin Moshe. This chic little corner of the city is usually overlooked in the headlong rush to the attractions of the Old City behind its gorgeously golden walls.

Yemin Moshe is a cluster of now-trendy 19th century buildings right across the valley that divides the old city from the new. It was conceived by one Moses Montefiore, a very early Zionist philanthropist who started to build new Jewish settlements (so what’s new?) outside the old walls. Work began in 1860 and the new quarter was gradually settled up until the late 19th century.

You know you have got to Yemin Moshe when you see the windmill. This incongruous sight (a bit like seeing a Dutch mirage in the desert) was the brainchild of the benefactor who thought that the Jews of this new Jerusalem should eschew charity and get grinding their own corn.

The desert heat of the Middle East does not suit windmills and it hardly ever got going. Now the mill is the site of a small museum about the life and works of Montefiore (you can see the opulent carriage he rode in across Europe as he tirelessly raised money for the planned return of the Jewish people to Palestine).

The best way to approach Yemin Moshe and its windmill is from the opulent King David Hotel (and excellent place to sip coffee and enjoy its oriental art deco). Walk through the car park behind the hotel and you will see two red pillar-boxes. These are rare remaining reminders of the British who once ruled this land in the very unhappy years between 1919 and 1948.

Descending the valley via little alleyways brings you into the heart of Yemin Moshe with its myriad of galleries, little craft shops, and the odd very upmarket restaurant.

The once-humble houses now constitute one of Jerusalem’s most expensive quarters: not surprising given the very short walk to the very centre of the modern city and a stone’s throw from the Via Dolorosa, The Western Wall on Temple Mount and the Al Aska Mosque.

A little further into Yemin Moshe and you come to the odd site of a row of very English-looking former almshouses. These were planned by Montefiore for the very poorest Jews of the city but now house a special guesthouse for visiting creative luminaries.

Though all is pretty peaceful now, this area was once in a no-man’s land between warring Jordan and Israel. Between 1948 and 1967, the Jordanians held the high ground of the Old City and the Israelis the valley opposite: Yemin Moshe was often caught in the crossfire.

Today with the Jewish state in control of the Old City, things are pretty peaceful especially in the traffic-free Yemin Moshe. In fact it is one of the very few places where you CAN accurately call Jerusalem, the ‘city of peace’.

In picture: Yemin Moshe, and the Dome of the Rock