More On The City Of David Archeological Dig

We just finished our Tishah B’Av fast and our thinking mode is still focused on the Beit Hamikdash and the Old City of Jerusalem, so I figured we could continue with going under the City of David, which takes us back to the same time period. For travelers to Israel, one of the most popular places they make a priority to see is the City of David.

For those who are unfamiliar with City of David, this area located south of the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem in the heart of the village of Silwan, began as a small project with just a few houses within a parking field.

In the 19th century, most of Silwan was owned and populated by Jews. When the British took over from the Ottomans at the end of World War I, things became more dangerous for the Jews in Silwan since they had to deal with the violence from Arabs in the Old City of Jerusalem, Hebron, and other similar areas.

In the 1930s, Arabs started chasing Jews out of Silwan while the British soldiers looked the other way, and the Jews, not wanting to suffer a massacre like what happened to the Jews of Hebron back in the 1920s, fled the area and the Arabs took over all the homes that were owned by the Jews.

Fast forward to the 1980s, the organization Elad was formed by a man named David Be’eri, who took it upon himself to finally go back to Silwan and fight to retrieve all these homes that had previously been owned by Jews and taken by force.

He wasn’t able to do this overnight, but rather in bits and pieces by researching and digging up documents proving ownership rights of the Jews who had lived there and never sold their properties, and fighting the Arabs presently living in those homes for the right to throw them out in favor of the Jewish owners of record.

As they got hold of houses, they started renovations with the idea of fixing them up and renting them out to Jews to once again bring them back to Silwan. While they were renovating below the basements of some of these houses, major archeological finds began to emerge which made them realize there was a virtual treasure underneath Silwan of which they had just scratched the surface. But they needed to bring in professional archeologists to do the digging for the unearthed treasures waiting underground.

Under one house, a batch of swords carbon-dated to the time of King David were found that were thought to have been used to fight wars during those years. Bits and pieces of clothing that they believe were worn by the Kohanim were also found under the basement of another house, and so they began the excavations piece by piece as they retrieved more houses and dug more lots, connecting the pieces bit by bit.

Several years ago, David Be’eri was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his dedication to the discovery and publicity of what has now become the most popular tourist site in Israel, the City of David, a project that started humbly and has now become known as the site of the original City of Jerusalem during the times of King David and King Solomon.

Although the excavations have barely scratched the surface of what will take generations to completely unearth, some of the recent discoveries besides Hezekiah’s tunnel, which many of you have heard of, are additional staircases that were used by the people living back in those times to reach the Temple Mount and Beit Hamikdash including paths, tunnels, and roads connecting the staircases.

A fortress wall measuring 200 feet by 20 feet, which was thought to be part of a wall mentioned in the Tanach connecting King David’s Jerusalem to the Temple Mount was also located next to the palace of King David. They have already started excavations on what is thought to be the remnants of the palace of King David.

The excavations so far have unearthed ivory utensils used by royals of that time, together with artifacts that seem to be from a royal bakery stamped with writing on it that says: “For the King.”

Next to this structure, another possible find that is presently being excavated is thought to be the palace of King Solomon since they have also found many artifacts there pointing to him together with stamps and other articles used by those who would have served him.

There has been a steady expansion to the City of David from a parking lot with several houses to consistent growth as more houses are attained alongside the ones they have already been retrieved, and new expansions start as soon as they gain ownership of these properties.

I cannot wait to go back and see what they have uncovered this year, with these new discoveries serving as undeniable proof of our historical rights to the City of Jerusalem. And to think it all started with trying to retrieve some Jewish homes that were stolen in the 1930s! n

Anessa Cohen lives in Cedarhurst and is a Licensed Real Estate Broker Anessa V Cohen Realty with over 20 years of experience offering residential, commercial and management real estate services as well as mortgage services. You are invited to visit AVCRealty.com. She can be reached at 516-569-5007. Readers are encouraged to send any questions or comments by email to [email protected].