The Jaffa Gate

Jaffa Gate (Hebrew: Sha'ar Yafo, Arabic: Bab el-Khalil), also David's Gate (Hebrew: Sha'ar David) , is a stone portal in the historic walls of Jerusalem's Old City; it is one of eight gates in Jerusalem's Old City walls. Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language Jerusalem (יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, he-Latn Yerushaláyim; Arabic: ar القُدس, ar-Latn al-Quds) is the The Old City (העיר העתיקה HaIr HaAtika, البلدة القديمة al-Balda al-Qadimah) is a 0

The Jaffa Gate is so named because it is the portal for Jaffa Road, the precursor to the modern highway to the ancient port of Jaffa and the Mediterranean coastal plain. Jaffa Road (شارع يافا רחוב יפו is one of the longest and oldest streets in Jerusalem. Highway 1 (כביש 1 is the main highway connecting Tel Aviv with Jerusalem. Jaffa يَافَا;(יָפוֹ Yafo; also Japho, Joppa) is an ancient Port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world The Israeli Coastal Plain (מישור החוף Mishor HaHof) is the narrow Coastal plain along Israel's Mediterranean Sea coast which houses 70% of

Inside the Jaffa Gate is a small square between the Christian and Armenian Quarters. The Christian Quarter is one of the four quarters of the ancient walled Old City of Jerusalem, the other three being the Jewish Quarter, the Muslim Quarter The Armenian Quarter is one of the four quarters of the Old City of Jerusalem. The Christian Quarter is to the north, on the left, and the Armenian Quarter is to the South, on the right. The Gate's location is determined by the city's topography, located along the valley followed by Jaffa Road into the old city, between the northern hill of the Acra and the southern of Mount Zion. Mount Zion (הר צִיּוֹן Har Tzion) is a hill just outside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. ^[1] The road and the valley it follows continues eastward and down into the Tyropoeon Valley, bisecting the northern and southern halves of the city, with the Christian and Muslim Quarters to the north, and Armenian and Jewish Quarters to the south. Tyropoeon Valley (ie "Valley of the Cheesemakers quot is the name given by Josephus the historian to the Valley or rugged Ravine, in SukAlKataninJPG||thumb|left|Market of the Cotton Workers reconstructed in 1336 by the Mamluk ruler Emir Tankriz governor of Damascus]] The Muslim Quarter is one of the For the article on Jewish Quarters throughout the Jewish diaspora, see Jewish Quarter (diaspora The Jewish One of the entrances to the Arab marketplace is just inside the Jaffa Gate.

The Ottoman clocktower stood between 1908 and 1917.

View of street leading to Jaffa Gate, 1890s.

Running along the high city walls, south of the Jaffa Gate is the Citadel of Jerusalem, usually (but mistakenly) called the "Tower of David," a Jerusalem landmark that dates back to antiquity. The Tower of David (מגדל דוד Migdal David, برج داود Burj Daud) is an ancient Citadel located near the Jaffa Gate entrance to The current tower was built during the reign of the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. Suleiman I (سليمان Sulaymān, Süleyman almost always Kanuni Sultan Süleyman) ( 6 November 1494 5/ 6 September 1566

Legend has it that every conquerer of Jerusalem will enter through the Jaffa Gate. So when German Kaiser Wilhelm II visited Jerusalem in 1898, the Ottoman authorities breached the city wall right next to the gate so that he could enter and think he was going through the Jaffa Gate. In 1908, a clock tower was built near the gate, to serve the developing business district in the area. The tower lasted only a decade: It was knocked down by the British when they occupied Jerusalem.

In 1917, British general Edmund Allenby entered the Old City through the Jaffa Gate, giving a speech at the nearby Tower of David. Field Marshal Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby 1st Viscount Allenby GCB GCMG GCVO ( April 23 1861 - May 14 1936 Allenby entered the city on foot in a show of respect for the city and a desire to avoid comparison with the Kaiser's entry in 1898. Field Marshal Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby 1st Viscount Allenby GCB GCMG GCVO ( April 23 1861 - May 14 1936 The British demolished other buildings adjoining the city wall in 1944 in an attempt to preserve Jerusalem's historic vistas.

During Israel's War of Independence, Israeli forces fought hard to connect the Jewish Quarter of the Old City with Israeli-held western Jerusalem by controlling the Jaffa Gate. With a Jordanian victory in 1948, Israeli forces were not able to gain control of the gate until the Six Day War in 1967. Background Suez Crisis aftermath The Suez Crisis of 1956 represented a military defeat but a political victory for Egypt

As the westernmost of the gates, it is heavily used by pedestrians and vehicles, and the plaza in front of the gate has been expanded to connect with new Mamilla shopping district outside the Jaffa Gate. Mamilla (ממילא was an early neighbourhood constructed outside Jerusalem 's Old City west from the Jaffa Gate, and now refers to the $400 million commercial

A panoramic view of the modern Gate's plaza. Note the gap in the walls now used for vehicular access to the Old City.

Virtual Tours

• Jaffa Gate virtual tour

References

Coordinates: 31°46′35.5″N 35°13′39″E / 31.776528, 35.2275