Ma'alot Dafna ( he, מעלות דפנה) is an
Israeli settlement and a neighborhood in
East Jerusalem.
It borders the neighborhood of Shmuel HaNavi to the west, Ammunition Hill to the east, Ramat Eshkol to the north and Arzei HaBira to the south.
The international community considers Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.
History
Ma'alot Dafna was established in 1972 on the hillside through which Israeli troops in the Six-Day War
The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states (primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan) from 5 to 10 Ju ...
made their way from the Israeli neighborhood of Shmuel HaNavi to fight the Arab Legion
The Arab Legion () was the police force, then regular army of the Emirate of Transjordan, a British protectorate, in the early part of the 20th century, and then of independent Jordan, with a final Arabization of its command taking place in 1 ...
troops at the Battle of Ammunition Hill. Its name, translated to "Bay Laurel Heights", commemorates Israel's victory in that war, the Bay laurel
''Laurus nobilis'' is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub with green, glabrous (smooth) leaves. It is in the flowering plant family Lauraceae. It is native to the Mediterranean region and is used as bay leaf for seasoning in cookin ...
being a symbol of victory.
The name Ma'alot Dafna also refers to the ''ma'alot'' (Hebrew for "steps") up to the ''dafna'' (Hebrew for overlapping rose petals), referring to the layered hills and the stepped approach to it.[Ehrenpreis Meyer, Yael. "I Found My Place In... Strength of unity in Anglo-sub communities". '' Binah'' Magazine, 9 May 2011, p. 41.]
The neighborhood includes a sub-neighborhood called Arzei HaBira (Cedars of the Capitol), which was built on territory on the Israeli side of the armistice
An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the ...
line before the war. Arzei HaBira is now considered a separate neighborhood, with more than 200 families. The rest of Ma’alot Dafna was built on territory that had been either no man's land or land used by the Jordanian military.
Ma'alot Dafna was built as part of the sequence of Jewish neighborhoods called the ''bariah'' or "hinge" neighborhoods[דוד קרויאנקר, ירושלים - המאבק על מבנה העיר וחזותה, ביתן זמורה 1988. Yerushalayim: Ha-maavak al mivneh ha-ir ve-hazutah (Hebrew Edition) by David Kroyanker (1988)]
סיור לאורך "הקו העירוני", אילן שפירא
connecting West Jerusalem to Mount Scopus
Mount Scopus ( he, הַר הַצּוֹפִים ', "Mount of the Watchmen/ Sentinels"; ar, جبل المشارف ', lit. "Mount Lookout", or ' "Mount of the Scene/Burial Site", or ) is a mountain (elevation: above sea level) in northeast Je ...
. On July 1967, Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
Levi Eshkol
Levi Eshkol ( he, לֵוִי אֶשְׁכּוֹל ; 25 October 1895 – 26 February 1969), born Levi Yitzhak Shkolnik ( he, לוי יצחק שקולניק, links=no), was an Israeli statesman who served as the third Prime Minister of Israe ...
gave a clerk named Yehuda Tamir unusual authority to overlook governmental building license policy in order to speed up the establishment of the "hinge" neighborhoods (Ma’alot Dafna, Ramat Eshkol, Givat HaMivtar, and French Hill). The neighborhood was designed so that it could serve the adjacent neighborhood of Shmuel HaNavi, a poorly designed and problematic lower-class neighborhood, which until the Six Day War faced a large enemy fort.
Demographics
Ma'alot Dafna now has a population of about 420 families, of which 220 are Anglo-born and 200 are Israeli. Most of the Anglo community consists of American Haredi
Haredi Judaism ( he, ', ; also spelled ''Charedi'' in English; plural ''Haredim'' or ''Charedim'') consists of groups within Orthodox Judaism that are characterized by their strict adherence to ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions, in oppos ...
couples who come to Israel for one or more years of kollel
A kollel ( he, כולל, , , a "gathering" or "collection" f scholars is an institute for full-time, advanced study of the Talmud and rabbinic literature. Like a yeshiva, a kollel features shiurim (lectures) and learning ''sedarim'' (sessions); ...
study at the nearby Mir yeshiva. The latter group creates a high turnover rate in the Anglo community.
Architecture
Ma’alot Dafna is a small neighborhood, originally built for a population of 4,000 (1,400 apartments)), by the contractor company “Shikun U'Pituakh”; chief of architects Y. Drexler.[דוד קרויאנקר, ירושלים מבט ארכיטקטוני, מדריך טיולים בשכונות ובתים הוצאת כתר, 1996] It initially consisted entirely of four-story apartment houses of two to three bedrooms per apartment. The buildings are faced with Jerusalem stone
Jerusalem stone (Hebrew: אבן ירושלמית; Arabic: حجر القدس) is a name applied to various types of pale limestone, dolomite and
dolomitic limestone, common in and around Jerusalem that have been used in building since ancient tim ...
and include architectural elements typical to the Old City of Jerusalem, as well as modern ones. The neighborhood has large areas reserved for pedestrian traffic.
Notable institutes
* René Cassin
René Samuel Cassin (5 October 1887 – 20 February 1976) was a French jurist known for co-authoring the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.
Born in Bayonne, Cassin served as a soldier in the First Wo ...
High School serves the secular population of the northern Jerusalem neighborhoods. In its heyday, it had 60 classes of 40 students each. Its students learned three languages: Hebrew, English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
and French.
* Yeshivat Ohr Somayach is one of the most notable yeshiva
A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are st ...
s in Jerusalem for ''baal teshuva
In Judaism, a ''ba'al teshuvah'' ( he, בעל תשובה; for a woman, , or ; plural, , , 'master of return God_in_Judaism.html"_;"title="o_God_in_Judaism">God)_is_a_Jew_who_adopts_some_form_of_traditional_religious_observance_after_having_previ ...
'' men.
* The Jerusalem offices of United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon ( ar, قوة الأمم المتحدة المؤقتة في لبنان, he, כוח האו"ם הזמני בלבנון), or UNIFIL ( ar, يونيفيل, he, יוניפי״ל), is a UN peacekeeping m ...
Notable people
* Nachum Eisenstein
References
{{Coord, 31.796209, 35.225687, display=title, type:landmark
Neighbourhoods of Jerusalem
Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem