Royal Palace at Tell el-ful is an abandoned structure near

Beit Hanina Beit Hanina ( ar, بيت حنينا , he, בית חנינא) is an Arab Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem. It is on the road to Ramallah, eight kilometers north of central Jerusalem, at an elevation of 780 meters above sea level. Bei ...

, atop a hill known as

Tell el-Ful Gibeah (; he, גִּבְעָה ''Gīḇəʿā''; he, גִּבְעַת, link=no ''Gīḇəʿaṯ'') is the name of three places mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, in the tribes of Benjamin, Judah, and Ephraim respectively. Gibeah of Benjamin is ...

(Hill of Beans, he, גבעת שאול, Givat Shaul, ''lit.'' Hill of Saul).

History

The structure was intended to be a summer residence for

King Hussein of Jordan Hussein bin Talal ( ar, الحسين بن طلال, ''Al-Ḥusayn ibn Ṭalāl''; 14 November 1935 – 7 February 1999) was King of Jordan from 11 August 1952 until his death in 1999. As a member of the Hashemite dynasty, the royal family of ...

, whose grandfather,

King Abdullah I AbdullahI bin Al-Hussein ( ar, عبد الله الأول بن الحسين, translit=Abd Allāh al-Awwal bin al-Husayn, 2 February 1882 – 20 July 1951) was the ruler of Jordan from 11 April 1921 until his assassination in 1951. He was the Emir ...

, conquered Jerusalem and the rest of the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

annexing Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...

the territory after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Construction started in the mid-1960s, but was interrupted when Israel captured the area during the 1967 War. Still owned by the Hashemite Kingdom, it remains today as found in 1967, an unfinished shell. The hill, located just west of

Pisgat Ze'ev Pisgat Ze'ev ( he, פסגת זאב, lit. ''Ze'ev's Peak'') is an Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem and the largest residential neighborhood in Jerusalem with a population of over 50,000. Pisgat Ze'ev was established by Israel as one of the ci ...

overlooking the Arab neighborhood of

Shuafat Shuafat ( ar, شعفاط '), also ''Shu'fat'' and ''Sha'fat'', is a mostly Palestinians, Palestinian Arab neighborhood of East Jerusalem, forming part of north-eastern Jerusalem. Located on the old Jerusalem–Ramallah road about three miles no ...

, is above sea level, making it one of the highest summits in the region. The palace was built in reaction to the locating of the residence of Israel's president in West Jerusalem. Intended to be the official holiday retreat of the Jordanian royal family, it was to be an architectural masterpiece that would host dignitaries from around the world. The design envisaged a grandiose structure consisting of three levels, interconnected with arches plated with

Jerusalem stone Jerusalem stone (Hebrew: אבן ירושלמית; Arabic: حجر القدس) is a name applied to various types of pale limestone, Dolomite (rock), dolomite and Dolomite (rock), dolomitic limestone, common in and around Jerusalem that have been u ...

.Jordanian monarch's villa in Jerusalem turns into shelter for junkies
Xinhua News Agency, November 22, 2010. Construction came to a halt after the 1967 war when Israel took control of the West Bank. The structure was still a building site and was left uncompleted. The skeletal, two-storey cement structure remained empty and has since become a haven for drug users. Local officials said that attempting to redevelop the building and end the neglect would potentially "raise a storm in Jordan." In August 2011, the Jerusalem municipality stopped unauthorised workers who had erected a fence around the site. The Jerusalem ''wakf'' denied that Jordan was preparing to renovate the palace.Waqf spokesman denies renovation of King Hussein palace
Ma'an, August 14, 2011.

Archaeology

The identification of tell el-Ful with biblical

Gibeah Gibeah (; he, גִּבְעָה ''Gīḇəʿā''; he, גִּבְעַת, link=no ''Gīḇəʿaṯ'') is the name of three places mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, in the tribes of Benjamin, Judah, and Ephraim respectively. Gibeah of Benjamin is th ...

, the capital of

King Saul Saul (; he, , ; , ; ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first monarch of the United Kingdom of Israel. His reign, traditionally placed in the late 11th century BCE, supposedly marked the transition of Israel and Judah from a scattered tr ...

, is generally accepted and ruins of a fortress are apparent at the site. Due to the site's archaeological significance, a number of digs have occurred at the site, the first in 1868. Jordanian plans to build the royal palace atop the mound prompted a third excavation in 1964 which attempted to salvage and document the findings prior to construction work.

References

External links

360 degree view - Tel el Ful/Givat Shaul
{{coord, 31, 49, 23.74, N, 35, 13, 51.82, E, display=title Unfinished buildings and structures Royal residences Buildings and structures in Jerusalem Hebrew Bible places Jordanian construction in eastern Jerusalem 1960s in Jerusalem