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Shu'fat (Template:Lang-ar Šuʿafāṭ), also Shuafat and Sha'fat, is a Palestinian Arab neighborhood of East Jerusalem, forming part of north-eastern Jerusalem. Located on the old Jerusalem-Ramallah road about three miles north of the Old City, Shu'fat has a population of 35,000 residents. The Shu'fat refugee camp, established in 1965, just north of Jerusalem. It is located on the traditional lands of the town of Shu'fat. Shu'fat borders Pisgat Ze'ev and Beit Hanina on the north, Shu'fat refugee camp on the east, French Hill on the south, and Ramat Shlomo on the west. Shu'fat is located in the part of the West Bank which was included in the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem after its occupation in 1967.

History

The place was known to the Canaanites and Crusaders as Dersophath;. Biblical identifications include Gebim, a village in north Jerusalem whose inhabitants fled the approaching Assyrian army, according to the Book of Isaiah, Mizpah in Benjamin, and Nob. Tell el-Ful, on the neighborhood's outskirts, is believed to have been King Saul's capital of ancient Israel at Gibeah. Jordan's King Hussein also built a palace here.

Shuafat has been the site of intermittent habitation since at least 2000 BC, and a number of ancient artifacts have been discovered there, including the remains of a Crusader structure in the center of the village that was possibly a church.

Following a 1991 archaeological dig in Shuafat by Alexander Onn and Tzvi Greenhut, a room dating to the 2nd century BC was identified as a prayer room or synagogue, making one of the oldest ever found. However the site was can no longer be identified and has been questioned.

During an archaeological salvage dig conducted near the Shuafat refugee camp in preparation for the laying of the tracks for the Jerusalem Light Rail system, the remains of an ancient Roman settlement, dating back to the Roman Empire were discovered. The settlement was described as a 'sophisticated community impeccably planned by the Roman authorities, with orderly rows of houses and two fine public bathhouses to the north.' The findings are said be the first indication of an active Jewish settlement in the area of Jerusalem after the city fell in 70 A.D.. The main indication that the settlement was a Jewish one is the assemblage of stone vessels found there. Such vessels, for food storage and serving, were only used by Jews because they were believed not to transmit impurity. Archaeologists believe stone basins discovered at the site were used to hold ashes from the destroyed Temple.

Local legend holds that the modern settlement was established several hundred years ago by immigrants from the Hejaz.

In 1596, the village contained 8 Muslim families and paid taxes on wheat, barley, vineyards and other agricultural produce. In 1883 it was described as follows: "A small village, standing on a flat spur immediately west of the watershed, surrounded with olive-trees. It has wells to the north. There is a sacred chapel of Sultan Ibrahim in the village." The census of 1931 recorded 539 Muslims living there.

The town of Shuafat was to be the most northernmost point of the corpus separatum proposed in 1947 for Jerusalem and its surrounding villages, which "in view of its association with three world religions" was to be "accorded special and separate treatment from the rest of Palestine and should be placed under effective United Nations control".

During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni attempted to lead the village's residents in an attack against the neighboring Jewish village of Neve Yaakov. The villagers refused anything less than a full conquest of Neve Yaakov lest their village suffer a reprisal from the Jews. In April, the Jewish Palmach captured the village in the course of Operation Yevusi and expelled the inhabitants. The Palmach began demolishing buildings, but ultimately withdrew following a battle at the Tomb of Samuel. On 13 May, the villagers were again expelled, this time by order of the Transjordanian Arab Legion, which was preparing for an invasion through the area.

After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Shuafat was occupied by Jordan, which subsequently, in April 1950, unilaterally declared it had annexed the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Construction of the Shuafat refugee camp began in 1964 by the UN, to alleviate the crowded conditions in the Askar camp. Construction was completed in 1966. Upon completion, the Red Cross, on orders of King Hussein, transferred the Arab refugees, originally from Ashkelon and West Jerusalem, who had settled in the hovels of the burnt out Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, to the camp. According to David Bedein, the wholesale transfer was ordered because Jordan intended to undertake an Arab-style renovation of the Jewish Quarter, but the plan became obsolete when in the aftermath of the 1967 Six Day War, the West Bank and East Jerusalem were occupied by Israel. The town of Shuafat and the refugee camp were subsequently annexed by Israel into the municipal area of Jerusalem. Residents of Shuafat were offered Israeli citizenship, but most refused it, considering themselves to be illegally occupied, though many accepted permanent residency status instead.

Today

According to Isabel Kershner of the New York Times, Shuafat, like most of the other Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem, suffers from an absence of municipal planning, overcrowding, and potholed roads.

The Shuafat refugee camp is the only Palestinian refugee camp located inside Jerusalem or any other Israeli-administered area. While its residents carry Jerusalem identity cards, which theoretically grants them most of the same privileges and rights as regular Israelis, the camp itself is largely serviced by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, even though 40 - 50% of the camp's population are not registered refugees. The Israeli West Bank barrier was partially constructed between the camp and the rest of Shuafat and Jerusalem, so while some health services are provided by Israeli clinics in the camp, in general the Israeli presence in the refugee camp is limited to checkpoints controlling entry and exit and Israel Border Police incursions. The camp also suffers from high crime, since Israeli Police rarely enter due to security concerns, while the Palestinian Police are prohibited from entering the Israeli-administered municipality. In addition, unlike other UN-run refugee camps, residents of Shuafat refugee camp pay taxes to the Israeli authorities. In 2007 Prime Minister Ehud Olmert questioned whether the annexation of areas like Shuafat into the Jerusalem area was necessary. The Israeli initiative to transfer control of the area to the Palestinian National Authority split the Shuafats, with a camp official coming out in favor of finally being under Palestinian sovereignty, while the neighborhood's mukhtar rejected the plan citing his residents' participation in Israeli elections as well as the danger of Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel

In a survey conducted as part of the research for the book Negotiating Jerusalem (2000), it was reported that 59% of Israeli Jews supported redefining the borders of the city of Jerusalem so as to exclude Arab settlements such as Shuafat, in order to ensure a "Jewish majority" in Jerusalem.

In July 2001, the Israeli authorities destroyed 14 homes under construction in Shuafat on the orders of then mayor Ehud Olmert, who said the structures were built without procuring permits. No one was yet living in them. The families acknowledged they do not own the land they built on, but believed they had permission to build there from Islamic Trust religious authorities. Olmert told Israeli radio that it been designated "green area" and public land - and that the Palestinian presence posed a security threat to a Jewish suburb nearby. Palestinians say that it is nearly impossible for them to get a permit and that these demolitions are part of a campaign to reduce the Arab population of Jerusalem.

Recently however the Sorbonne scholar Prof. Sylvaine Bulle has cited the Shuafat refugee camp for its urban renewal dynamic, seeing it as an example of a creative adaptation to the fragmented space of the camps towards creating what she calls a bricolage city, with businesses relocating from east Jerusalem there and new investment in commercial projects.

Transportation

v t e Jerusalem Light Rail Red Line
Legend
Neve Yaakov Yitzhak Tabenkin Mazal Keshet Moshe Dayan North Heil Ha-Avir Sayeret Dukhifat Pisgat Ze'ev Center Yekuti'el Adam Beit 'Hanina Shu'afat Es-Sahl Depot Giv'at Ha-Mivtar Ammunition Hill Shim'on Ha-Tsadik Shivtei Israel Damascus Gate City Hall Jaffa Center Ha-Davidka Mahane Yehuda Ha-Turim Central Bus Station Kiryat Moshe He-'Halutz Denia Square Yefeh Nof Mount Herzl Shmaryahu Levin Kiryat HaYovel West Mifletzet Park Henrietta Szold East Kiryat Menachem Ora Junction Medical School Hadassah Ein Kerem

Three stations of the First 'Red' Line of the Jerusalem Light Rail are situated in Shuafat: Shuafat North, Shuafat Central and Shuafat South.

The neighbourhood’s Main Street, Shuafat Road, was previously part of route 60. In the 1990s a new route was built to the east of the neighbourhood, a dual carriageway with 3 lines in each direction, relieving traffic congestion along the road.

See also

• East Jerusalem
• List of places in Jerusalem

References

1. ^ Isabel Kershner (June 5, 2007). "Under a Divided City, Evidence of a Once United One". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-01-29.
2. UNWRA, Shu'fat refugee camp
3. ^ "New checkpoint opened at entrance to Shuafat". The Jerusalem Post. 2011. Retrieved 2012-02-20. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
4. "Jerusalem Neighborhood Profile: Shuafat Refugee Camp" (DOC). Ir Amim. 2006. Retrieved 2008-02-01. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
5. ^ Mariam Shahin (2005). Palestine: A Guide. Interlink Books. p. 334. ISBN 1-56656-557-X.
6. ^ Denys Pringle (1997). Secular Buildings in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: An Archaeological. Cambridge University Press. p. 94. ISBN 0-521-46010-7.
7. Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Wm. B. Eerdmans. 2000. p. 487. ISBN 0-8028-2400-5.
8. ^ C. R. Conder, Survey of Western Palestine, Vol. III (1883) pp13-14.
9. C. Geikie, The Holy Land and the Bible (1887), pp158–159.
10. Discovering the World of the Bible By LaMar C. Berrett
11. The Book of Acts in Its Palestinian Setting By Richard Bauckham
12. The Cambridge History of Judaism: The late Roman-Rabbinic period By William David Davies, Louis Finkelstein, Steven T. Katz
13. The ancient synagogue from its origins to 200 A.D.: a source book By Anders Runesson, Donald D. Binder, Birger Olsson
14. The Ancient Synagogue: "Birthplace of Two World Religions"
15. Amiram Barkat (2 January 2006). "Shuafat dig reveals first sign of Jewish life after destruction of Second Temple". Retrieved 2008-02-01.
16. Beit Hanina Community Center
18. Hütteroth, Wolf-Dieter; Abdulfattah, Kamal (1977), Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century, Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft, p. 120
19. Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns, and Administrative Areas (1932), p43
20. Paul Jacob Ignatius Maria de Waart (1994). Dynamics of Self-Determination in Palestine: Protection of Peoples As a. BRILL. p. 216. ISBN 90-04-08286-7.
21. Benny Morris (1987). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947–1949. Cambridge University Press. pp. ]. ISBN 978-0-521-33889-9.
22. Meron Benvenisti, Jerusalem: The Torn City, Isratypeset, 1976, p.69
23. Beyond the Wall, Ir Amim Report, January 2007
24. Doson, Nandita and Sabbah, Abdul Wahad (editors) Stories from our Mothers (2010). ISBN 978-0-9956136-3-0. Pages 18/19. describes 500 people being moved from the Jewish Quarter/Harat al-Sharaf.
25. http://israelbehindthenews.com/Oct-13-98.htm
26. "Jerusalem Neighborhood Profile: Shuafat Refugee Camp" (DOC). Ir Amim. 2006. Retrieved 2008-02-01. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
27. "Olmert hints at possible concessions in Jerusalem". Ynet. October 15, 2007. Retrieved 2008-02-01.
28. "Shuafat area residents split over plan to divide Jerusalem in two". The Jerusalem Post. 2007. Retrieved 2012-02-20. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
29. Jerome M. Segal (2000). Negotiating Jerusalem. SUNY Press. p. 127. ISBN 0-7914-4537-2.
30. Violence flares in Jerusalem as Israeli bulldozers destroy dozen 'illegal' homes
31. Tracy Wilkinson (July 10, 2001). "Israel Razes 14 Arab Homes at Refugee Camp". Los Angeles Times. p. in print edition A-4. Retrieved 2008-09-07.
32. Esther Zandberg (2008-10-23). "Their Shoafat outshines her Paris". HAARETZ. Retrieved 2012-12-04.
33. Stations
34. "The Jerusalem Light Rail Map", Citypass, retrieved 2009-11-08

External links

• Why is the Shuafat Refugee Camp Seething?
• Shu'fat, articles from UNWRA

v t e Palestine refugee camps locations and populations as of 2015
Gaza Strip 518,000 UNRWA refugees  West Bank 188,150 UNRWA refugees  Syria 319,958 UNRWA refugees  Lebanon 188,850 UNRWA refugees  Jordan 355,500 UNRWA refugees Al-Shati (Beach camp) 87,000 Bureij 34,000 Deir al-Balah 21,000 Jabalia 110,000 Khan Yunis 72,000 Maghazi 24,000 Nuseirat 66,000 Rafah 104,000 Canada closed Aqabat Jaber 6,400 Ein as-Sultan 1,900 Far'a 7,600 Fawwar 8,000 Jalazone 11,000 Qalandia 11,000 Am'ari 10,500 Deir 'Ammar 2,400 Dheisheh 13,000 Aida 4,700 Al-Arroub 10,400 Askar 15,900 Balata 23,600 'Azza (Beit Jibrin) 1,000 Ein Beit al-Ma' (Camp No. 1) 6,750 Tulkarm 18,000 Nur Shams 9,000 Jenin 16,000 Shu'fat 11,000 Silwad Birzeit Sabinah 22,600 Khan al-Shih 20,000 Nayrab 20,500 Homs 22,000 Jaramana 18,658 Daraa 10,000 Hama 8,000 Khan Danoun 10,000 Qabr Essit 23,700 Unofficial camps Ein Al-Tal 6,000 Latakia 10,000 Yarmouk 148,500 Bourj el-Barajneh 17,945 Ain al-Hilweh 54,116 El Buss 11,254 Nahr al-Bared 5,857 Shatila 9,842 Wavel 8,806 Mar Elias 662 Mieh Mieh 5,250 Beddawi 16,500 Burj el-Shamali 22,789 Dbayeh 4,351 Rashidieh 31,478 Former camps Tel al-Zaatar  ? Nabatieh  ? Zarqa 20,000 Jabal el-Hussein 29,000 Amman New (Wihdat) 51,500 Souf 20,000 Baqa'a 104,000 Husn (Martyr Azmi el-Mufti camp) 22,000 Irbid 25,000 Jerash 24,000 Marka 53,000 Talbieh 8,000 Al-Hassan  ? Madaba  ? Sokhna  ?
References "Camp Profiles". unrwa.org. United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. Retrieved 2 July 2015.

31°48′55.00″N 35°13′48.00″E / 31.8152778°N 35.2300000°E / 31.8152778; 35.2300000

• Neighbourhoods of Jerusalem
• Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank
• Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem
• Archaeological sites in Jerusalem