Katamon Tour                                      

On Tuesday, Jan. 7th, I went on a tour of Katamon, an upper middle class neighborhood built during the British Mandate period.  Katamon is derived from the Greek kata tōi monastēriōi ("under the monastery").  To the west, Old Katamon branches out into several neighborhoods collectively called the "Katamonim" (plural of Katamon; officially Gonenim, lit. "Defenders"), built in the early years of the state to accommodate the large wave of new immigrants, previously living in tent camps.

Katamon was established just before World War I. By 1914, a total of five homes had been built. From 1924, building activity resumed, mostly by affluent Arab Christians, who built large mansions there. 

Kazazia House - built in 1918

From the writings during this time period, it is evident that the people living there loved their gardens and had a lot of entertainment on the streets until the YMCA opened up in 1932. The YMCA offered sports lovers tennis & squash courts, and a swimming pool. For the more intellectual, it provided lectures. However, the YMCA was founded by protestants, so those with Catholic backgrounds did not go there. 

Greek Consulate

Katamon was the home of several foreign embassies which moved to Tel-Aviv when the 1947 war began.  Today, is it home to foreign consulates among them the Greek consulate, the Italian consulate, and the Costa Rican consulate.  

The Greek consulate was used by the Egyptian embassy during the war that began after the Partition plan in 1947. After the war, the Egyptians handed over the keys to the Greeks and ever since it's the Greek consulate. 

The Greek Consulate and the Tall building in the picture above were built by the Sansur family (the same family which grew rich from selling tobacco and had a prime location on Zion Square).  

Imberger's House from the side

Imberger's house from the front

One of my favorite houses in Katamon turned out to be built by a German by the name of Imburger who was a member of the Nazi party in Jerusalem (this changed my perspective on the house a bit).

The relationship between the Nazi movement and leadership and the Arab world encompassed contempt, propaganda, collaboration and in some instances emulation. Cooperative relationships were founded on shared hostilities toward common enemies, such as British and French imperialism, colonialism, Zionism and Judaism.(1)

The architect and builder Hermann Imberger used to stroll down the Colony's main street every Sunday, with a swastika band around his arm, and the Arabs he passed "saluted him with admiration."(2) Many swastikas and Nazi paraphernalia was found in the house after he left it.

Halil Sakakini was a "teacher, educator, linguist, writer, poet, and politician." He was "born in Jerusalem to a Greek Orthodox family from the middle class." ... Khalil Sakakini also came to believe that Nazi Germany might weaken the British and 'liberate Palestine from the Jew', and therefore supported the Nazis. He wrote that Adolf Hitler had opened the World's eyes to the myth of Jewish power, and that Germany had stood up to the Jews and put them in their place.

Sakakini vehemently opposed allowing Holocaust survivors into Palestine, arguing that a human problem needed to be solved by all humanity. 

The Sakakini family was one of the last families to flee their home and Halil didn't take his library and hookah ("nargila" in Hebrew) which he used to smoke when he thought. Years later they found boxes in the Israel library marked with an S. Markos and his daughter edited and published them.

George Janis(educator)'s house.

George Janis and his family were friends with Sakakini family.

We saw four Dajani family houses- a Muslim family of six brothers. One of the Dajani brothers, Soubhi, was blind and translated the Koran into braille. He even had the chance to meet Helen Keller.
The Dajanis fled after hearing about Deir Yassin, they were afraid they would be killed by Jewish forces. Their houses and others on the street have since been home to a series of Jewish families—from Algerian, Romanian, and Iraqi immigrants during the early decades of the state to the more recently arrived, and considerably more affluent, Anglo-Saxon and French Jews of the present. (3)


In 1920 Herbert Samuel was high commissioner. Jewish Immigration (Aliya) brings the Arab revolt. The mayor of the town usually came from the Nashashibi family so the Hajamein Huseini family became the mufti.  Huseini killed one of the Dajani family members who was against violence.

British security zones kicked out the Jews but kept the Arabs. They were given three months notice.  When the British left, they left their outposts with barbed wired around them (this was dubbed "Bevingrad". 

Today, a Jewish sports club is erected where a British sports club used to be. Katamon is also home to the Israel Goldstein Youth Village (he:חוות הנוער הציוני), which has a number of school programs (boarding and day schools), especially for Russian and French Olim. 

 The neighbourhood was home to the Hapoel Jerusalem football club from the 1930s until it moved back to the YMCA Stadium in the 1980s. In 2007, several dissatisfied Hapoel Jerusalem fans formed a new club, naming it Hapoel Katamon Jerusalem after the club's former home, although the new club does not play in the neighborhood (4)

Operatin Kilshon let by Etzel

From 13–18 May 1948 
Jewish forces from the Haganah and Irgun executed Operation Kilshon - Its aim was to capture the Jewish suburbs of Jerusalem.
At midnight on Friday May 14, the British declared its civil and military authority in Jerusalem to be at an end. In the morning they evacuated the city in two large convoys, one moved north towards Haifa and the other south towards Bethlehem. The Zionists managed to obtain a schedule of their withdrawal in advance and could thereafter launch the operation almost immediately. (5)

The UN mediator (Count Folke Bernadotte) came in and recommended partition plan. Palmach fought the Germans taking over. Irgun join forces with British to fight the Germans. Lechi break off to fight the British. Begin disband the irgun (sets up IDF) but Lechi continue to operate and blow things up. They killed the UN mediator who two days before changed his mind from making Jerusalem an Arab city to an international city.

When the British left, it left a hole. No more telephone, telegraphs, or mail delivery. Instead, parts of Jerusalem were under a six-month siege. Many houses were looted due to the siege on the Jewish quarter.  Only two cars were left in the possession of it's owners - the rest were stolen.

The Crimean war changed the laws that didn't allow anyone not Muslim to buy property. Semiramis Hotel hotel was run by Christians.  After suspecting that the Semiramis hotel was one of two Arab headquarters in Katamon, the Haganah planted a bomb there on the night of 5–6 January 1948 (6) which destroyed the building. 

The Arabs were held up in the San Simon Monastery.  This monastery is said to be built over the tomb of Simeon, the devout Jerusalemite who met Joseph and Mary in the Temple where they brought Jesus as an infant. (7) 

Operation Yevusi (Hebrew: מבצע יבוסי‎) was a Palmach military operation carried out on April 30th, 1948 during the Israeli War of independence to assert Jewish control over Jerusalem.

San-Simon Monestary

The battle for the monastery lasted all day, with many killed on both sides. During the evening of April 30th the area was shaken by two large explosions. By the following day, 1 May, the Jews had complete control of the area. Once again the British intervened and demanded a ceasefire.(8)

After capturing the monastery, there were a few hours of quiet. But then the Arabs counterattacked with reinforcements and heavy weapons. The situation quickly became desperate. Arab forces had a cannon aimed along a little lane (’death alley’) leading to the monastery complex so that anyone trying to get in or out could easily be shot. And snipers fired steadily from a house with green shutters.(9)

We passed on the outskirts of Rechavia, which was built in the International style (similar to Bauhaus) 


The Namari family home was across from the Italian embassy.





Shifra Horne wrote a book about the house on the corner with musical notes on window.   

A one family house becomes a five family residence with the influx of new immigrants.

The Netanyahu house (where our current prime Minister - Bibi Netanyahu grew up) was on a corner. Netanyahu became ambassador between 1996-1999. Yoni, Bibis brother, was head of the unit that went to release the hijacked plane in Entebbe and was killed in Operation Entebbe in 1976.

We also passed by Levi Eshkol's house which is now nicely renovated. This residence served as the home for Israel's third Prime Minister from 1963 until his death from a heart attack in 1969.

International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) 

In the summer of 1980, the Israeli Parliament declared the city of Jerusalem to be the undivided, eternal capital of the State of Israel, established as such by King David almost 3,000 years earlier. Protest resounded across the international political spectrum, resulting in the closure of thirteen national embassies in Jerusalem (10).
The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) was founded in 1980 as an act of comfort and solidarity with Israel and the Jewish people in their claim to Jerusalem.The building in which ICEJ now presides was built by Ibrahim (a circassian) and moved hands a few times (At one point it was the Czechoslovakian consulate and another consulate) before it was purchased by ICEJ.