Givat HaMivtar () is an Israeli settlement and a neighborhood in East Jerusalem[ ] established in 1970 between Ramat Eshkol and French Hill. It is located on a hill where an important battle took place in the Six Day War. Archaeological excavations have revealed important ancient Jewish tombs in the region. Givat Hamivtar was one of the first "Build Your Own Home" neighborhoods in Jerusalem.
The international community considers Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.
History
The hill on which Givat Hamivtar was established was the site of a Jordanian
fort, one of a series of military installations blocking Jewish access to
Mount Scopus and cutting off Hadassah Hospital, the Hebrew University, and the National Library of Israel from West Jerusalem.
The Jordanians called it
Tal al-Mudura, lit. "round hill."
Jordanian snipers used this strategic location to fire on Israeli troops during the Battle of Ammunition Hill. Givat HaMivtar was conquered by an Israeli
tank force after two attempts. The first mission failed after an Israeli soldier was killed by
friendly fire.
The Jerusalem neighborhood of Givat Hamivtar was planned as part of a sequence of Jewish neighborhoods called the bariah or "hinge" neighborhoods[ סיור לאורך "הקו העירוני", אילן שפירא ] connecting west Jerusalem to Mount Scopus. The name of the neighborhood means "bissected hill," either referring to the crisscross of Jordan bunkers that existed before the neighborhood was built,[ The earthworks cutting picture, early 1970s.]
In July 1967, Prime Minister Levi Eshkol ordered government clerks to bypass the ordinary procedures to allow for Givat HaMivtar and the other hinge neighborhoods to be built as quickly as possible. When purchasing land encountered difficulties, some tracts were expropriated.
Archaeology
Numerous archeological digs have been carried out in Givat HaMivtar.
[ ] Sepulchers discovered in the course of the digs were determined to be Jewish tombs of the Second Temple period.
Tomb of crucified man
One tomb yielded the only physical evidence for the
Ancient Rome Tradition of
crucifixion found to date.
[ Some Notes on Crucifixion][ Joe Zias, Crucifixion in Antiquity - The Anthropological Evidence][[4] עמוס קלונר ובועז זיסו, עיר הקברים של ירושלים בימי הבית השני, הוצאת יד יצחק בן צבי ] These were the remains of a person called
Jehohanan, and they included a heel bone with a nail driven through it from the side. The tip of the nail was bent, perhaps because of striking a knot in the upright beam, which prevented it being extracted from the foot.
Tomb of "Simon, builder of the temple"
Another tomb, highly ornate, held the remains of the family of "Simon, builder of the temple" (Simon Bana Hekhalah), probably a builder of the Herodian Temple, as his name indicates.
[ הקבורה המשפחתית והחוץ-משפחתית בירושלים ובסביבתה בתקופת בית הורדוס][דוד בנבנישתי סיורים בירושלים קירית ספר 1980 ][ Image of the ossuary from the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, with extensive caption][ Image of the ossuary from the Israel Museum, Jerusalem]
Tomb of Abba
A third archaeologically interesting tomb on Givat HaMivtar is that of "Abba, son descendant? of the priest Eleazar, son descendant of
Aaron the high (priest)." The inscription is in
Aramaic language, but written in the by then anachronistic ancient Hebrew script. In the tomb prepared for his family, Abba, who had been
to
Babylon, secretly brought back to Jerusalem and buried the remains of "Mattathiah son of Juda(h)".
[ כתובות מתקופת בית שני, המשנה והתלמוד website of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel][S. Rosenthal, "The Giv'at Ha-Mivtar Inscription". IEJ 23 (1973), 72-81] Some believe that Mattathiah son of Judah was Antigonus II Mattathias, the exiled heir of the Kingdom of Judea.
However, according to anthropologist
Joe Zias, former Curator of Archaeology and Anthropology for the Israel Antiquities Authority, this theory is just little more than an urban myth, since the only beheaded skeleton found in 1971 and at the later reexamination of the previously untouched tomb, belonged to an elderly woman. In his view, no other set of remains found there could be associated with King Antigonus II.
Services
Givat HaMivtar has only preschools and kindergartens. The elementary schools of Ramat Eshkol were built on the border between the two neighborhoods in order to serve them both. High schools are located on French Hill and Ma'allot Dafna.
The first synagogue in Givat HaMivtar was unique in that prayer services followed a non-specific nusach so that Jews of all ethnic groups could pray there.
Since the mid-1980s, there is a Makuya center in the neighborhood.
Notable residents
