Mamilla

Modern Mamilla; Old City of Jerusalem in the background.

Mamilla (Hebrew: ממילא), also known as David's Village (Hebrew: כפר דוד, Kfar David) was an early neighbourhood constructed outside Jerusalem's Walled City, and now refers to the $400 million commercial and housing district developed in the area.

Mamilla was originally established in the late 19th century as Jerusalem's mixed Jewish-Arab central business district. Between the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the 1967 Six-Day War, it was located along the armistice line between the Israeli and Jordanian-held sector of the city, and it declined after many of its buildings were destroyed by Jordanian shelling. After 1967 it was decided to demolish what remained and rebuild it; land was apportioned to residential and commercial zones, including hotels and office-space, in what was to become one of the longest and most costly development plans in the history of modern Jerusalem. Most of the plan was finally realised by the summer of 2007 with the opening of its major mall and entertainment components.

Geography

The neighbourhood of Mamilla is located within the northwest extension of the Hinnom Valley, which extends from Old Jerusalem's southwest corner along the city's western wall. The neighbourhood is bounded by the Jaffa Gate and Jaffa Road to the east and north, the downtown and Rehavia neighbourhood above it to the west, and Yemin Moshe's upward slope along its southwestern edge. Its total area is 120 dunam (0.12 km², 0.05 mi²).

History

The Herodian Mamilla Pool in the late 19th century.

Main article: History of Jerusalem

The word Mamilla probably stems from the Arabic: مأمن الله or ما من الله, meaning "that which comes from God". The name may possibly refer to an early church that existed on the site, or perhaps be connected with a Christian Saint of the same name. The area is home to a Mamluk cemetery of the same name, and in its centre, Mamilla Pool, one of the three reservoirs constructed by Herod the Great during the 1st century BCE.

Ottoman control

Theodor Herzl's 1898 visit with a delegation of Zionist leaders.

Prior to construction of the neighbourhood in the late 19th century, the area was empty aside from a few olive trees, and was only notable for the junction of paths that would become Jaffa Road and the highway to Jaffa with the road to Hebron outside the Jaffa Gate. Among the first structures was the Hospice Saint Vincent de Paul, part of the emerging Jerusalem French Compound.

The French Hospice Saint Vincent de Paul, one of the first structures in Mamilla.

The early building developed as an extension of the adjacent souk along the city walls at the Jaffa Gate as a quarter for merchants and artisans. It became home for commerce and residences that couldn't find room within the overcrowded Walled City, and several of Jerusalem's prominent modern businesses, like the Hotel Fast, were first built here. The Ottoman authorities lacked urban planning, and their only major contribution to the neighbourhood was the 1908 erection of a clock tower on the Jaffa Gate, which only stood a decade until the 1918 British conquest during World War I.

British control

The 1944 British demolition of buildings along the Old City's historic walls.

Main article: British Mandate of Palestine

The British arrival in Jerusalem heralded a rational philosophy of infrastructure planning and development. One element was their respect for cultural and historic heritage and their attempts to preserve such elements within the blossoming construction of the modern city. The city walls were identified as such an element and so they acted to clear away the stalls on its perimeter and maintain an open area between it and the rest of the New City in the interest of an aesthetically pleasing visual basin. By the same token they demolished the Ottoman clock tower so as to preserve a historic skyline. Following the approval of the 1947 UN Partition Plan, an Arab mob ransacked and burned much of the district and stabbed some of its Jewish residents in the course of the 1947 Jerusalem riots, one of the events leading to the area's decades-long stagnation.

Divided city

As the 1948 Arab-Israeli War commenced, the neighbourhood's location between Israeli and Jordanian forces made it a combat-zone and led to the flight of both Jewish and Arab residents. After the signing of the 1949 Armistice Agreements and division of Jerusalem, the western three-quarters were held by Israel and the eastern quarter became a no man's land of barbed-wire and concrete barricades between Israeli and Jordanian lines. The active and hostile border subjected Mamilla to Jordanian sniper and guerilla attacks, and even stones thrown by Arab Legionnaires from the Old City walls above. The neighbourhood was one of several border areas in the city to experience a sharp decline, and became home to families of new immigrants with many children and of weak financial abilities, as well as dirty light industry like auto repair.

Unification

Theodor Herzl in front of the Stern House, which would be dismantled in the 1970s and rebuilt in the 2000s during the neighbourhood's rehabilitation.

After the 1967 Six-Day War, Israeli authorities expanded the municipality to include the Old City and beyond, and quickly tore down the barricades that had lined Mamilla's 19-year border and restored the connections between the formerly-divided sectors. Many buildings on Mamilla's eastern end were in shambles both directly from the years of fighting as well as because of the resultant limitations on maintenance. Several historic buildings had to be condemned; when Stern House was condemned, which housed Zionist leader Theodor Herzl on his 1898 visit, popular outcry produced Supreme Court involvement which led instead to its temporary dismantling and reassembly nearby.

Rehabilitation

The terrace and Jerusalem stone covered parking garage with construction in the background (January 2007).

The 1970s saw numerous proposals for rehabilitating the neighbourhood, and it was defined as a zone of high-priority for reconstruction efforts. Mamilla was joined to the administration responsible for preservation and construction in the Old City due to its proximity as well as because of many of the same considerations that the British weighed when regulating its development. A 1972 master-plan for revitalising the city-centre transferred 100 of the 120 dunams (0.1 km², 0.04 mi²) to Karta, the municipal firm led by architects Gilbert Weil and Moshe Safdie charged with the project, and called for the destruction of almost every building save the French Hospice Saint Vincent de Paul. The plan called for an underground street system overlaid with mixed-use development, including a pedestrian mall, parking for 1,000 cars, and a bus terminal.

Mayor Teddy Kollek lent full political backing to the controversial plan despite massive criticism throughout the city government. When deputy mayor Meron Benvenisti commissioned a more conservative plan under architect David Kroyanker based on facadism, the mayor immediately filed it away without any discussion. Karta moved out 700 families, communal institutions, and businesses, placing them in the then-developing neighbourhoods of Baka and Neve Yaakov, and moving the industry to Talpiot, the seed of its current industrial zone. The evictions cost the Israeli government over $60 million, and were only completed in 1988, when Mamilla ceased to exist as a neighbourhood and instead became a "compound" slated for future construction.

The evicted residents were mostly Jewish immigrants from Arab states whose weak financial status left them vulnerable to Kollek's plan. The following steep increase in real-estate values of formerly depressed areas like Mamilla near the former armistice line and Old Jerusalem was perceived by the Mizrahi Jews evacuated as an injustice and was a key issue in 1970s Israeli social upheaval and the founding of the Black Panthers.

Rebuilding

Ultra-luxury apartments in the David's Village complex. Its architecture mimics the arches and alleyways of the adjacent Old City.

After 16 years of controversy during which half-constructed Mamilla was an eyesore in the heart of the city, a revised Safdie plan with elements of Kroyanker's conservative design moved forward in 1986. The compound is divided into four areas of planning: a pedestrian mall including a large multi-storey car park and boulevard with mixed-use 3-6 storey buildings, terraced residential buildings on its southern end, and two hotels along its border with the downtown. The British Ladbroke Group plc, which controls the Hilton Hotels Corporation, won out in its bid to build the project's main hotel, originally Hilton Jerusalem and now David's Citadel, and its housing, which it built as a luxury gated community named David's Village.

Numerous disputes between Karta and Ladbroke led the British firm to exit the project, and its shares were assumed by Alfred Akirov's Alrov company, though further objections from many sources kept construction at a crawl, including religious groups opposed to an entertainment area so close to the Old City and possible operation on the Jewish Sabbath. Both Alrov and Karta accused each other of breach of contract and sued. After years of frozen construction and drawn-out mediation, the Jerusalem District court found parts of both parties' complaints to be justified and ordered 100 million NIS paid to Alrov by Karta, which allowed construction to resume. March 28, 2007 saw the opening of much of the shopping mall and completion of the Stern House rebuilding, and the other construction, including the 207-room five-star second hotel, is scheduled to be completed by early 2008.

Because like several luxury neighbourhoods in the city, the David's Village development is mostly owned by foreigners who visit for only a few days or weeks a year, it faces criticism from many for acting as a ghost town in the city-centre. Mamilla is also the location of the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Center for Human Dignity, which faced controversy due to the discovery of a Muslim cemetery at the construction site.

Shopping mall

The $150 million, pedestrian-only Mamilla shopping mall is touted as a luxury destination in the style of Los Angeles' Rodeo Drive or The Grove. Its commercial space is leased at $40 to $80 per square metre to 140 businesses including international names like Rolex, MAC, H. Stern, Nike, Polo Ralph Lauren, Nautica, bebe and Tommy Hilfiger, as well as local chains like Castro, Ronen Chen, Steimatzky Books and Cafe Rimon. The mall is also slated to house an IMAX theatre.

Further reading

• "Grand Opening of Jerusalem's Mamilla Alrov Quarter Promenade". 5 Towns Jewish Times. June 07, 2007. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Ofer Petersburg (May 21, 2007). "Jerusalem flat sold for record $9 million". Ynet. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Greer Fay Cashman (June 20, 2006). "Business Scene". The Jerusalem Post. p. 18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Gail Lichtman (September 02, 2005). "Mamilla Blues". The Jerusalem Post. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Human Skeletal Remains from the Mamilla cave, Jerusalem
• Encounters- David-s Village- Mamilla Jerusalem Foreign Ministry of Israel
• "Mamilla sales reach $21.4 million. (Jerusalem Development (Mamilla) Company Ltd.)". Israel Business Today. December 6, 1991. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

• Mamilla-Alrov quarter official website