Jerusalem After the June 1967 War
The Work of Teddy Kollek — a Defining Moment in Israeli History
Feb 11, 2009
For nearly two decades a large dividing wall, barbed wire entanglements, minefields and a bleak and debris-strewn strip of no-man’s-land kept Arab and Jew apart. The only crossing between west and east was at the Mandelbaum Gate — not so much a gate more of a heavily fortified passage.
There was all pervading sense of denial, of the status quo, from both sides. Some Arab tourist maps represented West Jerusalem simply as a blank space, allowing no recognition of any part of the city that stretched west from the Old City.
Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir (1969-1974) once said: “The Palestinians do not exist.” Add to the mix the fact that the educational system of both sides encouraged denial it’s little wonder that there was an almost permanent air of mistrust and suspicion in the city.
A Defining Moment in Israeli History
This was Jerusalem until the war of June 1967, the outcome of which is well known. With the Israeli army ousting Jordan’s Arab Legion, Jerusalem was united in a military sense; there was no political acceptance of the enforced union and certainly no meeting of hearts and minds between Jews and Arabs.
Like it or not Jerusalem, home of three great monotheistic faiths, was now ‘one’ city and had to be administered as such.
Teddy Kollek
Into the frame strode Theodor ‘Teddy’ Kollek (1911 – 2007), a member of David Ben Gurion’s Rafi Labour Party. Kollek, who first came toPalestine in 1934, was elected the Mayor of West Jerusalem in 1965 and after the Israeli victory in 1967 became mayor of a ‘unified’ city.
Kollek was a remarkable man who would subsequently serve five terms as mayor of Jerusalem. He was born Theodore Fleischer in Budapest and had during World War Two helped rescue several thousand young Jews from Nazi concentration camps, somehow persuading Adolf Eichmann to allow them to go to Britain.
As the June war ended, Kollek’s work began. Within three weeks the fences and checkpoints were removed and the dividing walls blown up. Kollek described that day, June 29,1967, as a: "Great day, not only in our history, but in the history of mankind.”
History of Jerusalem in the Making
He described his own first crossing between west and east: “Only on the way back, when I reached Mandelbaum Gate (former checkpoint between Israeli and Jordanian sectors of Jerusalem) did I become fully aware of the fact that for the first time since 1948 I had been on the forbidden ‘other side.’ Suddenly I was filled with excitement…”
Western Wall Plaza
As new building projects sprang up around the city, there was anger from Arab families who lived close to the Western Wall and had their homes demolished to make way for a large plaza, built to give Jews access to one of their holiest places.
East Jerusalem
He was very aware that he wasn’t doing enough for the Arab residents and some years later Yisrael Kimche a town planner said: “He himself said he did not do enough for East Jerusalem. He did not bring equality in city services between east and west…”
Jewish Virtual Library
The Jewish Virtual Library describes Kollek’s work in Jerusalem. It says: “He worked to develop the city, economically, culturally and socially and accord its proper reputation as the capital of modern Israel.” Among his many successful projects were: the Israeli Museum, the Jerusalem Foundation and the Jerusalem Theatre.
What is Teddy Kollek’s legacy? He was a pragmatist, a man who always advocated coexistence and a man fondly rembered by Israeli history — but perhaps this quotation from late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin sums it up. He said Kollek was: "The greatest builder of Jerusalem since Herod the Great."
Sources used in this article:
Jewish Virtual Library
BBC
Guardian Newspaper
New York Times
For Jerusalem – A life by Teddy Kollek
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