East Jerusalem under Jordanian Occupation

No Man's Land, Jerusalem, circa 1964

Following the 1948 Jordanian annexation of the West Bank, all of the Jews in both Jordan and the West Bank were expelled and Jews were forbidden from entering the country. A Jordanian commander said, "For the first time in 1,000 years not a single Jew remains in the Jewish Quarter [of Jerusalem]. Not a single building remains intact. This makes the Jews' return here impossible". Approximately a third of the buildings in the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem were destroyed, including almost every synagogue in East Jerusalem. In addition, Jews were no longer able to access the Western Wall, which traditionally had been the closest Jews were allowed to get to the Temple Mount.

A Jordanian Soldier standing among the ruins of the Hurva Synagogue, a 300 year old Synagogue that was destroyed to celebrate the Jordanian conquest over East Jerusalem.

However, perhaps the most disturbing was the Jordanian treatment of the Mount of Olives, the most important Jewish Graveyard which dates back over 3,000 years. Jordanian's damaged over 38,000 graves, many of them being pulled out. Construction of a hotel, roads, gas stations, and parking lots destroyed countless graves dating back to the 1,000 BC. Some graves were even used to construct bathrooms.