French Hill
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French Hill (Hebrew: הגבעה הצרפתית), also Giv'at Shapira (Hebrew: גבעת שפירא) is an Israeli settlement and neighborhood located in north-central Jerusalem. It is located on territory captured by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967.
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[edit] History
Under Jordanian rule the area housed a military outpost. [1] After Israel's victory in the Six-Day War and the unification of Jerusalem, French Hill was founded in 1969 as a neighborhood within the expanded Jerusalem municipality (de facto annexed in 1980). Its location was chosen in part to create contiguity with the university complex on Mount Scopus, which had been an Israeli enclave in Jordanian territory before the war.
French Hill was named after either the British General (later Field Marshall) John French or an earlier French church[2]. The official name for the neighbourhood is actually Givat Shapira (Shapira's Hill), of which French Hill is one of two subsections, the other being Tzameret HaBira (Top of the Capital). However, French Hill is the more common name for the entire area. The Hebrew name of French Hill is a mistranslation. HaGiva HaTzarfatit means the Hill of the French instead of French's Hill[3]. The Givat Shapira area was hurriedly built in order to ensure access to Mount Scopus in the event of a settlement with Jordan. Tzameret HaBira was built by an independent group of people, mainly American immigrants with private homes.[1]
[edit] Demographics
Prior to the 1967 war, there are claims that the area was lightly populated by Palestinians from Lifta who arrived after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.[2]. Others claim that the area from Ramat Eshkol, Givat Hamivtar and the French Hill was barren.[citation needed]
Today, French Hill's population is approximately 6,631 persons living in approximately 2,106 dwellings, with the two neighborhoods having quite different population densities. French Hill (Givat Shapira) has a population density of 10.9 persons per dunam (10,900 people/km²), while Tzameret HaBira is populated more sparsely at 4.7 persons per dunam (4,700 people/km²). The population is overwhelmingly Jewish, including many South American and CIS immigrants, but reliable estimates are not available about the Jewish demographics or Israeli Arabs living there.[3]
French Hill has 9 synagogues, of which at least 3 are Orthodox and at least 1 is a Conservative synagogue (Kehilat Ramot Zion), as well as a ritual bath. It is the site of the first Conservative elementary school in Israel, the Frankel School. The founding of the Frankel School led to a new series of schools in Israel, called "Tali" (officially, secular schools with added religious studies). There is a large secular population.
Many Hebrew University faculty workers and students choose to live in French Hill due to its proximity to the Mount Scopus campus. Construction was recently completed.of a large enclosed dormitory complex called the Student Village (Kfar Hastudentim).
[edit] Terrorism
An area near the French Hill neighborhood has been a target in a number of attacks by Palestinians. Especially targeted has been the intersection just north of the French Hill junction, which connects Northern Jerusalem to Maale Adumim and the Dead Sea.
A US News and World Report article entitled: "Jerusalem's Violent Crossroads" explains that "The busy thoroughfare, which divides the Jewish neighborhood of French Hill from the Arab neighborhood of Shuafat, is the most accessible corner in the city for a West Bank terrorist looking for a crowd of Israelis." [4]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Statistical Yearbook of Jerusalem, 2002-2003. Jerusalem, Israel: Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies. ISSN 0333-9831
- ^ Khalidi, Walid All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948. Washington DC: Institute for Palestine Studies, 1992
- ^ Statistical Yearbook of Jerusalem, 2002-2003. Jerusalem, Israel: Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies. ISSN 0333-9831
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