Service Description

Between 1917 and 1948, the British left an indelible impression on Jerusalem and the Land of Israel. We learn some history, see some places, buildings, and hear some stories of the years they were here. Licensed Israeli tour guide Yoni Lemel will lead the tour in English. We start near Jaffa Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem, reenacting General Allanby's declaration of martial law, as he took the surrender of Jerusalem in 1917 from the Turkish garrison, thus ending 400 years of Ottoman rule in Jerusalem. We will talk about the relatively positive years of the subsequent British Mandate of Palestine up until 1936, signified by the positive architectural styles such as Art Deco on some of the buildings we will see; then we will discover how these very same buildings, hotels, community centres and banks bore witness to the decent into dark period of the Arab revolt in 1936 which led to the notorious British 1939 White Paper that effectively condemned to death hundreds of thousands of European Jews who could otherwise have been saved by allowing them entry into the Land of Israel. The subsequent heroic Jewish resistance to British rule, in the mid-1940s, personified by the Irgun and Lechi underground fighter operations has to be seen in this context. We visit the British prison where the condemnedJewish underground prisoners Moshe Barazani and Meir Feinstein committed suicide, hours before their scheduled execution. We hear their story, see the cell they took their lives, and the adjacent gallows room, still seemingly left as it was, in 1947. We end overlooking the site where the War of Independence symbolically started, overlooking Mamila, where the Arabs rioted in December 1947, just after the United Nations voted in favour of partition. This sybolically heralded the beginning of the end of British rule, and the establishment of the State of Israel. This walking tour, covering 30 years of history, should take approximately 3-4 hours, depending on the group. There is considerable walking, some of it uphill. The tour isn't suitable for wheelchairs, or children under 10. We meet in the Old City of Jerusalem near Jaffa Gate. Please bring closed walking shoes, sun screen, a hat and bottled water. Included: tour guiding, entrance to Underground Museum. Excluded, transport, food and drinks. Looking forward to seeing you!