Emek Refaim

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See also: German Colony of Jerusalem

Emek Refaim (Hebrew: עמק רפאים‎, literally valley of the ghosts) is the name of a street located in the German Colony neighborhood in west Jerusalem (Heb. מושבה גרמנית). Emek Refaim is also used as a general name for the area.

It is named for the biblical valley which begins its descent from Jerusalem here. In Arabic, it was referred to as Beka or Beqa'a (Arabic: البقاع, lit. "valley"), although Baka is a separate neighborhood today. Emek Refaim street is approximately 1.5 kilometers long, and known for its coffee shops and up-scale restaurants. At the corner of Emek Refaim, on a hill overlooking the Himmon Valley, is the Scottish Church of St. Andrew's ^[1] , built in 1927 and incorporating local Armenian tile-work. Similar tiling can be seen on the facades of some buildings on Emek Refaim.^[2]

Contents 1 Architecture 2 Templers 3 Mandatory buildings 4 Protest against developers 5 References

[edit] Architecture

Many of the buildings on Emek Refaim date from Ottoman and British Mandatory times. Many of the distinctive German Templer buildings are still standing, as are elegant villas that belonged to wealthy Arabs before the establishment of the State of Israel. As in many Jerusalem neighborhoods, the architecture and street names reveal a complex history. Some homes in the area were abandoned by local Palestinians or expropriated after 1948^[3], and many issues of property ownership and displacement have yet to be resolved. A former Arab resident of the Bauerle House, located at 10 Emek Refaim (originally built by the Templers), wrote about a painful visit to her home after 1967. ^[4]

[edit] Templers

The first residents of Emek Refaim were German Templers, who settled there in the 19th century. Biblical inscriptions in German Fraktur script can still be seen on the lintels of some of the homes. As German aliens, the Templers were deported by the British during World War II for expressing Nazi sympathies. They built one and two storey houses similar in appearance to the homes they left in Baden-Württemberg.

There was also a 'Greek colony' south of the German Colony. A Greek community center still exists ^[5]

[edit] Mandatory buildings

A movie theater, Smadar, on the corner of Emek Refaim and Lloyd George Street, was built during the British Mandate. It was known at that time as the Regent. ^[6].

[edit] Protest against developers

The neighborhood residents have banded together to protest attempts to build a hotel and residential towers in the area, destroying landmark buildings, among them the vacant Armenian church that was once the Templers' communal meeting house. ^[7]

[edit] References