Neighborhoods
Ma'ale ha-Zeitim is a Jewish neighborhood in Ras al-Amud. A century ago, the property was purchased from the Ottoman government by Nissan Bak and Moshe Wittenburg, who, in turn, transferred the land to Jewish seminaries. The seminaries leased to Arab farmers for the purpose of raising wheat for the production of Passover matza.
During the Jordanian occupation of East Jerusalem, the land was administered by the Jordanian Custodian of Enemy Property. In 1951, an Arab tenant farmer was successful in having the Jordanian Land Registration Office re-register the property in his name, but litigation to reverse the re-registration was ongoing when Jordan lost control of East Jerusalem in the Six Day War in 1967. Following the war, the seminaries pursued the case in Israeli courts until 1984, when the Israeli Supreme Court ruled in their favor. In 1990, the seminaries sold the land to a Jewish American, Irving Moskowitz.
In September 1997, plans for the construction of a Jewish neighbourhood on the land provoked an international outcry. Despite American pressure to halt construction, the plan was backed by Jerusalem mayor Ehud Olmert. Under a compromise reached by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, three Jewish families left the voluntarily, with ten yeshiva students staying on.On October 18, 2009, the Israeli bus cooperative Egged launched a bus route from Ras al-Amud and Ma'ale HaZeitim to Silwan and the Kotel. Critics claimed this was an attempt to "normalize" the Jewish presence.
In 2011, 100 families were living Ma'ale HaZeitim.
Read more about this topic: Ras Al-Amud