Esther Cailingold - Aftermath

Aftermath

After the surrender of the Jewish Quarter garrison to the Arab Legion under Abdullah al Tel, the remaining buildings in the quarter were systematically destroyed, including 58 of the 59 Synagogues in the Old City. The quarter's Jewish residents were removed to Israeli lines, and lost all their property. The Arab victory in the Old City was one of their few successes in the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict, which they termed their al Nakba or "catastrophe". In the Six-Day War of June 1967 Jewish forces captured the entire Old City, and thereafter the Jewish Quarter was rebuilt.

None of the men or women who fought for the Jewish Quarter in 1948 received citations for bravery, although Moshe Roussak singled Esther out as deserving. Along with the 38 other Old City fighters who died, Esther was posthumously enlisted in the IDF Israeli Defence Forces and, after temporary burial in a west Jerusalem quarry, her body was re-interred in Mount Hertzl military cemetery in September 1950.