Yazur - The Village Today

The Village Today

According to Walid Khalidi, 1992, two shrines still remain standing in the village. One is made of stone and its roof is topped with a dozen domes clustered around a more prominent dome at the center. A number of other structures and houses are also still intact; some are utilized, while others are vacant. One house, occupied by a Jewish family, is a two-storey concrete unit that has a rectangular door and a modified gabled roof.

According to Petersen, the small mosque/shrine located at a distance of some 50 meters from Maqam Imam ´Ali, on the opposite side of the road was known as Shaykh al-Katanan. Inspected in 1991, it was found to be built on a square plan with a shallow dome resting on an octagonal drum. The building is entered through a doorway in the middle of the north side. Inside there are windows on the west and east side flanked by niches. In the middle of the south wall is a shallow niche, which was found decorated with inscriptions painted in henna.

According to Meron Benvenisti, 2000, in the village of Yazur lies the venerated grave of Imam ´Ali, a famous miracle-worker whose grave is purported to be located in another dozen places as well. But the Yazur site, a massive building whose central dome is encircled by nine smaller ones, is most widely held to be the actual burial site of Imam ´Ali, whose tomb is almost the sole monument left in the village. Two or three broken gravestones remain in the adjoining Muslim cemetery, which now serves as a dump for "yard trash only." The tomb building now houses the Sha´arei Zion Synagogue and a seminary for Orthodox Jews. On the roof, beside the domes, a satellite dish has been installed to receive live religious broadcasts. Across the road, in the Holon industrial park, is located yet another Muslim holy site, this one deserted and falling into pieces.