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In Photos: The Story of the Liberation of Jerusalem a Century Ago
(Mosaic) Lenny Ben-David - This year marks the centenary of a fierce World War I battle that rescued Jerusalem's entire Jewish population from starvation, plague, exile, and death. Since Russia was part of the alliance ranged against Germany and the Ottoman empire, Jews of Russian origin were viewed as a potential fifth column. Ten thousand Jews left Jerusalem in one week. Most of the houses were closed because the inhabitants were dead, or deported, exiled, or in prison. By summer 1917, the city of Jerusalem and its Jewish residents were nearly eradicated. Some 2,700 orphans wandered the streets. After capturing Beersheba in October, British forces, supplemented by fighters from Australia and New Zealand, turned toward Jerusalem. The hilltop of Nebi Samuel (tomb of the Prophet Samuel three miles north of Jerusalem) was the scene of a November battle between three British and three Turkish divisions. After the Turks appealed to their German allies for help in defending Jerusalem, the German General Erich von Falkenhayn did not send reinforcements because he did not want the relics and the holy places damaged because of severe fighting. Falkenhayn, the commander of the Turkish and German armies in Palestine, instead ordered the retreat of Turkish soldiers so that Jerusalem would not be destroyed.