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What Life Was Like for Christians and Jews When Arabs Ruled Jerusalem
(Daily Caller) Richard Pollock - How exactly did Arab Muslims treat Christians and Jews when they ruled over eastern Jerusalem for 19 years from 1948 until 1967? The Jewish Quarter of the Old City and many of the most sacred Jewish sites were located in the eastern half of the city ruled by Jordan. Even though the armistice promised "free access to the holy sites and cultural institutions and use of the cemeteries on the Mount of Olives," Jews were banished entirely from the holy city. From 1948 onward, there were no Jewish homes, synagogues or businesses in ancient Jerusalem. Some 17,000 Jews had to leave the area, their homes taken over and occupied by Arabs. When the Israelis entered the eastern part of Jerusalem after the Six-Day War in 1967, they found 56 synagogues desecrated or totally destroyed by the Jordanian army or local Arabs. The Arab governing bodies also persecuted the Christian church and its followers during the same period. Edicts prohibited Christians and later Christian churches from buying land and houses in the Old City of Jerusalem, according to the Gatestone Institute. Arab Muslims restricted the number of Christian pilgrimages permitted in Jerusalem and Bethlehem during Christmas and Easter. They further imposed strict rules on Christian schools, including mandatory teaching of the Muslim Koran. Between 1948 and 1967, two-thirds of the Christians left areas of Arab control in Jerusalem.