March 01, 2016

Jerusalem, Mishkenot Sha'ananim. Jan. 20, 1948

Residents of Mishkenot Sha'ananim crawl and run to dodge Arab snipers

as they return to their homes after their day’s work.

In the back ground you can see the Montefiore Windmill.

The spot this photo was taken from would be where todays "Shderot Blumfield" are,

looking from west to east (towards the old city).

During the 1948 war of independence, Arabs snipers fired from the walls of the old city of Jerusalem at the residence of Mishkenot Sha'ananim.

Original photo by AP

Ref #: PA.8673255

Here is the same location from an elevated point of view.

Most likely before the 1948 war/

Note that the small building standing in front of the windmill has a gaping hole in it as result of the 1948 war.

During the 1948 blockade of Jerusalem the windmill served as an observation point for Jewish Haganah fighters. In an attempt to impede their activities, the British authorities blew up the top of the windmill in an operation mockingly dubbed by the population "Operation Don Quixote.

View of Hinom Valley in Jerusalem (Chatham University Archives, circa 1880). The photo, probably taken from near the Jaffa Gate, shows the Montefiore windmill, built in 1858, and the Mishkenot Sha'anaim homes beneath it. Are the blades of the windmill blurry because they were moving? That could provide a date for the photo: The mill stopped turning in 1876.