Walking Tour Inside Jerusalem's Jaffa Gate

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The Jaffa Gate is the only gate on the western side of the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. It is one of the more popular gates that many tourists to Jerusalem might have passed through and heard some of the stories and history about it. It is closest to the tower and fortress that has become known as David’s Citadel or Migdal David in Hebrew. Some who ruled the city throughout history mistakenly identified the fortress as being the palace of King David. Which today is known to have been a mistake. This area was not part of the city in King David’s time. We will speak more about that when we visit the City of David to the south of the Temple Mount.

The plaza outside of the Jaffa Gate was itself a central market place about one hundred years ago before the British captured the holycity from the Turkish Ottoman Empire. If we look closely at the outer walls we might see markings and remains of buildings that stood alongside the walls. All of that as well as the Ottoman clock tower that stood above the Jaffa Gate were cleared out by the British after they took control of the city and decided that there should be an organized plan for the city. The plaza connects the Mamila Mall to the entrance to the Old City and from here we can see the King David Hotel and a bit of the YMCA’s bell tower behind it.

Walking through Iban El Hatab square we will typically notice local Jews, Muslims and Christians as well as many international tourists. The square is named for the Khalif, Ilamic ruler who captured Jerusalem from the Roman Byzantine empire in the 7th century. There is a train on wheels that takes visitors from the Jaffa Gate through the Old City to the Western Wall and back again around the ancient walls back to Jaffa Gate.

The gates of the old city are only open to permitted vehicles mostly only for residents and some types of service providers and of course emergency and security forces. As you will notice most of the roads are very narrow, some are covered with arches and roofs. Electric powered golfcarts, motorcycles, pushcarts and small tractors are used to bring in goods and help provide access to people with limited mobility. The city municipality has installed ramps on many of the roads and paths in the old city to make them accessible for people in wheel chairs. I am not sure that all of these ramps would be considered accessible standard because of angles and width but still better than nothing and show of good will.

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Thank you Chanah Angelica!