Thread by @lennybendavid

1/ The #HamasAttack on #Israel is reinforced this morning by the noxious 2-pronged NYT attack by @PeterBeinart (Palestinians Deserve to Return Home) & @NickKristof (Your Taxes in Israel).
Both see the Sheikh Jarrah land dispute as part of the original sin.
Proof they're wrong.

2/ This pic was taken in front of #SheikhJarrah in Apr 1918 on Jewish Lag B'Omer holiday. The kids are returning to homes in #Jerusalem's Old City from shrine of Tomb of Shimon Hatzaddik. The large empty area behind them is Sheikh Jarrah.
Jews owned land there, near the tomb.

3/ This pic was taken ~1955 entitled "Threshing floor in Jerusalem, #SheikhJarrah Quarter" (under Jordanian administration). Threshing floor = empty.
BTW: The road that veers to the right goes to Mt Scopus. It's where the Arabs massacred 78 Jews in the Hadassah Hospital Convoy.

4. "6th Australian light-horse regiment camped in #SheikhJarrah, on the road leading to Mt. Scopus, 1918." Empty.
Another (poor quality) pic from the Library of Congress, 1918.

5. Jewish pilgrims to Shimon Hatzadik's tomb. ~1910. Many appear to be Sephardic/Yemenite Jews.
Third picture: throngs on Lag B'Omer 1927. Jewish housing construction around the tomb commenced in 1891. By 1948, 20 Jewish families were living in the neighborhood. (Wiki)

6. #SheikhJarrah and Tomb of Shimon Hatzadik appear on this map, printed by the British in 1946 (and showing the 1949 Green Line on the left).
Pay attention to the empty areas.
Picture of the entrance to the tomb, 2002.

7. A 1931 annotated aerial photo in the Library of Congress showing "the American Colony in #SheikhJarrah Quarter," the Tomb of Shimon Hatzadik, and the Mufti's home that was requisitioned by British Army.