Jaffa Gate, also called Sha'ar Yafo in Hebrew and Bab el-Khalil in Arabic, is one of the stone gates in the historic wall of the Old City of Jerusalem. It is also called David's Gate, or Sha'ar David in Hebrew. Jaffa Gate got its name because it is the gate for Jaffa Road, the road the leads to the ancient port of Jaffa and the Mediterranean coastal plain.
Inside the Jaffa Gate is a small square between the Christian and Armenian Quarters. The Christian Quarter is to the north, on the left, and the Armenian Quarter is to the South, on the right, of Jaffa Gate. The gate is located on the valley followed by Jaffa Road as it enters the old city. The road and the valley it follows continues eastward into the Old City of Jerusalem, and down into the Tyropoeon Valley, bisecting the northern and southern halves of the city, with the Christian and Muslim Quarters to the north, and Armenian and Jewish Quarters to the south. One of the entrances to the Arab marketplace is just inside the Jaffa Gate.
Running along the high city walls, south of the Jaffa Gate is the Citadel of Jerusalem, usually (but mistakenly) called the "Tower of David," a Jerusalem landmark that dates back to antiquity. The current tower was built during the reign of the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.
According to legend, every conquerer of Jerusalem entered through Jaffa Gate. So when German Kaiser Wilhelm II visited Jerusalem in 1898, the Ottoman authorities breached the city wall right next to the gate so that he could enter and think he was going through the Jaffa Gate.
In 1917, British general Edmund Allenby entered the Old City through the Jaffa Gate, giving a speech at the nearby Tower of David. Allenby entered the city on foot in a show of respect for the city and a desire to avoid comparison with the Kaiser's entry in 1898. The British demolished other buildings adjoining the city wall in 1944 in an attempt to preserve Jerusalem's historic vistas.
As the westernmost of the gates, it is heavily used by pedestrians and vehicles, and the plaza in front of the gate has been expanded to connect with new Mamilla shopping district outside the Jaffa Gate.
Jaffa Gate, Jerusalem Photo: Herwig Reidlinger, GNU Free Documentation License
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