View source for Katamon

{{Short description|Neighborhood in Jerusalem}}
{{pp-extended|small=yes}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name                 = Katamon
| other_name           = Qatamon
| official_name        = Gonen
| native_name          = {{native name|he|קטמון}}<br />{{native name|ar|قطمون}}
| settlement_type      = Neighborhood of [[Jerusalem]]
| image_skyline        = בית רה"מ לוי אשכול ברחוב בוסתנאי 3 בשכנות קטמון בירושלים.jpg
| imagesize            = 300px
| image_caption        = House of [[Levi Eshkol]]
| subdivision_type     = [[List of sovereign states|Country]]
| subdivision_name     = {{flag|Israel}}
| subdivision_type1    = [[Districts of Israel|District]]
| subdivision_name1    = [[Jerusalem District]]
| subdivision_type2    = City
| subdivision_name2    = [[Jerusalem]]
| population_footnotes = <ref>https://jerusaleminstitute.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/shnaton_C1419.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref>
| population_as_of     = 2017
| population_total     = 5,980
| area_code_type       = [[Telephone numbering plan|Area code]]
}}
'''Katamon''' or '''Qatamon''' ({{langx|he|קטמון}}; {{langx|ar|قطمون|Qaṭamūn}}; {{langx|el|Καταμόνας|Katamónas}}; from the [[Ancient Greek]] {{langx|grc|κατὰ τῷ μοναστηρίῳ|katà tôi monastēríōi|by the monastery|label=none}}),<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ohRjAAAAMAAJ&q=%22by+the+monastery%22+katamon|title=City of Many Days|first=Shulamith|last=Hareven|date=September 24, 1993|publisher=Mercury House|isbn=9781562790509|via=Google Books}}</ref> officially known as '''Gonen''' ({{langx|he|גּוֹנֵן|links=no||Defender}}; mainly used in municipal publications),<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/a-stir-over-sign-language-1.375919 |title=A stir over sign language |newspaper=[[Haaretz]] |first=Ofer |last=Aderet |date=July 29, 2011}}</ref> is a neighborhood in south-central [[Jerusalem]]. It is built next to an old [[Greek Orthodox Church|Greek Orthodox]] monastery, believed to have been constructed on the home and the tomb of [[Simeon (Gospel of Luke)|Simeon from the Gospel of Luke]].

The neighborhood was established in the early 1900s, shortly before [[World War I]], as a wealthy, predominantly [[Palestinian Christian]] neighborhood. During the [[1947–48 civil war in Mandatory Palestine]], the local population fled the intense fighting in the area and were not allowed to return by the new Israeli state. Instead Katamon was soon repopulated by Jewish refugees.

==Geography==
Katamon is bounded by the neighborhoods of [[Talbiya]] in the northeast and the [[German Colony, Jerusalem|German Colony]] and [[Greek Colony, Jerusalem|Greek Colony]] to the southeast. The neighbourhood is bounded on its south side by Rachel Imenu street and Hizkiyahu Ha'Melech street (separating it from the Greek Colony), and on its east side by Kovshey Katamon street (separating it from Talbiya). These streets connect to [[Emek Refaim]] and HaPalmach Street,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nadlan-plus.com/content/view/30/69/|title=Jerusalem Real Estate Guide - A Pick Into The Most Desirable Districts Of Jerusalem|publisher=Naldan Plus|access-date=2012-06-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525224345/http://www.nadlan-plus.com/content/view/30/69/|archive-date=2011-05-25|url-status=dead}}</ref> respectively. During the [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate]] era, the neighborhood was divided into Upper Katamon and Lower Katamon.<ref>Kroyanker, 2002, p.195</ref>

===Street names===
[[File:OranimS.jpg|thumb|Givat Oranim, Katamon]]
During the British Mandate era the streets of Katamon had no names, with the exception of two: "Katamon" street (today known as "Rachel Imenu" and "Hizkiyahu HaMelech") and "Jorden" street (today known as "Tel Hai" street) which was nicknamed "Michael Sansour" street, after a wealthy contractor whose house was in the street. The buildings were not numbered and were named after the families who built them. After Israel's independence the streets were named based on subjects such as the 1948 war, biblical and rabbinic characters, and Zionist figures.<ref>Kroyanker, 2002, p.177-178</ref>

==History==
===Antiquity===
From the late fourteenth century, the location of Katamon seem to have been identified with the home of [[Simeon (Gospel of Luke)|Simeon from the Gospel of Luke]],<ref name="Pringle166">Pringle, 1998, pp.[https://books.google.com/books?id=2Y0tA0xLzwEC&pg=PA166 166]–167</ref> the Jerusalemite who first recognised the infant Jesus as "the Lord's [[Christ]]", i.e. the promised [[Messiah]] ({{bibleverse|Luke|2:25-32}}).[[File:San Simon Monastery 1.jpg|250px|thumb|Greek Orthodox St. Simeon Monastery in Katamon]]

===Ottoman era===
[[File:Bell tower st.simon.jpg|thumb|St. Simeon belltower]]
In 1524, after the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Turks]] conquered the region from the [[Mamluks]], it was reported that a church of St. Simeon, previously held by the [[Georgians]], was now empty in the wake of Muslim attacks.<ref name=Pringle166/> In 1681 [[Cornelis de Bruijn]] made an engraving of Jerusalem, which suggested that there was an L-shaped, four-story-high tower in Katamon, confirming an early seventeenth-century source which mentioned a "house and tower" of "Simeon the prophet".<ref name=Pringle166/> The Greek Orthodox acquired the site in 1859 and in 1881 they built there a new church and residence for their [[Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem|Patriarch]], incorporating the older ruins.<ref name=Pringle166/> The Greek Orthodox call it "St. Symeon of Katamonas" and believe that it is built over the tomb of Simeon, with an inscription in a cave on the grounds interpreted to indicate that it was the tomb of Simeon's priestly forefathers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://goisrael.com/Tourism_Eng/Tourist%20Information/Christian%20Themes/Details/Pages/St.%20Simeon%E2%80%99s%20Monastery%20chr.aspx|title=St. Simeon's Monastery|access-date=2015-11-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151126040221/http://goisrael.com/Tourism_Eng/Tourist%20Information/Christian%20Themes/Details/Pages/St.%20Simeon%E2%80%99s%20Monastery%20chr.aspx|archive-date=2015-11-26|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1890 the Greek–Orthodox patriarch [[Nicodemus I of Jerusalem]] built his summer house near the monastery (since the 1960s the building serves as a disabled care center).<ref>Kroyanker, 2002, p.264</ref>

The neighborhood began to develop in the late Ottoman era, in the early 1900s. According to Israeli geographer [[Gideon Biger]], Katamon was probably planned before [[World War I]]. The lands in Katamon, like in nearby [[Talbiya]] and [[Baka, Jerusalem|Baka]], were owned by the [[Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem]]. In the late nineteenth century the church had a financial crisis which worsened during World War I. The Church sold, shortly before the war, some of its estate outside of the Old City, which were deemed as "less holy" including Katamon, which was split into plots for housing in a rural area.<ref name=David178>Kroyanker, 2002, pp.[https://books.google.com/books?id=YRrwumKlrggC&pg=PA178 178]–[https://books.google.com/books?id=YRrwumKlrggC&pg=PA179 179]</ref>
{{Blockquote|''Katamon lands. Fresh air and an affordable price. If you wish to become an owner of a plot in Katamon near the monastery, to which you arrive in a paved road and the area is divided into plots in the most pleasant way with roads and paths around, every plot is five-hundred square meters and the price for a plot is a thousand [[Qirsh]] and this amount can be paid in installments of five Qirsh per week, please take advantage of this opportunity and talk with Nacla Qatan and pay him five Qirsh and the plot will be yours. Provided, however, you will continue to pay this small amount. If you want to purchase more than one plot, you are allowed to do so and purchase additional plots. And when the raffle take place, you may win adjacent plots...''|source=A newspaper ad for Katamon, ''[[Falastin (newspaper)|Falastin]]'', 8 August 1914<ref name=davidyehoshua>Quoted in Ya'akov Yehushua's ''Talbiya: The Story of One of Jerusalem's New Neighborhoods'', pp.25–26, quoted in Kroyanker, 2002, p.[https://books.google.com/books?id=YRrwumKlrggC&pg=PA179 179]</ref>}}
German aerial photographs taken during the war show building lots demarcated by stones at Katamon in a [[grid plan]] way, and a system of dirt roads.<ref>Kroyanker, 2002, p.[https://books.google.com/books?id=YRrwumKlrggC&pg=PA178 178]</ref><ref name=kark>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KzOAxmHDzHUC&q=history+neve+sha%27anan+jerusalem&pg=PA172 |first=Ruth |last=Kark |title=Jerusalem neighborhoods|year=2001 |isbn=0814329098 }}</ref> Despite the low prices, the neighborhood did not attract Jewish buyers because the area was completely Christian, next to the [[Greek Colony, Jerusalem|Greek Colony]], [[German Colony, Jerusalem|German Colony]] and Baka.<ref name=davidyehoshua/> Until the war five houses were built in Katamon.<ref name=David178/>

===British Mandate===
[[File:Katamon ii.jpg|thumb|Templer architecture in Katamon]]
[[File:Map of Qatamon, 1947.png|thumb|250px|Katamon and its surroundings, 1947]]
[[File:Katamon War memorial in Jerusalem.jpg|thumb|Katamon War memorial in Jerusalem]]
During the 1920s, some 90 new residential plots were planned in Katamon and their construction began shortly after the war, especially after 1924. In a short time, some 40 luxurious buildings were built in the neighborhood, by Christian–Arab families. The buildings were built in plan for different blocs and not for the entire neighborhood. About half of Katamon's buildings were built between 1927 and 1937, and the rest were built until 1948.<ref name=David180/> Most of Katamon's residents were educators, teachers, businessmen, contractors, traders and other professionals from the upper and middle class.<ref>Kroyanker, 2002, p.181</ref><ref name=david182/> Along with private houses, apartment buildings were built for the purpose of rent.<ref name=David180>Kroyanker, 2002, p.[https://books.google.com/books?id=YRrwumKlrggC&pg=PA180 180]</ref>

The neighborhood developed into a prosperous, bourgeois neighborhood with a European–Cosmopolitan character whilst retaining the local, oriental culture.<ref name=mor123>Morris, 2004, p.123</ref><ref>Kroyanker, 2002, p.180</ref> Most of the builders were Arab–Christians from the [[Greek Orthodox Church|Greek–Orthodox]] community, headed by Issa Michael al-Toubbeh, but among them were some [[Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem|Latin rite Catholics]] (some from an Italian origin)<ref name=david182/><ref name=David180/> and [[Armenian Evangelical Church|Armenian Protestants]].<ref name=David180/> A phenomenon which contributed to the neighborhood's cosmopolitan character was intermarriage between different Christian communities.<ref name=David183>Kroyanker, 2002, p.183</ref> The apartments were rented to Arab people and British officials, army officers and their families, who preferred to live in a Christian neighborhood.<ref name=David180/>

Most of the children were sent to high quality and expensive schools, usually private ones. The schools teaching languages were usually English, Italian, German or French.<ref name=david182/>

The members of the Greek–Orthodox community lived a secular lifestyle, visiting churches only on holidays and family events. They used to pray in the church of the San Simon Monastery, the church of the [[Monastery of the Cross]] or in churches in the [[Christian Quarter]] of the Old City. The Latin rite Catholic community made their prayer at the Chapel of St. Theresa in Katamon or in churches located in the Old City. Protestant families conducted their prayer at the [[St. George's Cathedral, Jerusalem|St. George's Cathedral]] or in the Old City.<ref name=David183/>

Many of the residents worked in British public services and many were members of [[YMCA]]. Many consulates were established in the neighborhood including the consulates of [[Lebanon]], [[Kingdom of Egypt|Egypt]], [[Mandatory Syrian Republic|Syria]], [[Kingdom of Iraq|Iraq]], [[Italy]] (which remains the consulates of Italy in Israel today), [[Belgium]], [[Poland]] and [[Czechoslovakia]]. Three small hotels and a [[Pension (lodging)|pension]] existed in the neighborhood before 1948 and there was a British sports club in the neighborhood,<ref name=david182>Kroyanker, 2002, p.[https://books.google.com/books?id=YRrwumKlrggC&pg=PA182 182]</ref> which was later used by [[Hapoel Jerusalem F.C.|Hapoel Jerusalem football club]] for a few years.

===1948 war===
{{Further|1948 Palestine war|Operation Yevusi}}

{{Nakba}}

The neighborhood was an Arab neighborhood between two Jewish neighborhoods and the only one in a line of Jewish neighborhoods.

During the [[1948 Palestine war]] Katamon was largely abandoned by its residents. The evacuation of Arabs was reported already on 10 December, and British assistance to the evacuation was reported on the beginning of January. The neighbourhood's handful of Jewish inhabitants left during the war's first weeks. According to Israeli historian [[Benny Morris]], they left either out of fear or under Arab intimidation.<ref name=mor123/>

On the night of 5–6 January 1948, the [[Semiramis Hotel bombing|Semiramis Hotel was bombed]] by the [[Haganah]] in Katamon, killing 24-26. After the attack many Arab residents of the neighborhood began fleeing,<ref name="Gelber 2004, p.141">Gelber 2004, p.141</ref> most of them were women, children and elders. Most fled to the [[Old City of Jerusalem|Old City]] and some fled to the southern part of Qatamon which was around the Iraqi consulate defended by the Jordanian [[Arab Legion]].<ref name=mor124/> Some of the middle-class residents found refuge in [[Bethlehem]].<ref>Gelber, 2004, p.244</ref> The Arab authorities tried to stem the flight and many young men who fled to the Old City returned to Qatamon.<ref name=mor124>Morris, 2004, p.124</ref> Hala al-Sakakini, the daughter of Palestinian scholar and poet [[Khalil al-Sakakini]] and a resident of Katamon, described in her diary how frightened residents fled their homes and did not respond to the orders to remain.<ref>Hala al-Sakaini, ''Jerusalem and I: A Personal Record'', Jordan 1990, p.111</ref><ref name="Gelber 2004, p.141"/> By March only a few families remained in the neighborhood, guarded by irregular forces based on San Simon Monastery.<ref name=mor124/>

[[File:Katamon 1948.jpg|thumb|right|Harel Brigade during the attack on Katamon, 1948]]

During the war, attacks by the Arab side originated from the [[Greek Orthodox Church|Greek Orthodox]] Saint Simeon Monastery in Katamon that was located in a strategic point overlooking the Jewish neighborhoods.{{Citation needed|date=July 2020}} On mid April the Jewish leadership halted [[Operation Harel]] near Jerusalem and ordered the [[Harel Brigade]] to deploy in the city and conduct [[Operation Yevusi]]. The reason behind the order was false reports of a fast British evacuation from the city and that the Arabs are deploying large forces in the city in order to fill the vacuum. In the battle over Katamon, which was centered around the St. Simeon monastery, most of the Arab fighters in the city participated, after they were called upon by the local militia. Fighters from the nearby Arab villages refused to send support, claiming they needed to defend themselves. The commander of the Arab forces, [[Ibrahim Abu-Dayyeh]]<sup>[[:he:איברהים אבו דאיה|(he)]]</sup>, was one of the prominent Arab commanders and earned respect due to his involvement during the battle over the [[Gush Etzion Convoy#27 March 1948|Nabi Daniel Convoy]] and the battle over [[Sheikh Jarrah]]. His men were equipped with light weapons and homemade armoured vehicles as well as ones looted from the battle of Nabi Daniel. Against them were the Jewish fighters of the fourth battalion of the Harel Brigade, who were exhausted from the constant fighting in earlier battles. During the fights both sides suffered from total exhaustion. The Arabs called on the Jordanian [[Arab Legion]] to intervene but they refused. When the Arabs saw no reinforcement will arrive they decided to halt their attack and withdrew, letting to Jews take the neighborhood.<ref>Gelber, 2004, p.126</ref>

Historian [[Saleh Abdel Jawad]] wrote that "indiscriminate killings" occurred on 29 April after the neighborhood was captured by the Haganah.{{refn|Saleh Abdel Jawad, 2007, ''Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War''. "29 April 1948: Jerusalem, Qatamoun neighbourhood: Indiscriminate killings occur. After the fall of this western neighbourhood in Jerusalem, the Haganah forces kill an unknown number of people."}}

[[File:Katamon after Operation Yevusi.jpg|thumb|right|Destruction in Katamon after Operation Yevusi]]

The loss of the neighborhood was followed by massive looting by Jewish soldiers and civilians alike.<ref>{{cite journal | title = Civilians in Military Courts? | journal = Israel Studies Review | volume = 26 | issue = 1 | year = 2011 | pages = 66–87}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | author = Anita Shapira | title = Jerusalem in 1948: A Contemporary Perspective | journal = Jewish Social Studies | series = New series| volume = 17 | number = 3 | year = 2011 | pages = 78–123}}</ref> Hagit Shlonsky, who lived nearby, wrote
<blockquote>For days you could see people walking by carrying looted goods. ... Not only soldiers, civilians as well. They were looting like mad. They were even carrying dining tables.<ref>{{cite book | author = Nathan Krystall | chapter = The fall of the New City 1947–1950 | page = 100 | title = Jerusalem 1948 | editor = Salim Tamari | publisher = The Institute of Jerusalem Studies & Badil Resource Center | year = 2002}}</ref></blockquote>
Approximately 30,000 books, newspapers and manuscripts were collected by the [[National Library of Israel]] from Katamon and the other Arab neighborhoods.<ref name=Klein>{{cite book | author = Menachem Klein | title = Lives in Commons, Arabs and News in Jerusalem, Jaffa and Hebron | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 2014 | pages = 177–178}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | author = Gish Amit | title = Salvage or Plunder? Israel's "Collection" of Private Palestinian Libraries in West Jerusalem | journal = Journal of Palestine Studies | volume = 40 | number = 4 | year = 2011 | pages = 6–23| doi = 10.1525/jps.2011.XL.4.6 }}</ref> They were initially catalogued under their owners' names, but were later reclassified as "abandoned property".<ref name=Klein/>

On September 17, 1948, UN Mediator [[Folke Bernadotte]] and UN Observer [[André Serot]], were assassinated by members of the Jewish [[Lehi (group)|Lehi]] organisation while being driven along [[HaPalmach|Palmach Street]], opposite the junction with ''Ha'gdud Ha'ivri Street,'' in Katamon.<ref>{{cite news|last=Macintyre|first=Donald|title=Israel's forgotten hero: The assassination of Count Bernadotte - and the death of peace|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israels-forgotten-hero-the-assassination-of-count-bernadotte--and-the-death-of-peace-934094.html|accessdate=10 June 2012|newspaper=The Independent|date=September 18, 2008}}</ref>

===Israeli period and resettlement===
[[File:PikiWiki Israel 12876 villa cherkessi katamon.jpg|thumb|Villa Cherkessi, Katamon]]
During May–June, some 1,400 Jews, consisting of women, children, elders and wounded<ref name=David187>Kroyanker, 2002, p.187</ref> were expelled from the [[Jewish Quarter (Jerusalem)|Jewish Quarter]] of the Old City by the Jordanian Arab Legion after it fell on 28 May. Some were settled in houses in Katamon, abandoned by its Arab owners.<ref>Gelber, 2004, p.282</ref><ref name=mor392>Morris, 2004, p.392</ref> The neighborhood was also temporarily settled with Jewish women and children from front-line [[kibbutzim]] in the [[Jerusalem corridor]]. The abandoned neighborhood, as well as other evacuated Arab neighborhoods were looted by the displaced Jews and Israeli soldiers who entered empty Arab houses, a phenomenon that the Jewish authorities failed to halt, usually turning a blind eye to it.<ref>Gelber, 2004, p.172</ref><ref name=mor392/> This phenomenon was condemned by Israeli politician [[Dov Yosef]], for ethical and moral reason, as well as practical reasons. The looters also took door and window frames, and [[Tap (valve)|taps]], which made the relocation of refugees more difficult.<ref name=David187/>

[[File:תמונה 1008.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Ofira Navon]] park, built on the site of Katamon football stadium]]

[[Aliyah|Jewish immigrants]] and government officials joined the Old City's refugees and settled in Katamon after the war. In order to allow as many people to live in the neighborhood, the apartments were divided into smaller units. In buildings which housed one family, three or four new families were settled. Because of the difficulties, unauthorized renovations and improvised extensions made by the residents.<ref name=Nadlan>{{cite web|title=Old Katamon Neighborhood (Gonen)|url=http://www.mynadlan.co.il/article.html?id=41|website=MyNadlan|language=he|access-date=2017-02-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170209050246/http://www.mynadlan.co.il/article.html?id=41|archive-date=2017-02-09|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Kroyanker, 2002, 188</ref>

Some of Katamon's buildings were designated for public needs, such as synagogues, schools, kindergartens and places for elders. One of the apartment buildings was used as a new location to the [[Misgav Ladach]] hospital, originally from the Old City.

==Architecture==
[[File:San simon memory.JPG|thumb|San Simon Park]]
In the early 1950s, many public housing projects were built in Katamon, often using the Wild Bau [[Cladding (construction)|cladding]] style - a random rubble masonry pattern - which was adopted by modernist architects in Jerusalem.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qZS4DwAAQBAJ&dq=gonen+katamon&pg=PT286|title=Israel as a Modern Architectural Experimental Lab, 19481978|first1=Inbal Ben-Asher|last1=Gitler|first2=Anat|last2=Geva|date=November 13, 2019|publisher=Intellect Books|isbn=9781789380651|via=Google Books}}</ref>

==Gentrification==
In the early 1970s, a process of [[gentrification]] began in Katamon when people of the middle class bought the apartments where low class residents lived and started renovating them, reuniting the apartments that were split after 1948 and overall raising the standards of the houses. Katamon attracted many people because of the character of its small "Arab styled" houses, with yards, stone walls and gates, porches, tiled roofs and stylized floors, located close to the city's center. The neighborhood had a slow process of population change and social and physical renewal. The conservative and semi-rural character attracted, mainly after the 1980s, families of Jewish immigrants, mostly wealthy religious ones from western countries, who were able to purchase and renovate the houses.<ref>Kroyanker, 2002, p.[https://books.google.com/books?id=YRrwumKlrggC&pg=PA190 190]</ref>

Since the 1970s, the neighborhood, which was populated mostly by secular and ''[[Masortim|masorti]]'' Jews, has also been having a process of [[Judaization#Geopolitical acculturation|Haredization]], including the construction of apartment blocks for [[Haredi]] Jews.<ref>Kroyanker, 2002, p.[https://books.google.com/books?id=YRrwumKlrggC&pg=PA192 192]</ref>

==Landmarks==
[[File:Misgav Ladach Hospital.jpg|thumb|[[Misgav Ladach]] Hospital]]
A major landmark in Katamon is the Saint Simeon monastery, known to Jerusalemites as San Simon<sup>([[:he:מנזר סן סימון|he]])</sup>, on a hilltop to the north. The monastery is now surrounded by a large park known as San Simon in the neighborhood [[Givat Oranim]].

In the center of the neighborhood lies the [[Recha Freier]] square. Around the square are five historical buildings that were used for the embassies and foreign consulates of Lebanon (during the British era only), Poland, Venezuela, El Salvador, Belgium and Greece. The Greek consulate remains there since the 1950s as the Greek consulate in Jerusalem.<ref>Kroyanker, 2002, pp. 198-206</ref>

Katamon is also home to the [[Israel Goldstein Youth Village]]<sup>([[:he:חוות הנוער הציוני|he]])</sup>, which has a number of school programs (boarding and day schools), especially for Russian and French Olim. Also in the Youth Village is [[Camp Ramah|Ramah Israel]], which hosts teens from North America through the Ramah Seminar program for 6 weeks in the summer and Tichon Ramah Yerushalayim (Ramah Jerusalem High School) for 4.5 months in the Spring.

Katamon was the home of several foreign [[Consul (representative)|consulates]], among them the Greek consulate, the Italian consulate, and the Costa-Rican consulate.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://palpress.ps/english/index.php?maa=ReadStory&ChannelID=4652|title=The discreet charm of the bourgeoisie}}{{Dead link|date=December 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The old Hapoel stadium was purchased by developers and is now the site of the upscale Ganei Katamon neighborhood, ringing [[Ofira Navon]] park.

The [[Misgav Ladach]] hospital on the southern edge of the neighbourhood specialized in maternity care, but is now a medical center for [[Kupat Holim Meuhedet]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.jpost.com/HealthAndSci-Tech/Health/Article.aspx?id=122626 |title=Misgav Ladach operating rooms shut down |date=December 2, 2008 |newspaper=The Jerusalem Post |first=Judy |last=Siegel-Itzkovich}}</ref> [[Museum for Islamic Art, Jerusalem|The Museum for Islamic Art]] is located on Palmach Street in Katamon.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.forward.com/articles/14176/ |title=Between Two Cultures: In Jerusalem, a Breakthrough Show of Works by Arab-Israelis |newspaper=[[The Forward]] |first=Michal |last=Lando |date=September 11, 2008}}</ref> Katamon also houses the core community of [[Erlau (Hasidic dynasty)|Erlau]] [[Hasidic Judaism|Hassidism]], as well its yeshiva, Ohel Shimon.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.tog.co.il/en/Article.aspx?id=196 |title=The chassidus of Erloi |date=June 13, 2009 |newspaper=Tog News |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721140806/http://www.tog.co.il/en/Article.aspx?id=196 |archive-date=July 21, 2011 }}</ref> The [[International Christian Embassy Jerusalem]] has been based in Katamon since 1997.

==Katamonim==
[[File:KatamonimFeb102023 04.jpg|thumb|Katamonim]]
[[File:KatamonTetJeusalemApr172023.jpg|thumb|250px|Housing project, Katamon Tet]]
To the west, Old Katamon branches out into several neighborhoods collectively called the "Katamonim" (plural of ''Katamon''; officially ''Gonenim'', lit. "Defenders"), built in the early years of the state to accommodate the large wave of [[aliyah|new immigrants]] from [[Iraq]] and [[Kurdistan]], previously living in tent camps.<ref name=jlem>{{cite web |url=http://www.jerusalem.muni.il/jer_sys/picture/atarim/Toursite_form_atarEng.asp?site_id=2251&pic_cat=4&icon_cat=6&york_cat=9&type_id=197 |title=Jerusalem neighborhoods: Gonenim |publisher=City of Jerusalem |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110617063427/http://www.jerusalem.muni.il/jer_sys/picture/atarim/Toursite_form_atarEng.asp?site_id=2251&pic_cat=4&icon_cat=6&york_cat=9&type_id=197 |archive-date=2011-06-17 }}</ref> These neighborhoods were assigned Hebrew numerals : Katamon Khet ("Katamon 8"), Katamon Tet ("Katamon 9), etc. Some of those neighborhoods have a second name. Katamon Hei (5) is also called San Simon Neighborhood,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jerusalem.muni.il/he/404/|title=Error 404|website=www.jerusalem.muni.il}}</ref> a part of Katamon Het (8) and Katamon tet (9) is sometimes called San Martin Neighborhood,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.info.gov.il/nr/exeres/DBE875F2-C51C-4D21-94E7-6E2ADA0BC94C.htm |title=מכרז של רשות הדואר לסוכנות סן מרטין |access-date=2009-12-06 |archive-date=2011-07-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718030058/http://www.info.gov.il/nr/exeres/DBE875F2-C51C-4D21-94E7-6E2ADA0BC94C.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> and Katamon zayn (7) is [[Pat (Jerusalem)|Pat neighborhood]].

Katamon Khet was built at the end of the 1950s, and Katamon Tet in the mid-1960s. The Katamonim are characterized by long apartment blocks on pillars, providing low-cost housing. Some of the buildings are still government-owned, although the [[Amidar (company)|Amidar]] housing company sold many of the apartments to the residents in the 1970s.<ref name=jlem/> The neighborhood hosts a well-known [[Women's International Zionist Organization|WIZO]] community center called after [[Helena Kagan]].

Prior to the [[Six-Day War]] in June 1967, the Katamonim were on the Jordanian-Israeli [[Green Line (Israel)|armistice line]]. Massive infrastructure improvement was financed by an [[urban renewal]] project known as "Project Renewal" over a period of two decades. Many small apartments were combined into larger ones and the outward appearance of the apartment blocks was improved.<ref name=jlem/> Since the 1990s, many Russian and Ethiopian immigrants have been given housing there.<ref name=jlem/>

==Sports==
The neighbourhood was home to the [[Hapoel Jerusalem F.C.|Hapoel Jerusalem]] football club from the 1930s until it moved back to the [[Jerusalem International YMCA|YMCA Stadium]] in the 1980s.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.jpost.com/Home/Article.aspx?id=68217 |title=Hapoel Jerusalem fans plan alternative team |newspaper=The Jerusalem Post |date=July 12, 2007 |first=Jeremy |last=Last}}</ref> In 2007, Hapoel Jerusalem fans formed a new club, naming it [[Hapoel Katamon Jerusalem F.C.|Hapoel Katamon Jerusalem]] after the club's former home, although the new club does not play in the neighborhood.<ref>{{cite news |title=Thousands show up to cheer experimental fan-owned soccer team |url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/914954.html |newspaper=Haaretz |date=October 21, 2007 |first=Aryeh |last=Dayan}}</ref>
The Jerusalem Tennis Center, founded in 1981 and dedicated in 1982 by the [[Jews|Jewish]] community of South Africa in memory of Yossi Zeituni, a tennis coach who fell in the [[1982 Lebanon War|Lebanon War]], is located in the Katamonim. The center has 19 courts and a stadium with seating for 2,000 spectators.<ref name=jlem/>

==Popular culture==
The 2008–2012 Israeli television drama ''[[Srugim]]'' takes place in Katamon.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Swamped with singles |url=https://www.jpost.com/jewish-world/jewish-features/swamped-with-singles |access-date=2022-08-31 |website=The Jerusalem Post {{!}} JPost.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Notable residents==
*[[Levi Eshkol]], former Prime Minister of Israel<ref>Kroyanker, 2002, p.239</ref>
*[[Benjamin Netanyahu]], Prime Minister of Israel<ref name=neti>Kroyanker, 2002, p.237</ref>
*[[Benzion Netanyahu]], historian<ref name=neti/>
*[[Aliza Olmert]], artist
*[[Ehud Olmert]], former Prime Minister of Israel
*[[Julia Glushko]], tennis player
*[[Eden Alene]], singer
*[[Sami Hadawi]]
*[[Ghada Karmi]]
*[[Hasan Karmi]]
*[[Khalil al-Sakakini]]
*[[David Rubinger]], photographer and photojournalist
*[[Meir Shalev]], writer and newspaper columnist
*[[Amichai Chasson]], poet and filmmaker
*[[Trude Dothan]], archaeologist
*[[Shaul Tchernichovsky]], poet
*[[Shulamith Hareven]], author and essayist
*[[Gail Hareven]], author
*[[Yehuda Bacon]], artist

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{Commons category}}
*{{cite book|last=Bruyn, Le|first=C.|author-link=Cornelis de Bruijn|title=Voyage au Levant: c'est-à-dire, dans les principaux endroits de l'Asie Mineure, dans les isles de Chio, Rhodes, Chypre, etc., de même que dans les plus considérables villes d'Egypte, de Syrie, et Terre Sainte|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Z1VlNufzhpgC |year=1725|publisher= chez Jean Baptiste Claude Bauche, le fils, Quay des Augustins, a Saint Jean dans le desert|volume=3 |location=Paris|language=fr}}
*[[Ghada Karmi|Karmi, G.]]: ''In Search of Fatima: A Palestinian Story'' {{ISBN|1-85984-694-7}} [[Verso]] 2002
*[https://www.theguardian.com/comment/story/0,,815080,00.html A country of the mind] Guardian, Saturday October 19, 2002 (from Dr Ghada Karmi's memoir, In Search of Fatima)
*{{cite book|title= The Churches of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: A-K (excluding Acre and Jerusalem)| volume =I |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BgQ6AAAAIAAJ| last= Pringle |first= D.|author-link=Denys Pringle|year=1993|isbn=0-521-39036-2 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]}}
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&q=benny+morris |first=B.|last=Morris |author-link=Benny Morris |year=2004 |title=The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited|isbn=978-0-521-00967-6 |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
*[[Yoav Gelber|Gelber, Y.]] (2004) "''Independence Versus Nakba''"; [[Kinneret Zmora-Bitan Dvir]] Publishing, {{ISBN|965-517-190-6}}
*Sakakini, Hala: [https://web.archive.org/web/20130326072725/http://www.alnakba.org/testimony/hala.htm   ''Jerusalem and I''], 1987
*{{cite book|last1=Kroyanker, D.|title=Jerusalem Neighborhoods: Talbiyeh, Katamon and the Greek Colony|date=2002|publisher=Keter Publishing House|language=he|author1-link=David Kroyanker}}

{{coord|31.761|N|35.207|E|region:IL_scale:20000|display=title}}
{{Neighborhoods of Jerusalem}}

[[Category:Neighbourhoods of Jerusalem]]
[[Category:Katamon| ]]
[[Category:1900s establishments in Asia]]
[[Category:Populated places established in the 1900s]]