View source for New Gate

{{Short description|Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem}}
{{About|the gate in Jerusalem|the gate in Żebbuġ, Malta|De Rohan Arch|the gate in Newcastle, England|New Gate, Newcastle|other uses|Newgate (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2023}} 
{{Infobox building
| name            = New Gate, Old City of Jerusalem 
| native_name=
| native_name_lang=
| alternate_names = Bab al-Jadid es Sultan Abd ul Hamid II (Arabic for "New Gate of Sultan Abd ul Hamid II"); HaSha'ar HaHadash (Hebrew for "New Gate"); Gate of the Sultan <ref>''The Guide to Israel'', [[Zev Vilnay]], Jerusalem 1972, p.150</ref> 
| image           = Jerusalem, Old City, New Gate 01.jpg
| image_alt=
| caption=
| map_type        = Old Jerusalem
| map_alt=
| map_caption     = Location in Old Jerusalem
| altitude        = {{convert|790|m}}
| building_type   = Outer city wall postern gate
| architectural_style=
| structural_system=
| location        = Western section of the northern wall of Jerusalem
| location_town   = [[Jerusalem]]
| location_country=
| coordinates     = {{coord|31|46|45.5|N|35|13|34.6|E|display=inline}}
| start_date      = 1887
| completion_date = 1889
| inauguration_date=
| renovation_date=
| demolition_date=
| destruction_date=
| height=
| architect=
| references=
}}
The '''New Gate''' ({{langx|ar|باب الجديد}} ''Bāb ij-Jdïd''; {{langx|he|השער החדש}} ''HaSha'ar HeChadash'')<ref>Borg, Alexander, Some observations on the יום הששי syndrome in the Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls, in T. Muraoka, John F. Elwolde, eds., Diggers at the well: proceedings of a third International Symposium on the Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Ben Sira, BRILL, 2000, p.29</ref> is the newest of the [[gates of the Old City of Jerusalem]]. It was built in 1889 by the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]] under the directorship of the [[Consulate General of France, Jerusalem|French consul]] and [[Franciscan|Franciscan brotherhood monkship order]] to provide direct access between the [[Christian Quarter]] and the new neighborhoods then going up outside the walls.<ref>Goldhill, Simon, ''Jerusalem: city of longing'', Harvard University Press, 2008, p.149</ref> The arched gate is decorated with crenelated stonework. The New Gate was built at the highest point of the present wall, at {{Convert|790|m}} above sea level.

==Names==
The ''New Gate'' was the name used by the Ottoman administration. It was also known as ''Bab es Sultan Abd ul Hamid'' by the Arab workforce for the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] [[Sultan]] [[Abdul Hamid II]] who allowed the building.<ref>Sir Harry Luke, ''A guide to Jerusalem and Judea'', Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., ltd. T. Cook & Son ltd., London, 1924, p.72</ref>

It should not be confused with the ''New Gate'' of the [[Second Temple]] complex mentioned in the [[Book of Jeremiah]] ({{bibleverse|Jer 26:10; 36:10|multi=yes}})<ref>[[A. Graeme Auld]], Margarete Laura Steiner, ''Jerusalem I: from the Bronze Age to the Maccabees'', The Lutterworth Press, Cambridge, 1996, p.18</ref> that served as entrance to the [[Sanhedrin|Great Sanhedrin]]'s [[Hall of Hewn Stones]],<ref>Conder, C. R., Colonel, ''The City of Jerusalem'', John Murray, London, 1909, p.59</ref> and was previously called the Benjamin Gate.<ref>[[Lewis B. Paton|Lewis Bayles Paton]], ''Jerusalem in Bible times'', Ayer Publishing, 1977, p.81</ref>

==History==
===Byzantine period===
During the 3rd and 4th centuries the northern wall was rebuilt and improved by the Byzantines leaving no trace or record of a gate in this sector of the fortifications. There is no information about a gate preexisting at this point in the wall before the city was occupied by the Crusaders.<ref name=BenDov29/>

===Crusader period===
There is a suggestion that the Crusaders did maintain a small [[postern]] gate, named after the Order of [[Rich man and Lazarus|St. Lazarus]], just east of the Ottoman construction, for the use of troops stationed at [[Walls of Jerusalem|Tancred's Tower]] (Goliath's Tower).<ref name=BenDov29>Ben-Dov, M., ''Jerusalem, man and stone: an archeologist's personal view of his city'', Modan, 1990, p.29</ref> Uncovered during drainage and sewage works in the area, it may have also been used by the knights of the [[Order of Saint Lazarus|Lepers Order]] also quartered there.<ref name=harel>Har-El, Menashe, ''Golden Jerusalem'', Gefen Publishing House Ltd, 2004, p.211</ref> Early records of the Crusades suggest the wall was breached after the Crusader occupation on the orders of [[Tancred of Hauteville]], with the tower subsequently named after him. The breach may have been later converted into a gate.<ref name=harel />

The Crusader gate may have been sealed up following Saladin's capture of Jerusalem in 1187 because it did not conform to architectural style of fortifications used by the Muslim armies. The earlier Crusader gate had "...a roundabout entrance, dim approaches, and a tower that protruded from the line of fortifications." By contrast the earlier gates as well as the Ottoman gate are built within the city, and aligned with the facade of the wall.<ref>Ben-Dov (1990), p.33</ref>{{dubious|The Ottoman Jaffa Gate also stands out from the wall to the north. Generalisation...|date=June 2020}}

===Ottoman period===
[[Image:Damascus Gate and environs. New Gate LOC matpc.00702.jpg|thumb|200px|New Gate, 1890s]]
[[File:New Gate 1948.jpg|thumb|New Gate during battles for Jerusalem 1948]]
[[Image:Jerusalem Walls New Gate.jpg|thumb|New Gate, 2009]]

The older gates were probably sealed by the external wall built in the 1530s by Suleyman the Magnificent.<ref>Pringle, Denys, ''Secular buildings in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: an archaeological gazetteer'', Cambridge University Press, 1997, p.54</ref> However, another gate was reported in the 16th century called ''the New Gate of the Serbian Monastery'', that was used by the Franciscans while they were building the [[Monastery of Saint Saviour|Church of St Saviour]].<ref name=harel />

It was built at the request of the French consul to provide access to the Old City from [[Notre Dame of Jerusalem Center|the Notre Dame Hospice]] that was completed in 1886,<ref>Kark, Ruth, Oren-Nordheim, Michal, ''Jerusalem and its environs: quarters, neighborhoods, villages, 1800-1948'', Wayne State University Press, 2001, p.34</ref> and to provide Russian Christian pilgrims living at the [[Russian Compound]] (outside the Old City walls) direct access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Christian Quarter.<ref name="eisen"/> Contrary to popular belief, Kaiser Wilhelm II during his visit to Jerusalem entered not through the New Gate, but through the "Hole in the Wall", made so that he wouldn't have to dismount his carriage to enter the city.<ref>Bard, Mitchell Geoffrey, Schwartz, Moshe, ''1001 facts everyone should know about Israel'', Rowman & Littlefield, 2005, p.115</ref>

From the beginning of the First World War the headquarters of Roshen Bey, the most senior Ottoman military officer in the Jerusalem area, was located at the Notre Dame Hospice opposite the New Gate.<ref>[[Salim Tamari|Tamari, Salim]], The Great War and the Erasure of Palestine's Ottoman Past, in [[Camille Mansour]], and Leila Fawaz, eds., ''Transformed landscapes: essays on Palestine and the Middle East in honor of Walid Khalidi'', American University in Cairo Press, 2009, p.113</ref>

===British Mandate===
During the 1920s and 1930s the New Gate became the nearest gate to the modern city Jerusalem with the Christian Brothers' College located just inside its structure in the Old City.<ref>Orfali, Jacob, ''An Armenian from Jerusalem'', Ronin Publishing, 1987, p.48</ref> At this time the New Gate, as all gates to the Old City, included an iron gate which was operated by the police,<ref>Deem, Ariella, ''Jerusalem plays hide and seek'', Jewish Publication Society, 1987, p.17</ref> and shut as required by the administrative regulations.<ref name=Eckardt>Eckardt, Alice, ''Jerusalem:city of the ages'', American Academic Association for Peace in the Middle East, 1987, p.310; The iron gate was removed in 1967</ref> On the afternoon of Friday, 23 August 1929, an unprovoked attack was staged by the Arabs from the Old City between the New and Damascus gates that resulted in the killing of several Jews after the Arabs were inflamed by the sermons during the noon prayers at ''[[Al-Aqsa|Haram esh Sherif]]''.<ref>Samuel, Edwin, ''A Lifetime in Jerusalem'', Transaction Publishers, 1970, pp.106-107</ref> From 1946 and until Independence the British Administration created a security zone between the New Gate and Jaffa Road, called euphemistically ''Bevingrad'' for [[Ernest Bevin]], due to the terrorist activity from both sides.<ref>Dumper, Michael, ''The politics of Jerusalem since 1967'', Columbia University Press, 1997, p.211</ref> On November 15, 1945 the [[Stern Gang]] attempted to demolish part of the wall next to the New Gate, using a massive device that required ten men to transport and emplace; however it failed to function.<ref>Hart Strober, Deborah, Strober, Gerald S., ''Israel at sixty: a pictorial and oral history of a nation reborn'', John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, 2008, p.64</ref>

===1948 war and Jordanian period===
During the [[1948 Arab-Israeli war]], [[David Shaltiel]]'s [[Etzioni Brigade]] ([[Hagana]]) failed to capture [[East Jerusalem]] from the local Arab defenders reinforced by a company of the [[Arab Legion]]'s 6th battalion<ref>Tal, David, ''War in Palestine, 1948: strategy and diplomacy'', Routledge, 2004, p.213</ref> during [[Operation Kedem]].<ref>Bowyer Bell, J., ''Terror out of Zion: the fight for Israeli independence'', Transaction Publishers, 1977, pp.332-334</ref> This occurred not because of Arab offensive action, which was restrained by orders of [[John Bagot Glubb]], but because the Jewish demolition charge intended for the iron gate was detonated by a stray artillery shell that set the Arab wooden barricade in front of the New Gate on fire, halting the Stern Gang, Hagana and Irgun troops' advance just prior to the ceasefire announcement.<ref>Hammer, Reuven, ''The Jerusalem anthology:a literary guide'', Jewish Publication Society, 1995, p.307; see also Bowyer Bell, ''ibid.''</ref> Subsequently the Jordanian occupation administration had the gate sealed off.<ref name=eisen>Eisenberg, Ronald L., ''The streets of Jerusalem: who, what, why'', Devora Publishing, 2006, p.278</ref>

===1967 war and Israeli period===
The gate was reopened by the Israeli Army in 1967 and the iron gate removed following the capture of East Jerusalem during the [[Jordanian campaign (1967)|Jordanian campaign]].<ref name=eisen /><ref name=Eckardt/>

The gate itself is maintained under the preservation orders, supervised by the [[Israel Antiquities Authority]]. The land around the New Gate is largely owned by the [[Apostolic Nuncio to Israel|Latin Patriarchate]] and the Franciscan [[Custody of the Holy Land]], which have refused to sell it to the Israeli government.<ref>Dumper, Michael, ''The politics of Jerusalem since 1967'', Columbia University Press, 1997, p.191</ref> It required many years to lease land from the Patriarchate between the New Gate and the Damascus Gate for a park.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}

In the current urban layout of Jerusalem the New Gate provides the quickest route from the Old City to West Jerusalem, including via [[Egged (company)|Egged]] No.1 & 2 buses, via its HaSha'ar HaKhadash (New Gate) Road.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}

==Landmarks==
There are several notable buildings near the New Gate, both inside the Old City behind the gate, and outside across the road. Inside the Old City are the {{lang|fr|Collège de La Salle/Collège des Frères|italic=no}} (for boys),<ref>Frère Rafael Gonzales, [http://lasalle-po.org/les-freres-des-ecoles-chretiennes-a-jerusalem/ Les Frères des écoles chrétiennes à Jerusalem], Frères des Ecoles Chrétiennes, Proche-Orient. Accessed 15 June 2020.</ref><ref>[https://catholicchurch-holyland.com/?p=401 The Catholic Church Of The Holy Land], accessed 15 June 2020</ref> the Greek Orthodox St. Basil Monastery,<ref>[https://www.orthodoxholyland.com/st-basil---jerusalem St. Basil Monastery Jerusalem], Orthodox Holy Land, accessed 15 June 2020</ref> and the Catholic [[Monastery of Saint Saviour]].{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}
Under the {{lang|fr|Collège|italic=no}} are the remains of [[Tancred's Tower]] (Goliath's Castle).

{{lang|fr|Notre-Dame de France|italic=no}} is a Catholic monastery and guesthouse located across from the New Gate on Ha-Tsanchanim Road ([[Paratroopers Brigade|Paratroopers]] Road),<ref>Lukin, Sarabeth, ''Jerusalem pocket guide and atlas'', MAP - Mapping and Publishing Ltd., Tel Aviv, 2001 p.9</ref> as is the St. Louis Hospital.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}

==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=33em}}
{{Coord|31|46|45.5|N|35|13|34.6|E|region:IL_type:landmark|display=title}}

{{Old City (Jerusalem)|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1889]]
[[Category:Gates in Jerusalem's Old City Walls]]
[[Category:1880s establishments in Ottoman Syria]]
[[Category:Christian Quarter]]
[[Category:1889 establishments in the Ottoman Empire]]