On May 28, 1948, after months of siege, the defenders of the Jewish Quarter surrendered to the Jordanian army and the Old City’s Jewish residents were expelled. The State of Israel rose, but the price was heavy: thousands were killed in battle, and the Old City, where Jews had been living for thousands of years, was off-limits to those who had just become Israelis. Jewish presence in the Old City would only be restored some 19 years later, after the Six-Day War.
"Alone on the Walls", an exhibit in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, presents the events of the fateful day in May, 1948, through the lens of British photojournalist John Phillips, who lived in the Old City at the time. Phillips accompanied the Jordanian soldiers as they closed in on the Jewish defenders, memorializing the Jewish Quarter and its residents as he recorded the battles and destruction through his camera lens. The exhibit also screens a five-minute-long silent documentary film from the time of the siege.
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