A Short History of Jerusalem’s King David Hotel
King David Hotel: the East façade & garden via Library of Congress
In our interview with Sonja Mejcher-Atassi – author and professor of comparative literature and Arabic at the American University of Beirut – she pinpointed the bombing of Jerusalem’s King David Hotel as a key moment in the lead-up to the establishment of the state of Israel. We wanted to know more about the history of this hotel that became a central arena for the unravelling of the British Mandate and the establishment of the State of Israel.
History of Jerusalem’s King David Hotel
Via Jerusalem Story
The exterior of the King David Hotel (ca 1931–46) via Library of Congress
The King David Hotel opened its doors in 1931. It was the city’s first luxury hotel, built on Jerusalem’s Julian’s Way (today called King David Street). It was founded by Ezra Mosseri, an Egyptian-Jewish banker and the director of the National Bank of Egypt, who purchased the three-acre plot of land in the New City of Jerusalem from the Greek Orthodox Hotel in 1929 and commissioned Emil Watt to design a six-floor hotel. The resulting establishment boasted 200 rooms and overlooked the Old City of Jerusalem.
View from the King David Hotel via Library of Congress
The main lounge of the King David Hotel (c 1931-33) via Library of Congress
Shrove Tuesday celebration in the King David Hotel (February 21, 1939) via Library of Congress
A suite in the King David in the 1930s
The gardens of the King David in the 1940s.
Around the same time, a number of other new buildings were erected in the same area including the International YMCA, the General Post Office and various municipality offices.
From the outset, the King David Hotel welcomed troops of elite guests and heads of states. In 1936, however, the hotel leased two-thirds of its rooms to the colonial British Mandate. Jerusalem Story attributes this to a decline in tourism due to the tumultuous political landscape in Palestine at the time.
Bombing of the King David Hotel
On July 22nd 1946, Irgun Zvai Le’umi (“National Military Organization”), a Zionist terrorist group opposed to the continued British rule of Palestine, bombed the King David Hotel where the British Mandate government had its administrative headquarters, military command, and Criminal Investigation Division: 96 people died in the attack.
Below is a British colonial newsreel describing the terrorist attack and its fallout.
This act of terrorism was a reprisal for “Operation Agatha” – referred to as “Black Saturday” by Israelis – which saw British troops invade the Jewish Agency on June 29, 1946, confiscating a number of documents in the process. Jews all over Palestine were also arrested as part of this operation.
