Hara

Harat al-yahud (the Jewish quarter) houses the old synagogue, shops, and houses. It is at the edge of the old town, and used to have a gate that was closed at night. Its history, again, is not well known. It is now mostly inhabited by Palestinian and Syrian refugees.

In recent years, most of the old town has been rehabilitated, with the cleaning of the sandstones of its building, new windows and lights, and a new sewer system. There are now several palaces that one can visit (Audi, Debbane, Solh, Hammoud, Khan al-Franj), and a new museum of antiquity is being built in partnership with the British Museum.

Haret al-yahud, however, remains in poor shape and is in urgent need of rehabilitation to improve the living conditions of its inhabitants and honor the memory of the Jewish families that once lived there.

Until 1948, most Jewish families lived in the Hara. Hashem El-Madani (1928-2017), the influential portrait photographer in Saida, has documented Jewish family life and life celebrations in poignant pictures (that we publish here courtesy of Akram Zaatari).