The Jewish National Fund (JNF) is building a Wall of Honor at Ammunition Hill in Jerusalem to honor soldiers who fell while defending the city. The project is part of JNF’s efforts to develop and renovate the Ammunition Hill Memorial site, where a historic battle for the reunification of the city was fought during the Six-Day War in 1967.
A portion of the wall will pay special tribute to the overseas volunteers in Machal, who participated in the War of Independence. “Going to Israel and establishing a Jewish state there after a 2,000-year exile was the most important thing we ever did,” said Jason Fenton, who joined the fighting as a 16-year-old British youngster, during ceremonies to launch the project.
Individual plaques for the wall can be purchased to honor former or current Jewish soldiers in the military of any country. According the JNF website, proceeds will be used to upgrade the museum and battlegrounds and create a computerized datacenter, a library, an archive, an exhibition hall, and a center for assemblies and conferences.
In the 1930s, the British built a police academy in north Jerusalem and stored ammunition on the adjacent hill, which came to be known as Ammunition Hill. Jordanians captured the site and split Jewish Jerusalem in two during the 1948 War of Independence.
Israel regained the heavily fortified hill, surrounded by dozens of terraced trenches, in an offensive on June 6, 1967, following fierce hand-to-hand combat in which 36 were killed and 90 wounded. The next day, Israel recaptured the Temple Mount and reunified Jerusalem.