At the end of the War of Independence, Jerusalem was divided between Israel and Jordan.Armistice lines were determined in November 1948 by Moshe Dayan, Commander of theJerusalem district, and Abdallah el-Tal, Legion Commander of the Jerusalem front.

 

Between the lines drawn up by the two commanders, areas were left that were defined as no-man's land. The area around Armon Hanatziv was used as UN territory, and Mount Scopus became an Israeli enclave that contained the Hebrew University, Hadassah Hospital and, officially, the village of Issawiyya.

 

This map was adopted in April 1949 by the sides in an armistice agreement signed in Rhodes. The westernmost point between the two parts of the city wasat the edge of the Musrara neighborhood, near the house of the Mandelbaum family, andthus was called "Mandelbaum Gate."