Tucked away behind Jerusalem's new Central Bus Station in Romena is Allenby Square, where one may see a small garden and playground surrounding what appears to be a typical British cenotaph. The three-metre high monument is carved with bas-reliefs of stylized mediaeval knights, resting their arms on long swords, and an encircling inscription which reads:
"Near this spot, the Holy City was surrendered to the 60th London Division, 9th December 1917. Erected by their comrades to those officers, NCOs and men who fell in fighting for Jerusalem."
The choice of mediaeval knights perhaps reflects the feeling of many Britons at the time that this had been a new crusade for Jerusalem.
In fact the spot on which the monument was raised in 1920 was an open field at the time, the spot where the ceremony of the surrender of Jerusalem was enacted.
The improvised surrender ceremony with the two British "Tommies;" the original picture was captioned, "The Mayor of Jerusalem HusseinEffendi El Husseini meeting with Srgts Sedwick and Hurcomb of the 2/19th Batallion, London Regiment, under the White Flagof Surrender, December 9th at 8 a.m." [credit: American Colony (Jerusalem) - Library of Congress - public domain]
Having said that, there were apparently multiple surrenders, after the Ottoman Army withdrew as the British Army approached Jerusalem on the night of the 8th December 1917. On the following morning the Mayor of Jerusalem, Hussein Salim Al Husseini, set out to tender the city's formal surrender to the British. He met two British kitchen sergeants near the Shaare Tzedek Hospital, at what was then the sparsely populated western outskirts of Jerusalem. Thinking them of higher rank than an understanding of their insignia might have revealed, he tendered the capitulation to them. However, the officer in charge was displeased with this informal ceremony, and held a second surrender ceremony on the same windswept hill, with his own participation; a higher officer then apparently demanded and got a third one, still in the same location.
Finally, Field Marshal Edmund Allenby insisted on still a fourth and final one, held this time at a different location - just outside the Jaffa Gate of the Old City, which Allenby then ceremoniously entered, making the point of dismounting and entering on foot to send a message of respect, and in deliberate contrast to the perceived arrogance of the Kaiser's entry into Jerusalem on horseback in 1898, which was not well received by the local citizens. He perhaps also had in mind Jesus' humility of entering Jerusalem on a donkey, symbolizing his arrival in peace, rather than as a war-waging king arriving on a horse. In any event, the ploy had its effect, as Allenby noted in his official report: "The procession was all afoot, and at Jaffa gate I was received by the guards representing England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, India, France and Italy. The population received me well..." In the end the Mayor of Jerusalem was indisposed with pneumonia for the final surrender, and Allenby visited him in the hospital.
Allenby entering Jerusalem on foot, Jaffa Gate [credit: public domain]
Allenby's official proclamation of martial law following the fall of Jerusalem on 9 December 1917 read as follows:
To the Inhabitants of Jerusalem the Blessed and the People Dwelling in Its Vicinity:
The defeat inflicted upon the Turks by the troops under my command has resulted in the occupation of your city by my forces. I, therefore, here now proclaim it to be under martial law, under which form of administration it will remain so long as military considerations make necessary.
However, lest any of you be alarmed by reason of your experience at the hands of the enemy who has retired, I hereby inform you that it is my desire that every person pursue his lawful business without fear of interruption.
Furthermore, since your city is regarded with affection by the adherents of three of the great religions of mankind and its soil has been consecrated by the prayers and pilgrimages of multitudes of devout people of these three religions for many centuries, therefore, do I make it known to you that every sacred building, monument, holy spot, shrine, traditional site, endowment, pious bequest, or customary place of prayer of whatsoever form of the three religions will be maintained and protected according to the existing customs and beliefs of those to whose faith they are sacred.
Guardians have been established at Bethlehem and on Rachel's Tomb. The tomb at Hebron has been placed under exclusive Moslem control.
The hereditary custodians at the gates of the Holy Sepulchre have been requested to take up their accustomed duties in remembrance of the magnanimous act of the Caliph Omar, who protected that church.
Noble sentiments perhaps, but in the long term without their desired effect!
Due to the above confusion and multiple ceremonies, there were two competing Days of the Surrender of Jerusalem (9 and 11 December) and two locations: the hill where the original ceremony took place, and the Jaffa Gate where Allenby's ceremony was held. In typical British understatement, the modest memorial was erected on the hill where the first "unofficial" surrender ceremony took place.