English translation of the WASATIA book

number of Arab historians such as Bin Asaker, Mujeer Din Hanbaliand Bin al-Haytham who wrote about the Islamic conquest ofJerusalem do not mention that there was any reference to Jews inthe Covenant. On the contrary, Arab historians affirm that it was theMuslims under Caliph Omar who allowed the Jews to return toJerusalem and to reside in the city. Zaki Nusseibeh in his book,Jews in Jerusalem, states that the Arab Islamic takeover ofJerusalem put an end to the exile imposed on the Jews by theRomans and later by the Byzantine not to enter the city or live in itwhich lasted more than 500 years. A devout Jew used to comeTiberius, Gaza, or the Mount of Olives to view the ruins of theTemple, tear his clothes crying and then return back with sadness inhis heart.Arab and Jewish sources confirm that when the Jewish leadersasked Omar how many Jewish families can come back to live inJerusalem he responded that he would first consult with theChristian Patriarch Sophronius to resolve this problem. Caliph Omarasked Sophronius about the number of families that would beagreeable for them and he responded fifty families. The Jewsdemanded two hundred families and so Caliph Omar settled theissue by deciding on seventy families.The Omarite Covenant distributed in the Muslim world today andcirculated in Arabic on the internet and in Palestine is the versionwhich states that ‘No Jew would live with them in Ilia (Jerusalem)’.48