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Wadi al-Joz (Arabic: وادي الجوز), also Wadi Joz, meaning Valley of the Walnuts, is an Arab neighborhood in East Jerusalem, located at the head of the Kidron Valley, north of the Old City. The population of Wadi Joz is 13,000.
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Map of Wadi al-Joz, Jerusalem
The Wadi Joz neighborhood is located 750 meters above sea level in the Egoz Valley (Nahal Egoz). The neighborhood was established outside Herod's Gate in the late 19th century when wealthy Arab families built summer houses there. In the early 1900s, an oil depot and distribution center was established there.
In 2007, a neighborhood association was formed to push for improvements in local services and infrastructure.
The neighborhood's main mosque is the Abdeen Mosque built in 1939. Another mosque is the Hejazi Mosque built later in the 20th century.
The Cave of the Ramban, located in 'Uthman Ibn 'Afan Street, is considered by some Jews to be the burial place of Nahmanides.
Economy
Wadi al-Joz is well known in Jerusalem for its car repair centres, based in an industrial zone created by the last Palestinian mayor of Jerusalem, Rawhi Khatib, who established it on 12 dunams of private waqf land owned by his family.
Incidents
In September 2014, a local resident, Muhammad Abd Al-Majid Sunuqrut, 16, was shot in the head with a rubber-coated bullet, reportedly, while walking to a mosque for evening prayers. His father complained of recent harassment, consisting of the use of skunk spraying, rubber-coated bullets and tear gas, by IDF soldiers.