King George Street (Hebrew: רחוב המלך ג׳ורג׳, Rehov ha-Melekh Jorj, Arabic: شارع الملك جورج Shara'a al-Malik Jurj) is a street in central Jerusalem which joins the famous Ben Yehuda Street and Jaffa Road to form the Downtown Triangle central business district.[1] The street was named in honour of King George V on December 9, 1924.[2]
King George Street was dedicated in honour of the seventh anniversary of the British conquest of Jerusalem under General Allenby. The inauguration took place in 1924,[3] in the presence of Sir Herbert Samuel, the High Commissioner for Palestine, Sir Ronald Storrs, the military governor of Jerusalem,[4] and Raghib al-Nashashibi, the Arab mayor of Jerusalem.[5]
Jerusalem's first traffic light was installed at the intersection of King George Street and Jaffa Road.[6] In 1950–1966, the Knesset, Israel's parliament, met at Beit Froumine on King George Street. It was used by Israel's first five governments, until the Knesset moved to a permanent building in Givat Ram.[7]
Until the advent of the Jerusalem Light Rail, King George Street was one of two Jerusalem streets with a pedestrian scramble; the other is Kikar HaShabbat.
