The funds donated to Hovevei Zion by Haim Cohen were transferred to the Jewish National Fund , which purchased 120 dunams of land on the southern fringes of Jerusalem . Mekor Chaim was established in 1926 by the religious Zionist Mizrahi movement . It was planned as a village of 20 small farmsteads , and was built along one main street which developed parallel to the railway line . Each family received a two-dunam plot for a house , garden and orchard . In the early days , the families had cow sheds and chicken coops . The building contractor , Mar Haim , was head of the first neighborhood committee . He arranged for the Hamekasher bus company to open a regular route between Mekor Chaim and the city center . Initially , there was one central water tap in the south of the neighborhood . The committee purchased the water from the municipality and placed a watchman at the tap to count how many buckets each family drew . Later , raised water cisterns were built in the garden of each home . During the Arab riots of 1929 , the residents took shelter in the synagogue , which was built like a fortress
Arab riots of 1929
1929 Palestine riots
Mekor Chaim