Stories from Jerusalem / Al Quds

In the previous episode you could hear an introduction to the history of the Holy Sepulchre Church in Jerusalem.

This episode can be used as an audio tour when you are visiting the Church. Start on the square in front of the main entrance.

If you are listening from elsewhere you can follow the description and use your imagination! There are lots of photos online as well as YouTube videos.  Here is a 20 minutes documentary by AlJazeera English that gives an idea about the church and the community:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrsqNJIRGPU

If you want to read the transcript of this podcast you can do so under the transcript button on the Buzzsprout page or on the website :

https://storiesfrompalestine.info/2022/10/01/holy-sepulchre-church-audio-tour/

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One of the most visited sites in the old city of Jerusalem is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This is where Christians venerate the place where Jesus was crucified and where he was buried in a tomb. Pilgrims that visit Jerusalem will follow the 'way of the cross' or in Latin the 'Via Dolorosa', the way of his suffering. On the route there are 14 stations where the pilgrims stop to remember something that happened to Jesus on his way to the Golgotha (in Aramaic) or the Calvary (in Latin). This translates as the place of the Skull. The location, on the cliff overlooking a stone quarry, where Jesus was nailed to the cross. The last 5 stations of the Via Dolorosa are inside the church.

In this episode you can learn more about the crucifixion and why emperor Constantine and his mother Helena decided to build the first Church commemorating this event on this exact location.

In the following episode I will take you into the Church for a guided audio tour.

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A short episode recorded under the olive tree in the garden to update you on the crowdfunding for the fees of the tour guide program in Jerusalem! With good news that we reached the goal! Including a shout out to some of the donors but I couldn't mention everybody because there are 69 people who supported me!!

Also an update about the visit to the Open House of the School of Tourism and the English test I had to do there that consisted of a text to praise the greatness of Israel and how I managed with that...

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After a long summer break I am back with new episodes. But from now on you can listen to the podcast bi-weekly.  In this episode I will tell you about my new plans for this coming year and I need YOUR help (and help of all my friends, relatives and podcast listeners!) to proceed with this plan. That's why I am explaining you why I think it is an important step in my life and how you can help me. If you agree and if you can and want to support, then this is the link you need to click: https://www.gofundme.com/f/national-tour-guide-license-for-kris 

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In this episode you can hear all about the Visit Palestine October program that Saleem and myself are organizing! This 10-days program includes a full day of olive picking and two nights with local families in the village of Abud.

We will visit many of the people and places that you have heard about in the last two years of podcast episodes!

We will start the program on Monday 3 October with an introduction to get all participants on the same page when it comes to history and terminology that we will need to understand throughout the visit.

The first nights we will stay in Beit Sahour in a family hotel and we will discover Bethlehem area, Battir and Jerusalem. Then we will go towards Jericho and on our way we will visit several of the desert monasteries and of course Hisham's palace! Of course we won't miss out on the experience of floating in the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth.

The next two days we will be in Abud, a small village north west of Ramallah. The people of Abud will welcome us in their homes and we will get a chance to connect with the local families. On Sunday there is a full day of olive picking including a nice brunch on the field.

In Taybeh we have the opportunity to visit the famous Taybeh beer brewery as well as a local distillery.

In Nablus there is so much to explore, the Turkish bath, the olive soap factory, the spices shop, the Ottoman clock tower, the Green Mosque and of course we will eat Knefeh Nabulsiya.

On our way back to Bethlehem we pass by Mount Gerizim and we will visit the Samaritan community and learn more about their relation to the land and their claim that the true Temple was not in Jerusalem but on Mount Gerizim.

There is a free day in Bethlehem that you can use to rest and relax, to go shopping, to discover more in Bethlehem or in Jerusalem and we can strongly advice to take the Sacred Cuisine food tour in the old city of Jerusalem.

The last day we head to the West towards the Mediterranean Sea and we will visit the city of Jaffa.

For more information about this program visit the website and request the PDF file
https://storiesfrompalestine.info/travel-to-palestine/

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 In the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, where Israeli settlers are in the process of taking over many Palestinian houses, there is an archive where Palestinians can store their photos, diaries, posters and other tangible documents. It is the first Palestinian run archive that is trying to collect memories, history AND documents that are produced TODAY, to store them for future generations.

The initiative is called 'Khazaeen', the Arabic word for 'cabinets'. Each Palestinian that brings documents to Khazaeen, gets its own box, its own cabinet, to store the documents.  Through interviews, stories are collected and published on the blog of Khazaeen's website and on social media. The items are digitized and the owner can decide to take them home or to leave them in the cabinet. In the process of collecting and bringing documents to Khazaeen, many Palestinians have learned about the life and circumstances of their own ancestors. Often this has helped them to understand their own family history and the generational trauma that has been passed on, especially through the experiences of the Nakba in 1948 and the Naksa in 1967.

"It is very important to write our own history and to collect our own archive, rather than having our history stored in the colonial archives of the State of Israel", says Eman Alyan.
 
"It is also important to collect brochures, pamphlets, posters, photos and art work of today, so we can save it for the future. "

If you want to visit the website of Khazaeen you can use this link: https://khazaaen.org/en

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 In 1999 Al-Quds University created the “Community Action Center” (“CAC”), a semi autonomous association, which aims to empower the Palestinian community in East Jerusalem.

The CAC aims to empower the disadvantaged Palestinians of East Jerusalem to access their rights and entitlements and negotiate the complex bureaucratic procedures that control the flow of these rights.

Most Palestinian inhabitants of East Jerusalem are residents and not citizens of Israel. They have to prove that the center of their life is actually in Jerusalem, otherwise they will lose their residency. As Palestinians can’t leave East Jerusalem as they will lose their residency, they need to build new homes for their children in East Jerusalem. But they barely get the permits needed to build new houses, even on their own land property. When they decide to build without a permit, there is a chance to receive a demolition order. They have to demolish their own house. If they don't do it, the authorities will come, do it for them and present them with a huge bill of around a hundred thousand dollars.

The Israeli policies in Jerusalem are made to increase the number of Jewish inhabitants and reduce the number of Palestinians.

Many Palestinians do not know what their rights are, how to deal with the authorities and where to find support. The CAC gives legal assistance, advice and works on advocacy to get the international community involved.

In this episode you can hear General Director Mounir Nuseibeh and Advocacy Officer Munir Marjieh.

To learn more about the CAC you can visit their website https://cac.alquds.edu/en/

TIP: Listen to 'Pre-occupation pod' a not so short history of Palestine, available on most podcast players or use this link: Listen to the podcast

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In the Naqab desert you can find the Nabatean desert cities that were established on the incense and spices route. This was a very important trade route that stretched over about 1800 kilometers from Yemen / Oman until the port in Gaza. The trade was mainly in frankincense and myrrh, but also pearls, gold and cotton were traded. As the camels needed to stop every 35 kilometers to rest and drink, there were about 65 stops on the whole incense route.

The Nabateans, a nomadic Bedouin group in the Arabian desert, was very familiar with the area and the places where to find water. They developed cisterns where they collected rainwater that they marked secretly so that only they could find them. This meant that all traders were depending on the Nabateans for water.

The Nabateans set up forts and protected resting places on the incense route that grew into cities. When the Romans took over control of the incense route and moved it to go through Egypt, the Nabateans developed desert agriculture and specialized in wine making.
They also converted largely to Christianity in the Byzantine time.

The excavated cities of Avdat, Mamshit, Shivta and Haluza are on the UNESCO world heritage list since 2005. They are National Parks that you can visit by paying an entrance fee.

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With a group of fifteen Palestinians and foreigners we visited the Arak distillery of Nader Muaddi in Beit Jalla. This podcast episode was recorded during his presentation.

Nader Muaddi is very passionate about the craft of distilling Arak and the Palestinian heritage of this product. Arak is the oldest spirit in the world. Every single spirit comes from the roots of Arak. It started in the 8th / 9th century when the Arabs had their renaissance period. The first person documented in the world to distill alcohol was the Arab scientist Jaber Bin Hayan, after whom 'algebra' was named, who lived in Baghdad.  He said that it is of little practical use but of scientific significance nonetheless. 

He originally created the still to refine the process of making 'al-kuhl', the medieval eyeliner that was used to make lines under the eyes to absorb the sunlight. It didn't work for that purpose so he tried using it for other purposes and he discovered how to distill it to make alcohol, that could also be used for medicinal purposes. And people didn't know how to name it so they used the name 'al-kuhl', the name of the eyeliner. When it arrived to the European ports the name changed in pronunciation to alcohol.

In this podcast episode Nader explains the history of distilling Arak in a very engaging and informative way and he really brings pride to this old craft.

If you want to follow him on Social media go to his Instagram @muaddi_craft_distillery
Or on facebook: www.facebook.com/ArakMuaddi 

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In this episode you can hear Nadim Nashif and Mona Shtaya who both work for 7amleh, The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media and Digital Rights in the Palestinian context.
 
 We talk about several aspects of their work. For example how social media is censoring Palestinians and others with a pro-Palestinian message. Many Palestinians have their social media profiles shut down without a valid reason and it is often hard to counter that.
 
 Another issue that 7amleh works on is digital security and the use of Israeli spyware on Palestinians and beyond. Recently there was a scandal when it was discovered that Pegasus malware, produced by the Israeli NSO group, was found on devices of human rights defenders, journalists and state representatives.
 
 Other topics we discuss are PayPal, that doesn't have integration for Palestinians to use with their local bank accounts, and Google Maps that does not show Palestinian cities and towns in the Westbank on their maps, while it does show clear details of illegal Israeli settlements.
 
 Furthermore, we discussed a recent campaign to counter Hate Speech online. The campaign targets Palestinians to raise awareness about abusive language on social media and how to recognize it.

This is their website: https://7amleh.org/
(Click the English language button on top left)

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