Stories from Jerusalem / Al Quds

Tel megiddo is an archaeological site in the Jezreel valley (Marj bin Amer in Arabic) where they found 25 layers of civilizations. Megiddo is mentioned several times in the Bible and it is associated with Armageddon, mentioned in the book of Revelations, the last book of the New Testament of the Bible, as the location for a final battle. 

It is not for no reason that the writer of the book of Revelations chose to stage this battle at Har Megiddo (the mount of Megiddo, from which Armageddon is a corruption).  This is the site of many ancient battles because of its very strategic location. If you controlled Megiddo, you controlled the most important trade route of that time, the Via Maris.

The most famous battle is the battle of Tuthmose III, the Egyptian Pharaoh, who led his army through the very arrow Aruna pass (Wadi Ara) to surprise the Canaanite vasal kings who were preparing for a rebellion. 

In the 20th century the British army general Allenby, who read the stories of Tuthmose III, used the same strategy in World War I and he defeated the Turkish army at the same location, by coming through the same narrow pass.

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This is a special episode in Dutch for the Dutch foundation 'Plant an olive tree'
If you want to learn more about olive tree planting in Palestine you can listen to episode 6 of season 5 (20 February 2022) in English.

Dit is een speciale aflevering in het Nederlands gemaakt op verzoek van Stichting Plant een Olijfboom. In deze aflevering spreek ik met Esther over het werk van de Stichting.

Plant een Olijfboom ondersteunt geweldloos verzet van Palestijnse boeren tegen landconfiscatie door het aanplanten van gesponsorde olijfbomen. En promoot reizen om de situatie met eigen ogen te zien en de boeren te helpen.

 Stichting Plant een Olijfboom werkt voor rechtvaardige vrede met gelijkwaardigheid voor alle burgers, inclusief recht op terugkeer voor Palestijnse vluchtelingen.

Iedereen die dat wil, kan een olijfboom sponsoren die in het volgende plantseizoen wordt aangeplant bij Palestijnse boeren. Daarmee help je voor hen de hoop levend te houden, toon je solidariteit en steun je hen in de strijd voor het behoud van hun land.

De Stichting werkt samen met een aantal betrouwbare Palestijnse partners. Een daarvan is de Joint Advocacy Initiative van de YMCA in Oost Jeruzalem en de YWCA van Palestina. De JAI oganiseert jaarlijks programma's waarbij buitenlandse vrijwilligers kunnen komen helpen met het werk op het land, het aanplanten van bomen en het plukken van olijven. Daarbij worden ook excursies en ontmoetingen met verschillende organisaties aangeboden.

Als je na het luisteren meer wilt weten, een olijfboom wilt sponsoren, op reis wil naar Palestina of als vrijwilliger actief wilt worden, ga dan naar de website en neem contact op!

https://www.planteenolijfboom.nl

Stories from Palestine podcast heeft elke week een nieuwe aflevering met verhalen en geschiedenis uit Palestina. Je kunt ook via social media op de hoogte blijven. Bekijk ook eens de filmpjes op YouTube en meld je aan voor de wekelijkse email!

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For this episode I joined the olive tree planting in Al Khadr, organized by the Keep Hope Alive campaign that is run by the JAI. (Joint Advocacy Initiative of the East Jerusalem YMCA and the YWCA of Palestine)

I interviewed several people on the field, some of the organizers and participants of the planting day. We talked about the threats that Palestinian landowners experience from expanding settlements, violent settlers and the army who are after the Palestinian land, trying to take it by force or in legal procedures. If land is not planted and exploited then it is easier for the Israeli settlers and the State to confiscate it through legal ways. That's why most Palestinians are planting olive trees. The trees do not need as much care as agriculture crops or grape vines, so even if they don't have regular access to their land due to the Israeli restrictions, walls and checkpoints, the olive trees have a larger chance to survive.

If you want to read more about the Olive Tree campaign you can follow this link:

https://www.jai-pal.org/en/campaigns/olive-tree-campaign

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February is Black History month, an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in US history. I thought it was a great moment to record an episode about the Afro Palestinian community in Jerusalem.

My friend Issam who runs Bassem's Gallery Bookshop Cafe in the Via Dolorosa helped me to connect to Mohammed Qous, a 22 year old member of the Afro Palestinian community, who grew up in the African quarter in the old city. His grandfather originates from Chad. He married seven women in his life and with a Palestinian woman from Jericho he had several children, among whom Mousa, the father of Mohammed. Mousa married a Palestinian woman from the United States and Mohammed was born and grew up in the African quarter.

In this episode he talks about the Afro Palestinian community. Most of the first generation came from Chad, Sudan, Senegal and Nigeria. They were in Jerusalem as part of a pilgrimage to the holy city of Jerusalem. When the Zionist militias occupied Palestine in 1948 and the State of Israel was declared, they remained in the city to protect Al Aqsa mosque. And the changed political situation made it hard for them to travel back to their countries. They remained in the city and they were given a quarter to live in, close to Bab al Misjla, one of the entrances to Al Aqsa compound, in two old Ottoman prison compounds. The African quarter exists until today and is overly crowded. It is considered one of the hotspots by the Israeli forces and there is constant Israeli police presence in the quarter. 

On my way to the interview I had the incredible luck to meet Ali Jeddah, one of the icons of the Afro Palestinian community. Recently he has been spending more time with his family in Akko because he needs health treatment in the hospital in Haifa. But he loves Jerusalem and he can't stay away for long, so he came for a visit and he was sitting at his usual spot near the Damascus Gate. I was not prepared to interview him but I did record a conversation we had before I headed to the Cafe in the Via Dolorosa to meet with Mohammed. 

Website of the African Community Society in Jerusalem: https://www.afropalestinians.org/

Some videos : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOnL80yhiko
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCsefJqkV9k

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In the beginning of July 2021 Salah and his wife Nynke left Holland to go on a great adventure. They decided to go on a 6 month bike ride heading towards Istanbul and from there they would try to find a way to get to Egypt and from Egypt to Jordan and then finishing in Palestine to attend the wedding of Salah's sister in Balata camp in Nablus.

In this podcast episode, recorded with live audience in Beit Sahour, Palestine, you can hear from Salah how they decided to go on this long journey. How did they plan and carry out this trip, where did they sleep, what was their daily routine and what were some of the beautiful, fascinating, touching and crazy experiences they had on their way!

This bike trip was a life changing experience for Salah and for Nynke. And this story may inspire YOU to change some things in life. If there is one lesson to learn from Salah then it is that fear is only an idea. And if you can realize it, you can control fear and that will change your perspective on life.

If you want to watch the videos that Salah made go to his YouTube channel :
Salah Hanoun on YouTube

You can also follow Salah on Instagram: https://instagram.com/salahonbike
And Nynke's stories on Instagram: https://instagram.com/tirhaal.on.bike

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For a full transcript of the podcast click on the transcript tab in Buzzsprout or go to the website https://storiesfrompalestine.info/2022/01/27/caesarea-maritima/

On the coast half way between Jaffa and Haifa are the ruins of the ancient port city of Caesarea Maritima. It was built by King Herod the Great about 2000 years ago. He named it Caesarea to honor the Roman emperor Ceasar Augstus. He built a harbor with a very advanced breakwater in the sea, made of pozzolana, volcanic ash mixed with limestone. He had the typical Roman city built with cardo, decumanus, Roman theater, hippodrome, bath houses and a big Temple dedicated to Augustus.

The city grew in Byzantine times and became much larger. It was an important center of Christian theology and had a big library of manuscripts.

In the Muslim era that followed Caesarea was not very important because the Arab rulers did not focus on sea trade and the port cities. The city was rebuilt by the Crusaders and until today you can see some of the massive walls, towers and a beautiful late Crusader time gate in gothic style, built by the French King Louis the ninth.

The Mamluks destroyed Ceasarea. During late Ottoman time a group of Bosnian refugees resettled close to the Crusader tower fortress and a fishing village of 960 people was found near the beach until Zionist militias killed a number of villagers and forcibly displaced the rest.

The area has been turned into a National Park with a large number of holiday resorts and hotels in the vicinity.

You can also watch a video we produced on the YouTube channel.

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Hisham's Palace and the mosaics were very recently renovated and the mosaics are now covered and protected by a special shield and that's why there has been quite a lot of attention for the place, even from the world media, because the mosaics are one of the largest mosaic carpets in such a good shape, in the world. The mosaics cover an area of about 900 square meters.

In this episode you can learn about the Umayyads, why they built palaces in the desert and I will take you on a virtual tour to visit the remains of Hisham's Palace with the famous mosaic carpets.

My daughter Louisa and I also made a five minutes video of our visit that you can see on the YouTube channel. Everything you hear in this episode you can see in those five minutes!

If you are interested to dig a little bit deeper into the mosaics then I recommend reading these two articles that I also used for my research:

https://www.academia.edu/12102557/The_Mosaics_of_Khirbet_el_Mafjar_Hishams_Palace

https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/388/1/Lion-Gazelle_mosaic.pdf

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This episode has a transcript so that you can read along. You can find it on the Buzzsprout site if you click on Transcript (next to Description) Or find it on the website:
https://storiesfrompalestine.info/2022/01/12/al-aqsa-and-dome-of-the-rock/

I recorded this interview after I visited the Dome of the Rock and Aqsa mosque on the Haram al Sharif (the Nobel Sanctuary) in the old city of Jerusalem. We made a special arrangement with the 'Awqaf' so that we could enter into the different mosques on the platform.

Then I met with Dr Yousef Al Natsheh, an Islamic art historian who served in the Awqaf for 40 years and who wrote several books on Jerusalem. I recorded this interview in the heart of the old city very close to the Aqsa Mosque.

It is important to understand that the whole area on the top of the hill, enclosed by a wall, is referred to as the Aqsa mosque. The area comprises around one sixth of the size of the old city. The two most famous buildings are the Dome of the Rock with the golden dome and the Friday prayer mosque, also called the Aqsa mosque or the Qibly mosque, on the southern end of the platform. There are other mosques, such as the Marwani mosque and the Omar mosque. Furthermore the area has a lot of small domes, platforms, fountains, schools, arches, four minarets and several other structures that all together form the Haram al Sharif, the Nobel Sanctuary.

We talk about the history of the location, Jewish claims to the site, Islamic architecture, Mamluks and the end of times.

If you want to see some videos I made then check out the social media pages, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and sign up for the mailing list. You can find all the links here:
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YouTube video 'Haram al Sharif in 9 minutes'

For a great online (PDF) guide to the Al Haram al Sharif click here

The website that comes with the great walking trails through the old city of Jerusalem by Dr Yusef Al Natsheh is worth exploring. http://enjoyjerusalem.com/

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This is the second part of the food tour with Izzeldin Bukhari from Sacred Cuisine in the old city of Jerusalem.

In this episode we continue after the falafel and humus breakfast at Abu Ahmad, to have Arabic coffee and traditional Palestinian sweets in the Cotton market. We visit Abu Yahya to try some sesame nuts protein bars, still handmade, with real honey. Then we continue to visit the only tahina factory in Jerusalem that still roasts the sesame seeds in a wood oven.

Of course we drink some fresh pomegranate juice on the way and then we head to the famous Manba zaatar shop where we learn about zaatar, duqa, sumac, buton, different types of wheat, gee and dried yogurt.

 Izzeldin was raised in the old city, his family is a prominent Sufi family. Izzeldin started Sacred Cuisine in an attempt to revive the Palestinian somi food (vegan / vegetarian) and when he works as a caterer he focuses on local and seasonal products.

With Sacred Cuisine he aims at the rediscovery of the Palestinian heritage through food, bridging past and present.

Follow him on social media @SacredCuisine or visit his website https://sacredcuisine.com

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This is the first of two episodes that were recorded during the food tour with Izzeldin Bukhari from Sacred Cuisine in the old city of Jerusalem. We talk with the women from Bethlehem who sell vegetables in the streets, we eat manakeesh (oven baked flat bread with zaatar), we buy all kind of pickled veggies and different kinds of old city sweets and we visit the oldest still functioning ka'ek oven, very famous (!!) Izzeldin takes us to one of his favorite humus and falafel places and talks about the different types of food you can eat there.

Izzeldin was raised in the old city. His family is a prominent Sufi family and in a previous episode we talked about Sufism in Jerusalem.

He connected to cooking while he was abroad in the United States and he missed the Palestinian cuisine. Cooking was meditative for him. And cooking mindfully made him also more aware of where the food that he cooked really comes from, what is the relation to culture and tradition and how can we preserve these traditions in the fast changing world around us.

With Sacred Cuisine he tries to revive the Palestinian somi food (vegan /vegetarian) and when he works as a caterer he focuses on local and seasonal products.

 At the core of SacredCuisine is the return to the roots of the Palestinian approach to food, from growing to sharing, based on the values of fair-trade, sustainability, independence, nourishment, and cooperation. The aim is a rediscovery of Palestinian heritage through food, that bridges the past and the present

From his website:  In Sufism, feeding others is considered to be the highest form of worship. The idea being that the health of the mind and body are intertwined. Food is understood to be a divine gift and sharing it is an act of love.

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