XIX century Jerusalem - paradise, hell or both?

Many people, looking from the perspective of XXI century and knowing what happened try to read the story of XIX ccentury Jerusalem in a way that would suit their preconceptions. It is very natural and human, it is acceptable if done honestly and unacceptable if it is thought to serve some propaganda (as it often does).

I have myself some preconceptions (how could I not) but I am also genuinely interested and fascinated in the past, in the ways people lived, wored, thought... There are of course times and places more fascinating to some of us. For me Jerusalem is THE place and her history - throughout the time - a fascinating tale. Yet XIX century was for many reasons special (if in such a special place we may find special times, but I believe we do) and I would like to share some reflections on XIX century Jerusalem in context of relationships between her inhabitants. As I am only amatour in history I will wholeheartedly welcome feedback from any professional historians of the period.

Throughout XIX century Jerusalem was a provincial city in vast Ottoman empire. Yet, there were already very clear signs of its decline, one of the most important being Napoleonic wars, other so called Albanian conquest (though it had little to do with Albania as a country except for the main character in the story) and finally renewed European interest in Jerusalem, mostly on religious ground.

Between 1830-1840 Jerusalem was conquered by Albanian born Muslim, Mehmet Ali, who created dynasty rulling over Egypt for well over 100 years - they were in power in Egypt during building of Suez canal, during Mahdi"s rising, murder of Gordon and war with Kitchener, during IIWW and still when modern Israel came into being, overruled only in 1952. Mehmet Ali was a magnificent warrior but very cruel man and his governor for Jerusalem and adjacent lands, Ibrahim, was known as "Red" (and not because his looks). The land was conquered from weakened Ottoman empire and both the empire and Mehmet Ali were trying for European powers support to keep the rule over the land. Thus for the first time since crusades period the European political interest in what was known after Napoleonic wars as "Palestine" (the name given later also to British protectorate) was renewed.

After infamous "Albanian" period with its bloody rebels and their bloodier still fighting by Ibrahim there came again the Ottoman empire, but already opened for European influx with European and American consuls in place. Different Jerusalem.

How did she look like? Who inhabited her?
Around 1840 there were approximately 5,000 Jews; 4,500 Muslims and around 3,500 Christians of different denominations living in Jerusalem. At the time more liberal attitude towards non-Muslims had been introduced. By 1870 Jewish population reached 11,000 and constituted absolute majority inside the Old City (we are still well before even creation of Zionist movement, but hundreds years after the prayer "next year in Jerusalem" was introduced).

Due to sir Montefiore's financial and organisational help the living conditions (still very poor) were slowly improving.
And the relationships between different groups? Simon Sebag Montefiore in his book about Jerusalem describes it like that: "At the end of the Ramadan fast, all the religions celebrated with a feast and a fair outside the walls, with merry-go-rounds and horseraces (...). During the Jewish festival of Purim, Muslim and Christian Arabs dressed up in the traditional Jewish costumes, and all three religions attended the Jewish Picnic held at the tomb of Simon the Just north of Damascus Gate. Jews presented their Arab neighbours with matzah and invited them to the Passover Seder dinner, while the Arabs returned the favour by giving the Jews newly baked bread when the festival ended. Jewish mohels often circumcised Muslim children. Jews held parties to welcome their Muslim neighbours back from haj. (...) During droughts, the ulema asked the Sephardic rabbies to pray for rain." Sounds like paradise and without doubts there were lots of bonds between communities and lots of cooperation (and sometimes ganuinly good feeling and friendship). The city was poor and cooperation was making life easier for everybody. The advantages of friendship and peace also weren't lost on (nearly) anybody. Yet in this nice picture there already have been seeds of future conflict. At the time the most hostile to Jews were Ortodox Christian Arabs who were insulting them in their traditional Easter songs and lynching on their way to church. But Muslims were also often attacking both Jews and Christians, specially after the Nabi Musa festivities.

The traditional pecking order under Ottomans was: Turks, Arabs, Christians, Jews. Now, in a wake of XIX-century formal equality the system started to collapse. Yet not everyone (obviously) wanted to see it go. When sultan Abdul-Hamid II entered the throne he was forced (by Russians) to introduce constitution (ironically enough much earlier than it was introduced in Russia itself), yet when he had gained power he cancelled it and started to promote specific, Ottoman  nationalism combined with a pan-Islamic loyalty to the caliphate.
The struggle between European powers, the Crimean war and the trials to resuccitate Ottoman Empire all had their influence on Jerusalem. new hostilities were born, helped by foreign, specially British and Russian, influences. European-brand anti_Semitism was brought and joined the local, Arab one creating deathly mixture. Jerusalem, the provincial city, was at the recieving end of global stirrups. The age of nationalisms, genocide and global divisions was fast approaching...

The way to start Pesach - City of David

 Below is a text by Israeli guide about one of the most amazing places in Jerusalem. City of David, just outside the walls of the old city (as present time walls go back to Suleiman Magnificence's times they are in comparison the recent addition to Jerusalem) shows the place of old Canaanite town and the fortress from David's time. It also includes the water shift that allowed David's army into Jerusalem (as you remember from Bible passage the thing Canaanites believed to be impossible). The shift (with running water, requiring your own torch as there is no light provided, virtually taking you these 3000 years ago) still can be walked. For those (like my very young at the time son) who would rather not venture into the swift stream (5-years old are allowed but it can be a bit intimidating, specially at the beginning) there is adjacent - much later - dry corridor taking you in the vicinity (5 minutes walk) of the Pool. It is a must while in Jerusalem!

City of David

What did Lord really asked Solomon about?

In I Kings, chapter 3, vers 5 the Lord appears to young Solomon while he sleeps and asks: "Ask! What shall I give you?" (New King James Version). And this is the best translation (and very literal) of the Hebrew text I came across. 


The Lord has NOT given Solomon free choice of whatever (more like a genius out of the bottle from 1001 nights). He already knows what He has for Solomon, what His magnificent gift for the new, young king will be. The question is a test to check if Solomon understands what does it mean to be the king of Israel, to be the leader. Is Solomon ready to cooperate with the Lord and does he know what it means.


It turns out he does. Answering he gives first the historical background and moment he finds himself in - he has inherited the kingdom after the death of king David, the united for the first time kingdom of Israel and Judah. Thus he answers the Lord that the kingdom, the throne belongs to David, the people belong to God (3 times in 3 subsequent verses he says "Thy people") and he, Solomon, is to be servant of God and God's people. 


He understands that being the leader is not about popularity (look at our populist governments), neither about owning people as king's private property. The throne of David, the people of God, the service and duty of Solomon. Knowing what he knows Solomon is able to answer the Lord what will He give Solomon. So few leaders anywhere in the world at any given time have understood what is leadership about, about caring for future, about service, about humble duty. Solomon was a great king indeed.

10 years ago...

People tend to forget. History is today rather turned into propagadna or indoctrination  (of different things, depending who and where uses it) and for majority I would dare to say forgotten beauty. Yet it is sometimes important to remember, to be reminded....
Ten years ago, on 27th March 2002 it was Pesach (Passover), one of the absolutely major Jewish holidays celebrated in memory of leaving Egypt on their way to the promised land.
Sedar (Passover celebrated dinner) was organised, among other places, in Park Hotel in Netanya. Majority of attending were lonely, often elderly people, among them were Holocaust survivors.
The celebration was entered by suicide bomber, a Palestinian dressed up as a woman. His name was Abdel-Basset Odeh, 25 years old. At 7.30 PM he detonated bomb killing instantly 28 people (2 more succumbed later to their injuries) and wounding 140. Some of those killed were Holocaust survivors, the oldest 90 years old. Among other victims were a father and a daughter, few married couples.....

Terrorism, atacking victims who happen to be in the wrong place at a wrong time is one of the most despicable, repulsive things one may come across, it is treating people as objects of some game. Equally repulsive and obscene are racist crimes and among them one of the most notorious is connected to anti-semitism. Palestinian terrorism, calling for killing as many as possible randomly chosen Jews - be it passangers on the bus, people celebrating, children on their way to school (Toulouse) and so on - blands together those two horrible crimes yet there seems always to be an army of whitewashers ready to supply excuses (no matter how absurd) for those evil deeds.
Taking another man's life is bad enough, doing it driven by racial hatered to somebody we don't know, don't care for, don't know anything about (gener, age, views, family) is so horrible that this horror should be acknowledged by everybody. Unfortunately that is not the case.

In aftermath of this horrible attack Foreign Affairs Minister of Israel at the time, Shimon Peres, stated: "… the details of every peace plan must be discussed directly between Israel and the Palestinians, and to make this possible, the Palestinian Authority must put an end to terror, the horrifying expression of which we witnessed just last night in Netanya." And of course he was right. There is no talking with somebody craving to kill you.
The terror, as is obviously known to you all, hasn't stopped. The Palestinian Authorities (even these on West Bank called "moderate" (in what aspect one is tempted to ask) in 2003, a year after the events, sponsored a soccer tournament named the "Tulkarm Shahids Memorial soccer championship tournament of the Shahid Abd Al-Baset Odeh" describing the perpetrator as a "shahid" (Martyr).

Let's not forget these people who came to celebrate and were killed/ wounded/ horrified. We owe them that!

Why so many anti-Israelism in Europe

For a long time in many European countries there have been present strong anti-Israeli prejudicies sometimes verging on border (or crossing the line) of ani-semitism. I have myself witnessed them quite a few times and tried to embrace the mecanism that caused them and that was completly unclear to me.
Finally I have come to some conclusions that I want to share with you.
Europe (specially Western one) has to a great extent abbandon its Christian values on which society was created and Judeo-Christian philosophy that created the concept of individual in ancient times and in enlightment gave way to individual rights without - in XIX century - loosing the feeling of strong identity and values in societies (sure there were problems and extremisms and rebellion against those values sometimes with pitible results but still with maintaining the feeling that those values were there and one might rebel but it didn't change their presence even in times when they were mostly in people's consience and hard to step across on ground.

To a great extend - at least in France and UK - this is the thing of past. They are post-Christian societies with strong guilt over colonial past based partly on facts, often on legends (mind you - I don't even remotely try to defend colonialism but the intrinsic, collectual guilt taught over decades after colonialism ceased and linked with poor knowledge of history and with damning one's society's own values without inspecting them just because they were there in times percieved as bad is something definitely different; of course Livingstone was to some extend imperialist, he was also fighting against slavery, was ministering to needy, was trying to couch support for them against Arab traders, was scientist and so on, we can't put people like that into one label drawer signed "bad colonnialism" and throw away the whole past without even trying to think about what was there on stake and what is now in danger). In the rush to get rid of this guilt and compensate for colonial past many technocrats in Europe embraced the idea of multicultural societies with minorities being treated as victimised in a way understood per se. Again - nothing wrong with minorities, immigration and multiculturalism if we don't loose from sight the mainstream society insisting that it is "bad" the way burgois were treated in revolutionary France by girondists or anybody owning something by Soviet communists. Unfortunately these normal, in many cases right, in many wrong, members of society have been treated (and continue to be) as people who should be ashamed of having their values, past, history, religion....
The new socio-engineering came to picture with specially leftist seeking the way to change European societies. Leftists found themselves unusual ally - radical Islamism. Those talking again and again about rights of minorities (talking, rarely doing something about it) - about women, gays, other sexual minorities, atheists (not a minority anymore I dare say) allied themselves with ideology fiercly anti-feminist, anti-gay, anti-freedom and considering atheism (or any other religion for that matter) as mortal sin that should be faught with weapon if necessary. What a strange allience!

I remember coming upon a rally in support of Palestine in Dublin where together with Palestinian activists marched gay-supporters and I was very tempted to come and ask them do they know that Israel recognises same-sex marrieges if came to existence abroad (and definitely does not punish homosexuality) while in Gaza just for coming out (or even supporting the rights of gay-minority without coming out) they would have faced death sentence. The leftist supporters of radical Islamism, preaching the rights of minorities, choose to turn blind eye on forced marriages, polygamy, women's genital mutilation and "honour murders" - all taking part in Europe.

Yet the mix of society that gave up its Judeo-Christian values (to a large extent, not completly thanks goodness), the technocrats trying to cut on democracy and push some important decisions out of public opinion eyes, the strong leftists and radical Islamism plays a definite and main role in anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism of contemporary Europe. It not only victimises middle-classes in European societies insisting that they are "guilty", "racist" and "islamophobic" by nature; it also victimises all Muslims who would actually like to accomodate traditional European values (and after all it was generally accepted that immigrants do not trupm on hosts' values claiming that their are superior and have to gain upper hand) and who would like to lead peaceful, middle-class life in new countries. They are pushed to the hands of radicalists from whom they sometimes escaped by the authorities of the very countries they have escaped to.
The result is that the polarisation of stances is growing. The alliance of leftists with radical Islam (hurting all moderate whatever their religion or lack of it) is so absurdal that it requires common enemy to be able to conveniently shut the radical differences as sceletons in closets. Here comes Israel. It is democracy with strong embedding in Judaic values and despite overwhelming secularism of her society not ashamed of her values, past and culture. Defending them in fact. It is honouring individual rights and choices yet does not create the "all goes" culture. It has not embraced the kind of forced "political correctness" that leads to, as they say in my country, "spilling baby with bath water" meaning openess to not correction of things that were bad or getting rid of them and keeping what was good but throwing away everything just for the sake of throwing it away.

With deeply established in Salafism and Wahhabism (main sources of Islamic radicalism) anti-SEmitism and leftists despise of true Western, democratic values what an ideal common enemy allowing to  forget (for a time at least) about fundamental differences between radical Islamism and leftism.

Nevertheless this strange alliance reminds me about one between Nazis and German aristocracy who was very happy to support Hitler in 1933 expecting to be able to use him for their own purposes. As it turned out it was exactly the other way round. And I believe leftists (despite their deep contempt for history) should remind themselves this lesson as they are exactly where German aristocrats were in early 1930s.

The result: turning blind eye by police in UK for demands to bomb or nuke Denmark after the publication of few satiric jokes (I remind they were re-printed in Egypt without incident but that was not widely advertised in Europe). Turning blind eye on cases of vandalising synagogues and still higher protection required for Jewish schools, turning blind eye on demands to destroy legally established country, courts recognising polygamy and payments for multiply wives in UK and France, possibility to buy "Mein Kampf" (banned in most of continental Europe, freely distributed in Ireland, easily available in UK), distribution of XIX century tsarist pamflet "Protocols of the Elders of Sion". Israel is a scapegoat of a very real struggle in European societies and the favourite one to point fingers on by both - radical Islam and widespread leftism, partly to make people turn away from the sins of both those forces against them. And you know? Unfortunately it works......

The name "ISRAEL"

We all probably remember where does the name "Israel" first appear in scripture. It is in Genesis, chapter 32, verse 28. Jacob is wrestling with an angel (the identity of his opponent is another wonderful passage in the scripture but that is another story) and asks for the blessing, the blessing he has recieved in past under false name - that of his brother's. Now he says his real name but it is instantly changed.
Hebrew names in the Bible have meanings, they are not just names of people and places, they carry a deep meaning.
The name "Israel" given to Jacob - one of patriarchs - at this important moment means "one who wrestled with God and with people and was found able". What a name!!!!!
To wrestle in this context means to engage in relationship, not to leave, not to abandon, but to stand out.

When we look at the history of Israel (the people of the Book) it is history of standing out, teaching, passing God's word, being deliverers of God's truth.
It always was standing out - in politheistic word of ancient, in confrontation with Hellenistic world whose men-made and men-resambling gods were engaging in each and every human activity (jelousy, adultery, war, love, feasting and so on) but who did not (and obviously could not) pass the Truth, the ethic requirements, show the way. It was up to Israel to show it and deliver, and it wasn't met with gratefulness (at least in most cases). Israel was always lonely - in approach, in persecutions, in history. It was wrestling, with other peoples, with God who has chosen them for the very special task, with themselves. And Israel was found able.

It still is. As the people, as the faith and reservoir of God's word, as the country.....

Hebron massacre 1929

Hebron in Judea, where the tombs of the Patriarchs are has been always considered the next most important Jewish place after Jerusalem.
There has been constant Jewish presence for 3500 years with a small break in the XX century. And this small break has started with extremly gruesome crime.
In 1929 Hebron was in the British mandate and there have lived both Jews and Arabs in the city. Yet the only British policeman involved in police forces only Arabs with just one exception.
The relationship between Jewish and Arab neighbours was generally considered to be one of the best and however the tentionas were already great in the whole protectorate with Arabs viciously protesting against arriving Jews Hebron was believed to be one of the places where neighbours could live happily side by side.
At the time the great mufti of Jerusalem was al-Hussaini, driven by raging anti-semitism and appointed to this position by British high commisionare despite his prison sentence for stirring anti-Jewish tumults in 1920. Al-Husseini distributed leaflets and gossip that Jews are going to take Temple Mount and that Albert Einstein himself wants to demolish Dome of Rock and build giant synagogue.
In August 1929 in Hebron more and more was being said about possibility of massacre of Jewish residents. On 20th of August Hagana offered Jewish residents of Hebron safe evacuation but the residents declined the offer not believing in their neighbours turning in bloody way against them.
The massacre has started on the afternoon of August 23 1929. The mob has broken into yeshiva where two people were at the time - one managed to hide in the well, the other, young student, tried to run away and was stabbed to death.
Next morning the mob attacked again starting with stoning 2 Jewish boys. The only British policeman, Cafferata,  tried to disperse mob and protect people but he couldn't do much. Some of Arab policemen joined the rioters. Here is a part of Cafferata statement given during trial:
"On hearing screams in a room I went up a sort of tunnel passage and saw an Arab in the act of cutting off a child's head with a sword. He had already hit him and was having another cut, but on seeing me he tried to aim the stroke at me, but missed; he was practically on the muzzle of my rifle. I shot him low in the groin. Behind him was a Jewish woman smothered in blood with a man I recognized as an Arab police constable named Issa Sherif from Jaffa. He was standing over the woman with a dagger in his hand. He saw me and bolted into a room close by and tried to shut me out, shouting in Arabic, "Your Honor, I am a policeman!" I got into the room and shot him."

Some people tried to hide in rabbis' houses but many were slaughtered inside them. Many were tortured or raped before having been killed and the American journalist Van Paassen, one of the first to see the city after massacre, described mutilated bodies and cut women's breasts in the streets. Later when he tried to prove it confronted with Arab denials and British authorities not willing to pursue the investigation into mutilations he has been banned from entering Hebron again.

Here is the memory of one of the survivors:

In August 1929, Yonah was nearing the end of her pregnancy when, on August 23, the disturbing news reached them that there had been attempts to harm Jews in Jerusalem. The following day, Yonah started to feel labor pains and a doctor was called. "Don't give birth yet, wait a bit," he told her. But the pains got worse and the birth approached, so the family went to the neighboring family, an Arab family, who put them up in their basement.
As Yonah gave birth to her second daughter in the basement of the Arab family's house, the masses outside began looking for Jews. Yonah related, after many years of silence, that the mob came to the home of the Arab family, looking for the Molchadskys. "We have already killed our Jews," the Molchadskys' hosts and saviors told the mob, who believed them and departed.

 Indeed there were few Arab families who tried to protect (and sometimes succeeded) their Jewish neighbours. 8 years old at the time Rivka Slonim Burg recalls: "God, blessed be He, in His great mercy, sent us an Arab who lived in back of our house. He insisted that we come down from the doctor's apartment and enter his house through the back door. He took us to his cellar, a large room without windows to the outside. We all went in, while he, together with several Arab women, stood outside near the door. As we lay there on the floor, we heard the screams as Arabs were slaughtering Jews. It was unbearable. As for us, we felt that the danger was so great that we had no chance of coming out alive.
Five times the Arabs stormed our house with axes, and all in the while those wild murderers kept screaming at the Arabs who were standing guard to hand over the Jews. They, in turn, shouted back that they had not hidden any Jews and knew nothing. They begged the attackers not to destroy their homes". But there were only 19 such families.

In total 67 Jews were killed that day in Hebron including children under 3 years. In subsequent trial sheikh Talab Maraka, the leader of the mob, was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment of which he served 1 month!!!!! 3 perpetrators were hung - they are now considered heroes by Palestinian Autonomy authorities!

After the massacre few Jews tried to returned to Hebron but finally they have given up in 1948 and only after six days war in 1967 Jewish families returned to Hebron. Intrestingly enough Hebron Arab residents in 1967 were so sure that Jewish forces will vengence the 1929 massacre that they surrendered the city as soon as soldiers approached it. Not a single shot was given in 1967 in Hebron. There was no vengance.

Chillingly and horrifyingly here is a part of  interview with 92 years old Palestinian woman that took place in Al-Aksa TV station on 13 May 2010.
The woman gives her name as Sara Muhammad Awwadh Jaber, from Hebron, and says among other things: "I have lived through British time and through the massacre of Jews in Hebron. We, the people of Hebron, have massacred Jews. My father has been massacring them and has brought back some belongings".

It is important to remember the story of Hebron and many others where one days neighbours turned against neighbours. And it is important to never again let those things happen. It is our responsibility - all of us!