Jerusalem part 1: The Old City

Jerusalem, city of peace. 

How can I begin to speak of her?

How about I let someone else phrase it.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!
“May they be secure who love you!
Peace be within your walls
and security within your towers!”
For my brothers and companions’ sake
I will say, “Peace be within you!”
For the sake of the house of the LORD our God,
I will seek your good.

-King David; Psalm 122; oldest text found in Qumran cave 11Q5; circa 150 BCE

If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
    let my right hand forget its skill!
6 Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,
    if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem
    above my highest joy!

-Unknown author; Psalm 137; oldest complete text found in the Greek Septuagint; circa 70 BCE

Anyone who knows about this city is aware of it’s struggles and controversy. It has been held by many nations and rulers, until most recently when the Jews fought against several nations in a war that lasted only 6 days in 1967 (unsurprisingly known as the 6 day war). As a result of the conflict, they beat back the Jordanians and conquered Jerusalem. A deal was struck between the two nations which allowed the Jordanian Muslim council, the “Waqf”, to make the rules concerning operation of the Temple Mount while Israel provides the security and enforces their decisions.

It’s a really weird peace, as now it is Israeli soldiers who are given the responsibility of escorting Jews off of the Temple Mount if they are caught praying up there. Christians, as well as any faith other than Islam, are not allowed to pray up there. However, down below the mount, facing the western wall, Jews pray constantly.

I can tell you firsthand that they pray there constantly because the hostel I’m staying at is not far at all from the wall. If you look at the bottom of the drawing I’ve attached you can see the Jaffa gate. My hostel is close to this gate on the edge of the Christian quarter, sandwiched between the Armenian and the Jewish quarters. Night time has been very busy on my streets lately, with flocks if Orthodox and Chasidic Jews bringing their families down to the western wall, which is known around here as the Kotel.

This picture shows the view from the roof of my hostel. I have spent a lot of time drinking the view in, (and drinking in some other things too).

The hostel is more than 500 years old, tucked away inside the tight and winding roads of the city. The manager is a friendly Palestinian who was happy to answer some of the questions I had for him. Following are his observations about the situation here.

Palestinians on the other side of the wall (aka the West Bank/Palestine/ Samaria) have been dealt a really bad hand when it comes to travel. Before the wall went up in 2005 they were able to travel more easily, but now they are caught in a passport trap. While many of them were once considered Jordanian citizens, Jordan has since then taken away their passports. Also, not being Israeli citizens, they are not given Israeli passports. The peoples there have Palestinian passports, which is like a big red flag when they attempt to travel anywhere - unless they are formally invited. 

The Ben Gurion airport in Israel is off limits to them, and to get in to Jordan to fly or travel they still need to cross through Israeli borders. As you can imagine, travelling across Israeli borders with a Palestinian passport is not so easy.

It’s often the case that Palestinians apply to the Israeli government for a letter which allows them access out of their country, but these letters are delayed, if given at all. 

Before the wall went up the mother of my Hostel manager had the wisdom to apply for Israeli citizenship for herself and her family. The thing is, she had to do it secretly. Applying for Israeli citizenship in Muslim Palestine was grounds for being a social pariah, and possibly being kicked out of the community if not worse. This is partly because doing so was seen as legitimizing the state. As you may know, Palestinian leadership (and a large part of the people) have always denied Israel’s right to exist.

As it is now, the attitudes of many in the West Bank have shifted. A lot people there would love to have the Israeli passport. While many would not openly say it, they would rather live under Israeli government than Palestinian Authority. Israel has good hospitals and business is much better, but more to the point - the Palestinian Authorities are totally corrupt.

While there is definitely corruption in the Israeli government, the difference is that in Israel corrupt leaders who are caught actually go to jail. In Palestine they walk the streets untouched, with their heads held high. There’s a lot of money that goes to support Palestine, but it doesn’t make it to the people who need it. It goes to the leaders and their families. 

You can add to that the fact that the Israeli government does not make it easy for non-Jews to thrive. My manager is Palestinian born, but left Israel and lived in the USA and Canada for many years. He then moved back to Israel while he waits for his application for US citizenship to go through. When he arrived back in Israel they questioned him hard about why they should allow him to remain an Israeli citizen. They required him to work, and prove that he was going to stay and be useful, without any guarantee that he would be allowed to retain his Israeli citizenship and passport. Fortunately, he was granted both after living in the land for a little over 3 months.

An Aremenian Christian who does carpentry and construction on the Hostel also shared part of his story with me:

He himself was born in Palestine, and has father has property here. He moved away and raised his children in the States. Several years ago he returned to help his aging father and received a letter of permission form the Israeli government to work here for 5 years on his Jordanian visa. His son visited and wanted to move here, but was strongly discouraged from applying for citizenship, as being of Arab descent it would be a waste of time and money. Further aggravating the situation, his visa was up and he was told to leave the country if he wanted to return. This Armenian man feels that had he not been an Arab his son would not have needed to leave. He tells me that he has had Jews tell him to his face that he is a second class citizen, which is in a sense true, as had they been Jewish it would have been different. If you can prove either of your parents are Jewish, regardless of where you hold citizenship, you’re encouraged to apply.

On top of these issues, the Israeli government is trying to pass laws which would add your race and even religion on your identification card. Due to hostilities in the Muslim world, this is potentially endangering to Christian Arabs.

It doesn’t take much to understand the bitterness of the Arab community. They are scrutinized much heavier. Many things changed after 2001, when the Intafada took place and suicide bombings and attacks were common place. The government reaction to that was to build a wall between Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Without getting too deep into it, suffice it to say that their is a lot of blame to go around, but in this land their is a lot of pride and not a lot of admitting fault. 

Let’s switch it up and continue with the topic of walls. Older walls. ANCIENT walls even.

As I mentioned, I live in the old city. But this old city is not so old. Rome burned the whole place down in 70 CE, 4 years after a major Jewish revolt had taken place. This information is confirmed by Flavius Josephus, an historian who is very often cited for his firsthand accounts of what took place at the time.

Josephus was a Jewish man that defected to Rome, and took the name of his master, Flavius. Because he was learned, and Roman, he was able to write down and chronicle much of what took place in this destructive era. 

The fact that all of Jerusalem was destroyed brings up a lot of hard discussions related to some of the Holy sites in the city. For example: the Temple Mount. The walls that we have for the Temple Mount would not have existed after Rome finished with their destruction. This was prophesied by Christ, as it is written:

And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”

-Mark 13:1-2

Nowadays there is great discussion about who built the current Temple Mount. We do know that the place where the Dome of the Rock sits was previously inhabited by a Roman Temple, then a Christian church,  and a smaller mosque that preceded the Dome. There are also theories that the base of the structure was part of the Antonia fortress built by Herod the Great, and used by the Romans as a launch for their armies. The current acheaologocal understanding places the Antonia Fortess on the northwest corner of the Temple Mount, but this is problematic because the size they give for the Antonia fortress doesn’t fit the accounts of Josephus and other historians who explain that the Antonia fortress held an entire Roman Legion, some 10 000 men.

However, there are many mikvehs all around the place, which suggests that Jews were practicing religious rituals there. The dating for these is unsure, but it does place Jewish observance there after the walls were built.

A mikveh is basically a bath which is fed by some sort of natural running water, and used to cleanse/purify oneself before entering the temple, or other cermemonial events.The busted up rocks below are the remains of one of these mikvehs. 

Another interesting fact is that there are archways on the south side of the temple mount where they think Jews would have come in with their sacrifices during the 2nd temple period. The archways are clearly filled in with bricks, and it’s a funny story why. One of the Muslim rulers heard that when Christ returns he will enter through the South Gate of the Temple Mount, so he blocked up the way to put a stop to any plans the returning Messiah might have had. I guess we’re still waiting to see how that goes down, eh?

Regardless of when these rituals and mikvehs were built and being used, the Romans did indeed build some of the city back up after burning it down. They placed temples to their gods and renaming the city Aelia Capitolina. The name was changed after a second Jewish uprising in 135 CE, led by Simon bar Kochba, a man who proclaimed himself Messiah. Interesting fact - the Rabbi who supported him as Messiah was named Rabbi Akiba, a much revered man. But no one ever talks about how he endorsed a false messiah, and that his followers were consumed by a plague - something God is known for blighting His people with when they don’t listen to Him.

After this revolt, when the name of Jerusalem was changed, is also when the land was renamed from Judea to Syria Palestina. This is where we get the name Palestine. The term Palestinians, however, was first introduced by a man named Haj Amin al-Huesseni, a devoted Muslim, fervent anti-Semite, and a big fan of Adolf Hitler.

To walk around the city, and to look at the walls, we can see different levels of building. I have attached a video, which I filmed over several days, and in there you will see a view of the old city wall from the west, the citadel of David, and the eastern parts of the wall which face the Mount of Olives. You will be able to see near the end of the video where the differences in at least two or three eras of brick are easily visible. Also at the end of the video you will see a row of graves at the bottom of the mount of olives. The one that has a pyramid on top is known as Zechariah’s tomb. Which Zechariah? We don’t actually know. But it sure looks cool!

A quick talk about the ancient city walls. 

The Canaanites were here before the Israelites, and it was king David who captured the city. He and his men came in through a well and took the city from within. The picture below shows the city of David sloped on the hill facing towards us, and the South wall of the Temple above it. 

This is taken from the Israel museum, where they have created a model of what they understand ancient Jerusalem may have looked like. Ancient, as in during the time of Roman Occupation.

In this picture you can see the outline of the ancient city wall, enclosing a much larger area than the walls of the old city. 

And in this picture you can see the Temple Mount, with the Eastern wall facing you. Notice on the top right hand side the 4 towers. This is how they depict the Antonia fortress.

I will leave you with a couple pictures of the old city walls. The really fancy stonework below is the Damascus Gate, the first part of the wall the Ottomans rebuilt, which is the entrance to the old city from East Jerusalem. I have been going in and out of this gate almost daily, as the Shwarma and Falafel in East Jerusalem is not only awesome, but a lot cheaper too! I am always surprised there to see so many Orthodox Jews, as it’s a totally Arab neighbourhood. It makes me think there’s a lot of dynamics here that I just don’t understand.

The following two pictures are taken looking over South Jerusalem from the ramparts of the wall, near the Temple Mount in the Jewish quarter.





There is much more to say about this place. In the next post I will tell you about some of the characters and stories that i’ve been involved with during my stay here. 

Shalom

שלום