A sabbatical in Jerusalem: Book 1

7/28/2019 A sabbatical in Jerusalem: Book 1

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A Sabbatical in Jerusalem: Book l

John Walker msc

ASabbaticalinJerusalem

:Bookl

A Sabbatical in Jerusalem: Book lJohn Walker msc

About this book

This book, and the books that follow depictingmy sabbatical in Israel, can never capture thefull impact of my experience. However, myhope is that for those who engage with thisbook in the years to come, will read theseimages as a photo essay allowing them to speak

for themselves.


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A Sabbatical in Jerusalem: Book l

John Walker msc

ASabbatic

alinJerusalem:Bookl

A Sabbatical in Jerusalem: Book lJohn Walker msc


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In September 2012 I traveled to Israel to be part of a sabbatical experience at Tantur in Jerusalemsituated in the occupied West Bank and adjacent to Bethlehem. This was a three month residentialprogram providing input from Jewish, Christian and Islamic scholars, together with field trips coveringthe length and breadth of Israel guided by archaeologists and anthropologists. This is a complex land

with a complex history with no easy solutions to its current religious/political issues, in which everyone isultimately a victim.

The reality of the political struggle of the Palestinian peoples in this Holy Land greeted me eachmorning when I woke and cast my gaze on the grey concrete wall encircling Bethlehem; virtually an openair prison. Check points and IDF with automatic weapons; air raid sirens and the sound of thud asmissiles penetrate the barren land south of Hebron were just part of the challenge of this life-changingexperience; instead of walking the Holy Land, I allowed the Holy Land to walk through me.

I literally captured thousands of photographic images during my three months but only a few have madeit into these books in an attempt to tell the story. This photo essay will therefore trace the timeline ofthe program beginning with a few images of Tantur that itself will be the subject of a separate photobook celebrating its 40th Anniversary.

John Walker mscDecember 2012

A Sabbatical in Jerusalem: Book 1


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Westward bound


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Early morning vista from Tantur overlooking extensive olive groves and the walled city of Bethlehem


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Tantur: home for three months


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Tantur olive groves; a Palestinian goat-herder and Bethlehem


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Yom Kippur and deserted streets (above) and images from Tantur (right)


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Seminars: Fr Frans Bouwen (above left), Fr Jamal Khader (below left) and Cedar Duyabis (below right)


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On campus Bethlehem University, the day of my first exposure to the wall and the notorious checkpoint


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Founded in 2001 by three Israeli women human rights activistsin response to violations of human rights of Palestinianscrossing checkpoints in the West Bank and Jerusalem. Todaythe movement numbers several hundred women (men excluded)united in opposition to the occupation and in their commitmentto human rights. Their belief is that the non-violent, non-aggressive presence of women at the checkpoints can lower thelevel of tension.

Ronny and Machsom Watch


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Venturing into the Old City for the first time: Dormition Abbey (above)


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The West Wall (wailing wall) of the Temple Mount


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Abu Gosh (French Benedictine) Abbey


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Abud, an historic Christian Palestinian village


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Nablus and Jacobs Well


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The Samaritan community on Mt Gerizim


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Sabastia: six successive cultures have occupied this site dating back 10,000 years


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Manger Square, Bethlehem and the Church of the Nativity


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Images from within Bethlehem


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Illegal Jewish settlement (above left) next to Bethlehem


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Taybeh, a Christian Palestinian village near Ramallah, celebrating Oktoberfest. A very acceptable beer by the way!


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The Old City and pilgrims on the Via Dolorosa


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Thursday Bar-Mitzvah celebrations: entrance from Dung Gate to the West Wall


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A descent into the Kidron Valley from Dung Gate and up the Mount of Olives


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Herodium


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Views from Herodium over the Judean desert (left), and looking over an illegal Jewish settlement (right)


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A view of Herodium from Tantur with the Bethlehem check point in the foreground


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The Bethlehem check point and examples of wall art


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The State of Israel made a commitment to

remember and never forget the crimes perpetratedagainst the Jewish people. Yad Vashem, theHolocaust Martyrs and Heroes Rememberance

Authority, was established in 1953 and is entrustedwith the task of commemorating the six millionJews murdered by the Nazis, preserving theheritage of the thousands of Jewish communitiesdestroyed, paying tribute to the heroic stand of thefighters and the ghetto inmates and honouring theRighteous Among the Nations who risked their livesto save Jews.

Yad Vashem is indeed a most poignant memorialespecially the Childrens Memorial. However, whatvisitors are not told is that once that they havepassed through the main hall of the Museum andthen step out onto an area over looking a beautifulvalley, is that they are looking onto the site of aformer Palestinian village called Deir Yassin. On

April 9, 1948, the population of 750 was massacredby Zionist paramilitary. This was the first warningof a calculated depopulation of over 400 Arabvillages and cities and the expulsion of over700,000 Palestinian inhabitants to make room forsurvivors of the Holocaust.

Yad Vashem: the holocaust

memorial site


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Garden of the Righteous (above), and the Warsaw Ghetto Square (below and overleaf)


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Entrance to the Childrens Memorial and the monument to Janusz Korczak (above right), a Polish-Jewish educator who ran anorphanage in the Warsaw Ghetto


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Entering the main corridor of the Holocaust Museum


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The Holocaust History Museum


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A sabbatical in Jerusalem: Book 1

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Transcript of A sabbatical in Jerusalem: Book 1