RAMALLAH SANCTUARY

Modern Ramallah was founded in the mid-16th century by the Haddadins, a Jordanian tribe of brothers descended from Ghassanid Christian Arabs. They are said to have moved to this high mountain area to escape conflict with Moslem tribes closer to the Jordan valley.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramallah

The Christian origin of Ramallah introduced a human dynamic that shapes the City and Palestinian politics to this day. Christian social and cultural links led to emigration to America in centuries past and resulted in links to American churches which have made a significant contribution to the education and advancement of Ramallah citizenry. 

 http://www.ramallahquakers.org/index.html

The Christian and western cultural history - mostly in the western downtown area - results in women pedestrians being allowed, for the time being, to wear European fashions without the harassment and abuse normally required in Islamic Arab society.

A landmark feature of Ramallah is the "Fountain with Lions" in the center of town. 

  The lions are a fairly recent feature and were sculpted in China. An apparent glich in communication with the Chinese supplier resulted in one of the lions having a wristwatch carved onto its leg.

 

 A more complete description of the lions is provided in this link.

http://www.jkcook.net/Articles1/0096.htm

 Ramallah is increasingly referred to as the defacto capital of Palestine – since Palestinian Authority government buildings are located here. The flourishing economy is driven by donor aid, government revenue and external remittances – which is, apparently - no less sustainable than other economies in the region. There are good restaurants and stores sell fine wines and alcohols such as the famous “Golden Arak of Ramallah” (an anise based liquor – like Ouzo). The standard of the retail shops reflect a higher standard than is typical in the West Bank.

Down town traffic is typically thick   . . . . .  

 

 . . . . . . and the shop selling delicious and fresh falafel sandwiches on Arafat Square (4 shekels each - about a $1.10), almost never closes.

 

At almost 900 metres, Ramallah is slightly higher and colder than Jerusalem – which is located about 10 kilometres to the south. Cold winds and heavy snowfall have been common in the past – but has been less common in recent years.

CHAOS RELOADED

The blaring of car horns and celebratory gun-shots marked the arrival of hundreds of prisoners released on this day from Israeli prisons.

The release was celebrated with heart-felt family reunions and a frenzy of breaking the nearest available laws –  mostly traffic laws and bylaws forbidding the discharge of weapons within municipal boundaries. 

 

Mostly minor criminals imprisoned for car theft, and occasional stone-throwing, the released prisoners are now declared national heroes and will receive public welfare allowances to assist their reintroduction to society – such as it is.

GALLERY MOMENTS

The Tel Aviv Art Museum is located in north central Tel Aviv and is a place to mingle with art-going crowds on a Saturday afternoon.

 

Humanistic sculpture in the courtyard evokes a dramatic contrast with the social-cultural norms of regional neighbours.

 

 Another sculpture, inside the gallery, offered a retrospective in steel plate on the last moments of recent generations.

 

While taking photos of the Art is discouraged by gallery guards - the curators present a ballet of ideas – to dance to each mind’s music.

In the original gallery building a show offers "dialogue" between the world views of different art / artists.

And  . . . .for another contemporary photo exhibit - the photos evoke motion and destination. . . .


In another hall, in the new gallery annex, art from the decades prior to the emergence of Israel defines an emerging collective identity.

  . . . . and this dynamic of awareness grows and focuses within new discovered worlds of personal experience  . . .  in the decades following the foundation of Israel.

An engineering/architecture exhibit put the development and building of the Tel Aviv Art Gallery into the context of moments in time.

In another hall, sketches by Picasso were used to explain the emergence of structure and emotion in one human's imagination.

More information at:

http://www.tamuseum.com/

JOURNEY’S WINDOW

The time traveler’s sudden destinations are sometimes dark and unexpected. This most recent destination, however, features light and a window to a busy road.  Morning views are open to reflected sunlight - from nearby buildings. Including this building – sized cubist interpretation of reflected landscape.

Views from the balcony reveal a landscape of emerging commercial construction where a few years ago only sheep and goats roamed.  To the north . . .

To the West . . .

And to the south . . .

 

 And, around the corner of the balcony . . .to the rising sun . . . on yet another day.

ISLAND IN TIME

From Mahmoud Darwish, Poet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Darwish 
An Ancient Coastline

Gaza is not the most beautiful city.

Its shore is not bluer than the shores of Arab cities.

Its oranges are not the most beautiful in the Mediterranean basin.

Gaza is not the richest city.

It is not the most elegant or the biggest, but it equals the history of an entire homeland, because it is more ugly, impoverished, miserable, and vicious in the eyes of enemies.

Because it is the most capable, among us, of disturbing the enemy’s mood and his comfort. Because it is his nightmare. Because it is mined with oranges; children without a childhood; old men without old age; and women without desires. Because of all this it is the most beautiful, the purest and richest among us and the one most worthy of love."

 ----------------------------------

  . . .For a few days a place called Gaza appeared between dreams. The old harbour of Gaza may currently be experiencing reinvestment delays but the sun shines as beautiful here as on any other part of the eastern Mediterranean coastline.

The crowds here might make one believe they were in any part of downtown Cairo.

In time, hostility may not end, but its substance might evolve to resemble a minor disagreement over tax revenue and appropriate use of firearms. And that evolution for Gaza is still somewhere down the road  . .

 . . . in the undiscovered country.

Cross Currents

    . . . in time and water often find their way back to where they once began.

 

 The beaches of Tel Aviv are much the same - perhaps just a little cleaner and more appreciated than when last visited.

As despair, revolutions and hope rise and fall in the region, the White City keeps shining brighter. Streets are jammed with all sorts of people enjoying a freedom unimaginable beyond the national borders. Students of civilization come from everywhere to study improving restaurants, viticulture, dance and theatre, making it hard for the Time Traveler to find a vacant hotel room.

   www.gotelaviv.co.il

Like a City in the clouds, Tel Aviv's skyline hovers above Ramallah  - as viewed from 40 kilometres away in the Palestinian hills.

WHITE CITY

Early last century, european architects and immigrants brought new ideas about building design to the eastern shores of the Mediterrenean. This idea gave birth to the “white city” comprising thousands of homes inspired by the Bauhaus philosophy of architecture - the only City comprised mostly of Bauhaus designs. On Rothschild Avenue a UNESCO plaque documents the world heritage status of the city.

The website of the Bauhaus Institute of Tel Aviv provides a wealth of detailed information . . . .

ttp://www.bauhaus-center.com/

Today, enterprising tour guides lead tourists through neighbourhoods along Rothschild Avenue - describing the young history of Tel Aviv and how the original designs continue to be reflected in new construction.

Hills into Houses

In the once ancient Decapolis City of Philadelphia - now the modern City of Amman Jordan - the landscape provides the building material for houses – not in the form of trees for lumber – but in the form of stone. 

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decapolis

It is an industry supported by the immigration of Palestinian stonecutters from Hebron and Nablus, and now by their children, who continue a craft that is now a major industry employed by all who build a house in this country. A typical house in Amman is a solid bastion of steel, concrete and stone, fit into a strong foundation that has been cut into the side of one of the rocky hills.

It is probably an architects dream to design and build here. One can employ ancient themes such as Byzantine arches . . .

Or new designs incorporating glass and steel.

Without having to worry too much about energy efficiency or vapour-proof walls.

Pine, cedar, palm trees and rose bushes all grow well in the Jordan climate – and make for low-maintenance attractive designs for yards and entrance ways.

It’s not just for the rich –  these are middle class homes and apartments.in the poor developing world -  which is still plagued by a reliance on skill craftsmen and yet to discover the economic efficiency of particle board and vinyl siding.

Urban Transit

Travel vignettes. Recent travels carried the Time Traveler northward along the Nile and then out of Africa altogether.

 

Before I knew the vortex that was to sweep me away I looked east and west from atop a favourite sunset watching place in Luxor, Egypt. First toward the new Coptic Cathedral  . . 

. . .and then west toward a final setting sun across the Nile.

Two days later I awoke to look down upon one of the few remaining original villas in Maadi – a suburb of Cairo – built in the days with villas had back yards and gardens to entertain friends and family on quiet evenings.

 

From the 9^th floor patio of Gold’s Gym one can see how the villas and their land have been swallowed by the spreading Cairo becoming more dense by the year. 

A few short days later, yet another city was spread across the land below the window where I slept.

The Moment

When time stops, waves form smoothed sparkling steps as the stream meets a sudden barrier. Memories arrive on a following sea in fresh colours painted by scents and sounds once familiar, once lost, and now all around.



In Amman, Jordan, old neighbourhoods emerge from the grey with feelings smoothed by years in the cask of a busy mind: Cool clear air, a hint of pine, the aroma of a wood fire from a villa nearby.



A brief moment has turned into a time to be refreshed by a cold wind and rain high in the hills of a once ancient City.



A few kilometres east of the Great Beyond the Jordanian Generation X is building a new City with the art, taste and standards of the best the world has achieved to date. A small hotel displays design and taste and good management . ..



. . . and a 400+ song list of lounge music to set guests at ease.
Songs such as by a group called "Vargo".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdWbdg1inGc

. . . and another group called "Ohm Guru"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h507cHlbHYE

On YouTube, these songs are in a genre call “Chill Out” music which, years ago, only applied to the theme for Hockey Night in Canada. Despite the protests and conflicts in the Middle East – or perhaps in response to them - there is even a festival devoted to the genre – the Dubai “Chill Out” Music festival . . .

http://chilloutfestivaldubai.com/pages/artist-details.php?artist_id=79

Zign Geist

New generations rise with the passing of time – and bring with them new perspectives, greater intelligence, superior education, and improved communication technologies. The only barrier to progress they face are the habits and practices of the preceding generation led by old men who probably never could ask directions.

Egypt - the most civilized of Middle East societies - revolted over a month ago – starting a wave of sentiment that is still sweeping the globe – like the Japanese tsunami traveling across the Pacific right now.

Here are some of their signs from January 28 and 29. (Translations may fail the intended message.)

Image 266
The people of the country want the system brought down.



Image 3012
1- Mubarak = Israel
2- No to Mubarak. No to Sulieman
3 – Leave us and go
4 – leave mubarak
5 – A7A?
6 – 30 years of a bad system/life
7 – We hate you
8 – Mubarak big thief


Image 3011
1 – Mubarak = Israel
2 – Get out my Uncle – you have no sympathy – leave the country
3 – Freedom of speech – bottom of shoes


Image 3013
1 – Freedom of speech cannot include prison and torture.
2 - Are u Egyptian? We love Egypt! Cause no damage!
3 – My rights – I will not surrender them.



Image 3014
We want an election
We need – a new law – an new president – with help of the army


Image 3057
Revolution is the Solution (Apparently rhymes in Arabic also)



Image 3035
To live free we need social justice. (This is a rhyming couplet in Arabic.)


Image 3019
Leave! Do not corrupt the Armed Forces

Image 3016
Remember: Mustafa Semir ElSawy – killed by security forces



Image 3038
1 - People + Army = Egypt
2 – Revolution is the solution.

Image 3039
We want the system to end – 30 years is enough

And others . . . .