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Israel's Takeover of Palestinian Sacred and Heritage Sites in The

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Israel's Takeover of Palestinian Sacred and Heritage Sites in The Israel’s Takeover of Palestinian Sacred and Heritage Sites in the West Bank Forty Heritage Sites and the Occupation Practices of Dispossession and Appropriation Table of Contents Introduction 6 Abstract 8 1 Maqam Sheikh Bilal 14 2 Maqam Salman Al Faresi 17 3 Maqam Abu Ismaeel 24 מקאמים באזור שכם 4 Maqam Sheikh Mohammad 28 Nablus area 5 Maqam Sheikh Ghanem 30 6 Maqam Al Qubeibat 31 7 Maqam Sheikh Ahmad Al Qassab 32 8 Maqam Abu Joud 33 9 Maqam Sheikh Abdallah 34 10 Maqam Umm A-Sheikh 36 Maqam sites sanctified by Muslims by sanctified Maqam sites 11 Maqam Sheikh Zaitoun 36 Ramallah area 12 Maqam Sheikh ‘Issa 39 13 Maqam Ibn Jabal 40 14 Maqam E-Ssitt Zahara 41 15 Maqam E-Nnabi Danial 44 South Hebron Hills, 16 Maqam E-Nnabi Yaqeen 45 Bethlehem area and the Palestinian Jordan Valley Palestinian 2 17 Maqam E-Nnabi Noun 48 18 Maqam E-Nnabi Gheit 49 19 Maqam Sheikh Abu Laimoun 50 20 Maqam Sheikh Ahmad A-Tabban 51 21 Maqam Nabi Rabah 52 22 Maqam Abu Zarayid 53 23 Maqam Sheikh Zayid 54 24 Maqam Majdoub 55 25 Maqam ‘Alam al Huda 56 26 Maqam Sheikh E-Nnabi Laimoun 57 Maqam sites inside nature reserves that are not settler-colonies Maqam sites 27 Maqam Sheikh Abu Yazeed 58 28 Maqam Sheikh Qatarwani 59 3 29 Rachel’s Tomb 62 Open to Open to Jews only Jews 30 Joseph’s Tomb 64 31 Nabi Samuel 65 32 Cave of the Fathers 68 Palestinians Limited access for for access Limited 33 E-Nnabi Moussa 70 34 Tomb of Joshuah, Son of Nun (Yusha Ibn Noun) 73 35 Tomb of Noun 74 Maqam sites in Kifl Harith Maqam sites 36 Tomb of Caleb, Son of Yefuneh 75 37 Tomb of Pinhas and Cave of the Seventy 77 Maqam sites and mosques honoring Biblical personages Maqam sites 38 Tomb of Itamar, Son of Aharon the Priest 78 Maqam sites in'Awarta Maqam sites by the Israeli army to suit Jewish needs suit Jewish to the Israeli army by 39 Maqam Abu Al ‘Uzeir / Tomb of Elazar the Priest 79 Maqam sites inside Palestinian villages blocked villages blocked inside Palestinian Maqam sites 40 E-Nnabi Mata 81 Beit Umar Survey Summary 82 Legal background - Maqam sites inside Area C of the West Bank 83 Note : names of the Maqam sites transliterated in English have retained the spoken Palestinian version as far as possible Note: Coordinates of the Maqam sites are in Decimal Degrees 4 The information presented in this survey was gathered during volunteer shifts of MachsomWatch by Hanna Zohar, Tzvia Shapira, Riki Shaked Trainin, Nurit Popper and Irit Segoli Text: Irit Segoli and Nurit Popper Legal background: Attorney Netta Amar-Shiff Photography: Amikam Shuv, Gideon Sulimani, Anthya Sadeh, Nurit Popper and Irit Segoli Graphic design: Idit Kasheles of Pickles Design Hebrew language editor: Noa Shalitin English translation: Tal Haran Acknowledgments: Much important information about caged Maqam sites was generously given to us by researcher Dror Etkes of the Kerem Navot organization, and we thank him deeply for it; Special thanks to Attorney Netta Amar-Shiff for writing the legal background section of our survey. We are thankful to archeologists Gideon Sulimani and Yoni Mizrahi, to Ali Al Azhari - specialist in Islamic culture, to Sefi Ben Yosef who studied the Maqam sites in the 1970s, to Ayman Odeh who came with us on tours, to Buma Inbar, Doha and Samir Abu Moussa, to Issa Souf and to our excellent driver Mustafa Abu Amira. We thank video cameraman Yiftah Iloz, Khitam Naamneh and Odeh Bisharat for translating the interviews from Arabic into Hebrew, and Umar al-Ghubari for writing the Maqam names in Arabic. special thanks go to graphic designer Idit Kasheles and to Aviva Hay for their vital contribution to designing the survey. Contents of the survey and errors - if found - are solely the responsibility of the survey writers. 5 Introduction Israel’s takeover of the mountain ranges and peaks throughout the West Bank did not overlook sites traditionally sanctified by Palestinians – these sites were annexed to Jewish settler-colonies by means of Israeli military edicts, and have been included in the army’s maneuver areas, in official Israeli nature reserves and archeological sites and digs. Prayer sites, Maqam sites (burial sites or memorials of sheikhs – Muslim holy men), functioned as organizing focal points – religious, cultural and social - in Palestine’s rural areas. Palestinians used to hold pilgrimages to the Maqam and the sacred trees surrounding them on holidays and religious occasions (mawassem)1 for prayer, religious ceremonies and rituals, circumcision celebrations and weddings, public and private occasions, and simple family recreation outdoors. The community aspect is clearly present at Maqam sites which Palestinians are still allowed to reach (Sheikh Qatarwani at ‘Atarah, Sheikh Huwas at Deir Ghassana, and Sheikh Amer Bdeir at Deir Dibouan) – Palestinians planted well-tended public gardens around them for the enjoyment of their respective communities. Regular use of these sites is a typical example of the common combination of the traditional, religious dimension and popular celebrations in Palestinian culture. Tawfiq Kana’an, Palestinian physician and folklore researcher, studied the Maqam and their cultural traditions in the early 20th century. According to him: The tombs of Muslim holy men, with their white domes, are some of the most typical sights in Palestine’s landscape. They differ in shape, nature and importance. The inhabitants regard them with religious awe. […] The tomb is usually built as a square structure, not large, with a white round done topped by a crescent. […] In the center stands a water jug for pilgrims. At times, a large tree grows near the building, and it too is sacred. Pilgrims arrive at the tomb to pray for the recovery of a patient, wish for offspring, and request blessings of success. […] On certain holy days processions are held around the tomb. These sites have various names – “E-Nnabi”, “Seedna”, “Wali”, “Sheikh” and “Maqam”. […] Maqam is “a sacred place”, not always necessarily a tomb, but rather marking the name of the person buried there.2 1 Mawassem – seasonal holidays, the spring holiday celebrating the gathering of the crops. 2 Tawfiq Kana’an, Muslim Holy Tombs in Palestine: Religion, Ritual and Muslim Holy Tombs in Eretz Yisrael. Sefi Ben Yosef, ed; Eli Schiller, trans.; Ariel publishers, 1996: Jerusalem, p. 23. The original appears in 6 The list of holy men who had tombs and Maqam sites named after them is long. Maqam names are taken from the Qur’an, the Bible, the New Testament and from local model personages, and all Maqam sites are sanctified by Muslims without distinction. Ze’ev Vilnai cites European pilgrims who, as early as the 10th-century, documented their visits to important active Maqam sites in Palestine, well-kept by Palestinians – thus Joseph’s Tomb, Rachel’s Tomb, and Nabi Samuel (Samauil). Ever since the 1967 occupation of Palestine by Israel, a clear distinction has been made between Maqam sites bearing names of Biblical figures – these have been recognized by the Israeli authorities, renovated, and are at present the destinations of massive Jewish pilgrimages – and Maqam sites sanctified by Muslims alone, erected in honor of Mohammad’s friends or other Muslim iconic figures. Such Maqam sites have not been recognized by the Israeli authorities in charge of prayer sites to prevent their desecration and preserve their accessibility. They are caged inside Israeli settler-colonies, nature reserves and army firing zones, and their present condition is an obvious hazard to their future existence. These are heritage and religious sites located inside an occupied territory and therefore subject to international law which requires the occupier to preserve and make them accessible to their occupied observants. This legal aspect is brought here by Attorney Netta Amar-Shiff. A team of MachsomWatch volunteers has surveyed the Maqam sites where accessibility to Palestinians is either prevented altogether or restricted. The information presented here does not encompass the situation in its entirety. 3 Ze’ev Vilnai, Holy Sites in Eretz Yisrael. Jerusalem: Achiever, 1985. 7 Abstract Israeli military occupation of the West Bank persists, and Palestinian sites of heritage and Muslim ritual are erased one by one. In their stead, Jewish heritage sites are officially declared and well-tended. The Civil Administration practices three combined strategies in order to wipe out Palestinian heritage and sacred sites in the West Bank: 1 The practice of enclosing them in Closed Military Zones – namely Israeli settler-colonies and army maneuver zones, all out of bounds for Palestinians – totally cuts off Palestinians from visiting their prayer sites, preserving them and carrying on their traditions. In the absence of any ruling authority preventing their dilapidation, they are left to vandalization and slur graffiti and destined for destruction. This is the situation of Maqam sites located even in closed maneuver zones such as the one surrounding the Beitunia hill range. 2 Maqam sites enclosed in nature reserves (in addition to those included in reserves located inside settler-colonies) are made the responsibility of whoever is supposed to preserve nature and not a heritage and religious site. Thus, for all practical purposes these cultural and religious sites turn into universal nature sites open to the general public. This colonialist measure takes place in several stages: the intentional erasure of Palestinian heritage by failing to mark the Maqam sites by name on road signs or any other local indication – signs placed by Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority usually detail nature phenomena and do not name the Maqam site. An example of this is the Salman Al-Faresi reserve that is now officially named the Alonei Yitzhar Reserve (Yitzhar Oaks), and Abu Ismaeel reserve is named the Atlantic Terebinth Reserve.
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