Walk to Jerusalem Spring Week 6

We had another great week this week. We had 47participants and walked 1221.5 miles! The map below shows our progress through the end of week six (purple line). After an enjoyable time at Ur we headed for

Baghdad, the capital of . one of the largest cities in the Arab world, and compared to its large population it has a small area at just 260 square miles. Located along the , near the ruins of the Akkadian city of Babylon. If you recall the first reading on Sunday 3/14 (2 Chronicles 36:14-16,19-23), God led his people to the King of the Chaldeans (now Iraq) who invaded Jerusalem and destroyed much of Jerusalem, carrying off the survivors to Babylon where they became servants. And the people of Jerusalem stayed there until the king of Persia (), Cyrus the Great helped rebuild Jerusalem. Panoramic view of the Tigris as it flows through Baghdad.

Baghdad was founded in the 8th century and became the capital of the Abbasid . Within a short time, Baghdad evolved into a significant cultural, commercial, and intellectual center of the Muslim world. Because there were several key academic institutions, including the House of Wisdom, as well as hosting a multiethnic and multireligious environment, garnered the city a worldwide reputation as the "Center of Learning". Baghdad was the largest city in the world for much of the Islamic Golden Age, peaking at a population of more than a million. The city was largely destroyed at the hands of the in 1258, resulting in a decline that would linger through many centuries due to frequent plagues and multiple successive empires. With the recognition of Iraq as an independent state (formerly the British Mandate of Mesopotamia) in 1932, Baghdad gradually regained some of its former prominence as a significant center of culture, with a population variously estimated at 6 to more than 7 million. In contemporary times, the city has often faced severe infrastructural damage, most recently due to the United States-led 2003 invasion of Iraq, and the subsequent Iraq War that lasted until December 2011. In recent years, the city has been frequently subjected to insurgent attacks, resulting in a substantial loss of cultural heritage and historical artifacts. As of 2018, Baghdad was listed as one of the least hospitable places to live, ranked by Mercer as the world's worst major city for quality of life. Baghdad, like many other cities in this part of the world, has numerous invasions by other groups throughout history and has instigated conflicts with other countries around them. We first went looking for a where we could pray. St. Joseph's Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral located in Baghdad. Because it is in the jurisdiction of the Latin Church, it is sometimes called the Latin Cathedral of St. Joseph in order to distinguish it from the Chaldean Cathedral of St. Joseph dedicated to the same saint but belonging to the (also in communion with the Holy See. It was the Chaldean St. Joseph’s Church where Pope Francis said Mass using the eastern rites for mass. St. Joseph's Latin Cathedral functions as the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Baghdad which was established in 1643 as a diocese and elevated to its present status in 1848. It was originally a chapel built in 1866 to replace a smaller structure dating from 1721. If Baghdad's iconic St Joseph's Latin Cathedral could speak, it would have many stories to from its 140-year history, much of which has been forgotten. "The church doors are open to all visitors, Christian and Muslim," reads the banner draped across the gate of the Saint Joseph Cathedral. The Latin Cathedral, also known to people as the Church of the Virgin Lady, was built in 1866 to replace a smaller structure on the same site. Opened in 1871, the church was built in the shape of cross, and its iconic dome stands some 32.8 feet high. The building was used as a hospital during the First World War, and it was partly burned by the Ottomans in 1917. In the early 1970s, when Egyptian immigrants came to Iraq for work, the church was put at the disposal of the arriving Orthodox Copts. In the 1990s, a commercial complex was built on a portion of its courtyard and a statue of was erected at the front. It marred a centuries-old view of the church. A young priest, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told The New Arab that the head of the Latin Church was obliged to accept a land reclamation contract for the building of the complex. "No one dared to say no to the regime," he said. Taking advantage of the chaotic state following the US-led invasion in 2003, shop owners expanded their stores and trespassed on territory belonging to the church. There were no laws to protect the place of worship from such encroachment. As violence swept across the country, police officers were assigned to protect the church from potential attacks by militant groups. Instead, the police allowed kiosk owners from the surrounding Shorjah market to throw the cathedral's furniture outside, and to store their merchandise in the church hall. With the protection offered by police nothing more than nominal, ancient statues were ruined, and other church belongings were stolen. "They even stole the bell rope. What value does it have?" But despite the hatred stirred by some, in an old tradition, Muslims still often visit churches to light candles and seek the blessings of the Virgin Mary. Today, the church is in sad condition. Damp walls, broken windows, and barely useable furniture - a sorry state reflective of the epic failure of post-invasion governments. While corrupt Shia and Sunni political parties have all the money and power in their hands, Christian Iraqis, among others from different ethnicities, feel abandoned. In the absence of seasonal maintenance and continuous assessment of the state of this historical church, a single bout of heavy rain was enough to destroy a portion of its dome, which, in a scene out of 1001 Nights, faces the minaret of the 1000-year-old Abbasid-era al-Khulafaa mosque (See picture below). However, the deterioration of the ramshackle cathedral is accelerating. In the absence of systemized maintenance or any preservation plans, Baghdadis fear the imminent loss of another renowned landmark of their city. Violence escalated immediately after invading armies led by the United States, marched to "liberate" Iraq from Saddam. Instead, they "opened the gates of hell", said one priest. Since 2004, at least 118 churches have been attacked, with Christians threatened and displaced from their homes by Sunni and Shia militias. In October 2010, gunmen attacked Baghdad's Our Lady of Salvation church during a mass, killing 58 worshippers. The merchants’ stores have been removed from the church and there were no pews to sit in, but we were able to pray not only for our journey but for the Catholics who still reside in the city. Perhaps this was why Pope Francis held his mass in the other St. Joseph’s Cathedral of the Chaldean Catholic Church. During the 1970s, Baghdad experienced a period of prosperity and growth because of a sharp increase in the price of petroleum, Iraq's main export. New infrastructure including modern sewerage, water, and highway facilities were built during this period. However, the Iran–Iraq War of the 1980s was a difficult time for the city, as money was diverted by Saddam Hussein to the army and thousands of residents were killed. Iran launched many missile attacks against Baghdad in retaliation for Saddam Hussein's continuous bombardments of Tehran's residential districts. In 1991 and 2003, the and the 2003 invasion of Iraq caused significant damage to Baghdad's transportation, power, and sanitary infrastructure as the US-led coalition forces launched massive aerial assaults in the city in the two wars. Also, in 2003, internal insurrection cost the city a significant portion of its Assyrians population. The Iraq War took place from 2003-2011, but an Islamist insurgency lasted until 2013. It was followed by another war from 2013-2017 and a low-level insurgency from 2017, which included suicide bombings in January 2018, and January 2021. With this level of war, insurrection, and strife, it is almost surprising that the city still exists. Think about the single day conflict in Washington, DC and imagine that happening decade after decade in the US! After our brief history lesson, we went first to Grand Festivities Square where public celebrations are held and is also the home to three important monuments commemorating Iraqi's fallen soldiers and victories in war; namely Al-Shaheed Monument also known as the Martyr's Memorial), the Victory Arch and the Unknown Soldier's Monument. Al-Shaheed, (Martyr's Monument left) , The Victory Arch (officially known as the Swords of Qādisīyah Qushla right.) Qushla clock tower Next we went to see the Qushla ) public square and the historical complex located in Rusafa neighborhood at the riverbank of Tigris. Qushla and its surroundings is where the historical features and cultural capitals of Baghdad are concentrated. The square developed during the Ottoman era as a military barracks. Today, it is a place where the citizens of Baghdad find leisure such as reading poetry in gazebos. It is characterized by the iconic clock tower which was donated by George V. The entire area is submitted to the UNESCO World Heritage Site Tentative list. Al-Kadhimiya Mosque (right) is a Shi'ite Islamic mosque and shrine located in the Kādhimayn suburb of Baghdad, Iraq. It contains the tombs of the seventh and ninth Twelver Shī'ī Imāms, respectively Mūsā al-Kāẓim and his grandson Muhammad al-Jawad. The Mausoleum of Umar Suhrawardi, or the Mosque(left) and the Tomb of the Sheikh Umar Suhrawardi is a historic complex of a mausoleum and a mosque, located in Baghdad, Iraq. The complex dates back to the Abbasid era and is dedicated to Shahab al-Din Abu Hafs Umar Suhrawardi, the founder of Suhrawardiyya Sufi Order. The Mosque-Madrasa of Al-Asifyah (right) is a complex of mosque and madrasa located near the riverbank of Tigris, in Baghdad, Iraq. The mosque and its associated complex including school buildings, old courts and other former government buildings, and a palace are contained within a 18.7-acre site alongside the banks of the Tigris that form part of a tentative UNESCO World Heritage Site. Having explored Baghdad, we resumed our trek westward, through a wide swath of desert. The desert extends past the borders with Saudi Arabia and and geographically belongs in the Arabian Peninsula. As you can see from the map below there are few towns or cities along the main road to Jordan. There is also little information available about the few places where towns are shown. The desert zone, an area lying west and southwest of the River, is a part of the Syrian Desert and Arabian Desert, which covers sections of , Jordan, and Saudi Arabia and most of the Arabian Peninsula. The region, sparsely inhabited by pastoral , consists of a wide stony plain interspersed with rare sandy stretches. A widely ramified pattern of wadis–watercourses that are dry most of the year–runs from the border to the Euphrates. Some wadis are over 250 miles long and carry brief but torrential floods during the winter rains. Western and southern Iraq is a vast desert region covering some 64,900 square miles, almost two-fifths of the country. The western desert, an extension of the Syrian Desert, rises to elevations above 1,600 feet. The western desert has a complex topography of rocky desert, wadis, ridges, and depressions. Elevation in the southern part desert averages between 1,000 and 2,700 feet. A height of 3,119 feet is reached at Mount Unayzah at the intersection of the borders of Jordan, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. The deep Wadi Al-Batin runs 45 miles in a northeast-southwest direction.

Our first stop was at Ramadi. Ramadi is in central Iraq, about 68 miles west of Baghdad. The city extends along the Euphrates and is the largest city in Al-Anbar. Founded by the in 1879, by 2018 it had a population of about 223,500 people, near the entirety of whom are Sunni Arabs. Ramadi occupies a highly strategic location on the Euphrates and the road west into Syria and Jordan. This has made it a hub for trade and traffic, from which the city gained significant prosperity. Its position has meant that it has been fought over several times, during the two World Wars and again during the Iraq War and Iraqi insurgency. It was heavily damaged during the Iraq War, when it was a major focus for the insurgency against occupying United States forces. Following the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq in 2011, the city was contested by the Iraqi government and the extremist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and fell to ISIL in May 2015. On 28 December 2015, the Iraqi government declared that it had re- taken Ramadi from ISIL, that government's first major military victory since the loss of Ramadi some seven months earlier. The PM of Iraq declared that 30 December as celebrations of the recapture of Ramadi. However, Ramadi was highly damaged afterwards, with some estimates as high as 90%.

Iraqi police review in front of the government headquarters in Ramadi, 2007 As we trekked across the desert, we occasionally saw groups of herding animals. A widely quoted Bedouin apothegm is "I am against my brother, my brother and I are against my cousin, my cousin and I are against the stranger". This saying signifies a hierarchy of loyalties based on the proximity of some person to oneself, beginning with the self, and proceeding through the nuclear family as defined by male kinship, and then, in principle at least, to an entire genetic or linguistic group (which is perceived as akin to kinship in the Middle East and North Africa generally). Disputes are settled, interests are pursued, and justice and order are dispensed and maintained by means of this framework, organized according to an ethic of self-help and collective responsibility. The individual family unit (known as a tent) typically consisted traditionally of three or four adults (a married couple plus siblings or parents) and any number of children.

A Bedouin girl in 2015 Bedouin traditionally had strong honor codes, and traditional systems of justice dispensation in Bedouin society typically revolved around such codes. Livestock and herding, principally of goats, sheep and dromedary camels comprised the traditional livelihoods of Bedouins. These were used for meat, dairy products, and wool. Most of the staple foods that made up the Bedouins' diet were dairy products.[15] Camels had numerous cultural and functional uses. Having been regarded as a "gift from God", they were the main food source and method of transportation for many Bedouins. In addition to their extraordinary milking potentials under harsh desert conditions, their meat was occasionally consumed by Bedouins.] As a cultural tradition, camel races were organized during celebratory occasions, such as weddings or religious festivals. Governmental policies in Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Iraq, Tunisia, oil-producing Arab states of the Persian Gulf and Libya, as well as a desire for improved standards of living, effectively led most Bedouin to become settled citizens of various nations, rather than stateless nomadic herders. Governmental policies pressing the Bedouin have in some cases been executed to provide service (schools, health care, law enforcement and so on), but in others have been based on the desire to seize land traditionally roved and controlled by the Bedouin.

Three Bedouin sheikhs, c. 1867-1876 Our next stop was at Ar- Rutbah. in western Al Anbar province, completely inhabited with Sunni Muslims. The population is approximately 28,400. It occupies a strategic location on the –Baghdad road, and the Kirkuk–Haifa oil pipeline. Considered a "wet spot", it receives 4.5 inches of rain annually (less than we have had so far this year!) and is located on a high plateau. It has been described as "the most isolated town of any size in Iraq."] Ar-Rutbah began as a rest stop for Imperial Airways flights in the early 20th century, and also served as a water stop for the Nairn Transport Company. One passenger wrote of the "unforgettable experience of arriving at the most desolate and extraordinary hostelry in the world", while another remarked on "the absurdity of coming down to an English ham and egg breakfast in the middle of the desert". Passengers were not expected to embark or disembark at Rutbah Wells. An Iraqi soldier from the Provisional Security Forces participate in a joint security patrol in Rutbah. U.S. Marines celebrate the Marine Corps' birthday by eating doughnuts at Ar-Rutbah in 2009 We continued our pilgrimage through the desert into Jordan. The distance between Rutbah and Al- Fehdah, Jordan was 314 miles with not a whole lot in between. The eastern section of Jordan is a continuation of the dessert we just left in Iraq, similarly sparsely population, and having nomadic Bedouins. Jordan ,officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , is an Arab country in the Levant region of Western Asia, on the East Bank of the . Jordan is bordered by Saudi Arabia, Iraq Syria, Israel and Palestine (West Bank). The Dead Sea is located along its western borders and the country has a 16 mile coastline on the Red Sea in its extreme south-west. Jordan is strategically located at the crossroads of Asia, Africa and Europe. The capital, Amman, is Jordan's most populous city as well as the country's economic, political and cultural center. A young Bedouin lighting a campfire in Wadi Rum, Jordan, left. As we trekked on west, we again caught glimpses of Bedouin nomads herding animals along. Most of Jordan's Bedouin live in the vast wasteland that extends east from the Desert Highway. The eastern Bedouin are camel breeders and herders, while the western Bedouin herd sheep and goats. Some Bedouin in Jordan are semi-nomads, they adopt a nomadic existence during part of the year but return to their lands and homes in time to practice agriculture. The Jordanian government provides the Bedouin with different services such as education, housing, and health clinics. However, some Bedouins give it up and prefer their traditional nomadic lifestyle. In the recent years there is a growing discontent of the Bedouin with the ruling monarch, but the king manages to deal with it. In August 2007, police clashed with some 200 Bedouins who were blocking the main highway between Amman and the port of . Livestock herders were protesting the government's lack of support in the face of the steeply rising cost of animal feed and expressed resentment about government assistance to refugees. The map of Jordan, below, shows that there are large portions of the country in the eastern part the country that are sparsely populated. We walked south east, planning to work our way up the western portion of to see the various sites before of entering Israel.

What is now Jordan has been inhabited by humans since the Paleolithic period. Like most countries in the region, Jordan has been invaded over and over by various groups. In more modern times, Jordan was under Ottoman rule for many years. After the Great against the Ottomans in 1916 during World War I, the Ottoman Empire was partitioned by Britain and France. The was established in 1921 by the Hashemite, then Emir, Abdullah I, and the emirate became a British protectorate. In 1946, Jordan became an independent state officially known as the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan, but was renamed in 1949 to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan after the country captured the West Bank during the 1948 Arab– Israeli War and annexed it until it was lost to Israel in 1967. Jordan renounced its claim to the territory in 1988, and became the second Arab state to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1994. Jordan is a founding member of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Co-operation. Jordan is a semi-arid country with an area of 34,495 square miles and a population numbering 10 million, making it the 11th-most populous Arab country. Sunni , practiced by around 95% of the population, is the dominant and coexists with an indigenous Christian minority. Jordan has been repeatedly referred to as an "oasis of stability" in a turbulent region. It has been mostly unscathed by the violence that swept the region following the Arab Spring in 2010. From as early as 1948, Jordan has accepted refugees from multiple neighboring countries in conflict. An estimated 2.1 million Palestinian and 1.4 million Syrian refugees are present in Jordan as of a 2015 census. The kingdom is also a refuge to thousands of Iraqi Christians fleeing persecution by ISIL. While Jordan continues to accept refugees, the recent large influx from Syria placed substantial strain on national resources and infrastructure. Jordan is classified as a country of "high human development" with an "upper middle income" economy. The Jordanian economy, one of the smallest economies in the region, is attractive to foreign investors based upon a skilled workforce. The country is a major tourist destination, also attracting medical tourism due to its well-developed health sector. Nonetheless, a lack of natural resources, large flow of refugees and regional turmoil have hampered economic growth. Jordan is a unitary state under a constitutional monarchy. Jordan's constitution, adopted in 1952 and amended a number of times since, is the legal framework that governs the monarch, government, bicameral legislature and judiciary. The king retains wide executive and legislative powers from the government and parliament. The king exercises his powers through the government that he appoints for a four-year term, which is responsible before the parliament that is made up of two chambers: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The judiciary is independent according to the constitution.

The king is the head of state and commander-in- chief of the army. He can declare war and peace, ratify laws and treaties, convene and close legislative sessions, call and postpone elections, dismiss the government, and dissolve the parliament. The appointed government can also be dismissed through a majority vote of no confidence by the elected House of Representatives. After a bill is proposed by the government, it must be approved by the House of Representatives then the Senate and becomes law after being ratified by the king. A royal veto on legislation can be overridden by a two-thirds vote in a joint session of both houses. The parliament also has the right of interpellation. Abdullah II Courts are divided into three categories: civil, Monarch since 1999 religious, and special. The civil courts deal with civil and criminal matters, including cases brought against the government. The civil courts include Magistrate Courts, Courts of First Instance, Courts of Appeal, High Administrative Courts which hear cases relating to administrative matters,] and the Constitutional Court which was set up in 2012 in order to hear cases regarding the constitutionality of laws. Although Islam is the , the constitution preserves religious and personal freedoms. Religious law only extends to matters of personal status such as divorce and inheritance in religious courts and is partially based on Islamic Sharia law. The special court deals with cases forwarded by the civil one. The kingdom has followed a pro-Western foreign policy and maintained close relations with the United States and the United Kingdom. During the first Gulf War (1990), these relations were damaged by Jordan's neutrality and its maintenance of relations with Iraq. Later, Jordan restored its relations with Western countries through its participation in the enforcement of UN sanctions against Iraq and in the Southwest Asia peace process. Jordan is a key ally of the US and UK and, together with Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, is one of only three Arab nations to have signed peace treaties with Israel, Jordan's direct neighbor. Jordan views an independent Palestinian state with the 1967 borders, as part of the two-state solution and of supreme national interest. The ruling Hashemite dynasty has had custodianship over holy sites in Jerusalem since 1924, a position reinforced in the Israel–Jordan peace treaty. Turmoil in Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque between Israelis and Palestinians created tensions between Jordan and Israel concerning the former's role in protecting the Muslim and Christian sites in Jerusalem. is the dominant religion in Jordan. Muslims make up about 95% of the country's population; in turn, 93% of those self-identify as Sunnis. There are also a small number of Ahmadi Muslims, and some Shiites. Many Shia are Iraqi and Lebanese refugees. Muslims who convert to another religion as well as missionaries from other face societal and legal discrimination.] Marsa Zayed mosque in Aqaba, left.

An eastern Orthodox church during a snowstorm in Amman, right Jordan contains some of the oldest Christian communities in the world, dating as early as the 1st century AD after the crucifixion of Jesus. Christians today make up about 4% of the population, down from 20% in 1930, though their absolute number has grown. This is due to high immigration rates of Muslims into Jordan, higher emigration rates of Christians to the West and higher birth rates for Muslims. Jordanian Christians number around 250,000, all of whom are Arabic-speaking, according to a 2014 estimate by the Orthodox Church, though the study excluded minority Christian groups and the thousands of Western, Iraqi and Syrian Christians residing in Jordan. Christians are exceptionally well integrated in the Jordanian society and enjoy a high level of freedom. Christians traditionally occupy two cabinet posts and are reserved nine seats out of the 130 in the parliament. The highest political position reached by a Christian is the Deputy Prime Minister, currently held by Rajai Muasher. Christians are also influential in the media. Smaller religious minorities include Druze, Baháʼís and Mandaeans. Most Jordanian Druze live in the eastern oasis town of Azraq, some villages on the Syrian border, and the city of , while most Jordanian Baháʼ is live in the village of Adassiyeh bordering the .

Our Lady of the Annunciation Church, below The Catholic Church in Jordan is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. There are approximately 114,000 Catholics in Jordan or 1.9% of the Jordanian population. Catholics are divided in four Rites: 80,000 Roman Catholics, 32,000 Melkite Catholics, 1,500 Syrian Catholics, and 500 Armenian Catholics. There are also thousands of Chaldean Catholics refugees from Iraq. Jordanian schoolgirls pictured reading in a public school, left. Jordan's total youth female literacy rate (15 – 24 years) was 99.37% in 2015. The Jordanian educational system comprises 2 years of pre-school education, 10 years of compulsory basic education, and two years of secondary academic or vocational education, after which the students sit for the General Certificate of Secondary Education Exam. Scholars may attend either private or public schools. According to the UNESCO, the literacy rate in 2015 was 98.01% and is considered to be the highest in the Middle East and the Arab world, and one of the highest in the world.] UNESCO ranked Jordan's educational system 18th out of 94 nations for providing gender equality in education. Jordan has the highest number of researchers in research and development per million people among all the 57 countries that are members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). In Jordan there are 8060 researchers per million people, while the world average is 2532 per million. Primary education is free in Jordan. Jordan has 10 public universities, 19 private universities and 54 community colleges, of which 14 are public, 24 private and others affiliated with the , the Civil Defense Department, the Ministry of Health and UNRWA There are over 200,000 Jordanian students enrolled in universities each year. An additional 20,000 Jordanians pursue higher education abroad primarily in the United States and Europe. Life expectancy in Jordan was around 74.8 years in 2017. The leading cause of death is cardiovascular diseases, followed by cancer. Childhood immunization rates have increased steadily over the past 15 years; by 2002 immunizations and vaccines reached more than 95% of children under five. In 1950, water and sanitation was available to only 10% of the population; in 2015 it reached 98% of Jordanians. Jordan prides itself on its health services, some of the best in the region. Qualified medics, a favorable investment climate and Jordan's stability has contributed to the success of this sector. The country's health care system is divided between public and private institutions. On 1 June 2007, Jordan Hospital (as the biggest private hospital) was the first general specialty hospital to gain the international accreditation JCAHO. The King Hussein Cancer Center is a leading cancer treatment center and 66% of Jordanians have medical insurance. As we walked through Jordan, we headed south to , a historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. Petra lies around Jabal Al-Madbah in a basin surrounded by mountains which form the eastern flank of the Arabah valley that runs from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. We just reached Petra at the end of the week, so we will explore Petra as well as other sites in Jordan, including Mt. Nebo, Amman, and the place believed to eb where Jesus was baptized. We have two weeks left on this pilgrimage in which to explore Jordan and Israel. It will be an exciting two weeks!

Kathy Scharer, Your Tour Director