#sahours

[dozydawn]

“Palestinian Christian woman took off her high heel shoes as she throws stones at Israeli soldiers after Sunday Mass in Beit Sahour in the West Bank.”

Photographed by Esaias Baitel.

06 March 1988.

[instereospace]

I do repair on all kinds of instruments – like qanun, oud, bouzouki, violin, viola, cello… I also do repair and restoration for really old instruments. This is important for me, because in our culture, [if] we have an old maker, and they have instruments that are slowly being lost, we will not find them again. And the problem is that we don't have this culture of the instrument maker. We have carpenters, but we don't have [makers specialising] in musical instruments. They completely destroy an instrument. It's really bad: people bring you an instrument that's really... not a musical instrument [anymore]. But it's my good luck that really good instruments come to me now. And also, in Palestine, now they know I do restoration in my workshop. When I have an instrument, right away I do photos, documentation. I try not to change it – to keep the instrument as they built it, I mean. Nothing new.  

Look, I have new and old wood. The new wood I bring from different places here or in Europe, because it's a special kind of wood. And the old wood I bring from old beds, or an old piano – so I work again with it. Especially for restoration, it needs really old pieces of wood. I can't use the new – you will see the difference. I have to keep it in the same condition. Technically the instrument has changed, but it shouldn’t feel like somebody touched it. I say this is my hobby, restoration. But building instruments, that is my work. I prefer to do restoration because you always have to think more, you have to find solutions – it's more interesting! Like [one] qanun, everyone came here: “What do you have here? Throw it away!” And after I finished, people were in shock, really. – Aref

[betweenandbeloved]

Shepherd’s Fields

Now in that same region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” - Luke 2:8-15

Pictured: looking out over the Shepherds Field

Just at the eastern edge of Bethlehem sits the town of Beit Sahour, which means “place of the night watchers,” and is home to the Shepherds Field. According to Jewish purity laws, this would have been the place where shepherds would tend their flocks, so it’s pretty certain that this field is where the shepherds were and the angels appeared. This area is also home to lots of caves like the ones shepherds would have lived in, and also similar to ones where Jesus was born and raised (Church of the Nativity and Basilica of the Annunciation). We had the opportunity to go into one of the caves which was much bigger than I expected.

Pictured: our group inside one half of the cave - as you can see, it’s huge

The caves were made up of two rooms, though the one we were in was sectioned into two spots for people to gather separately for worship. In the sides of the cave, you can see the mangers where the newborn lambs were laid - not unlike the one in The Grotto at the Church of the Nativity where Jesus was laid.

Pictured: mangers built into the cave walls to hold newborn lambs

One interesting note that I learned on this trip is the idea that these weren’t just any shepherds, they may have been Levitical Shepherds, charged with raising the lambs that would be used for sacrifices at the temple. According to Jewish law, all male baby lambs were immediately wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed in a manger to keep them perfect and unblemished. If this is the case, then the angel’s message of “a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger” would have been a signal that baby Jesus was to be the final sacrifice as he came into the world and was immediately treated with the same reverence as the sacrificial lambs in the Levitical Shepherds’ care. I’m not sure how I feel about this idea but it is really fascinating to me. It makes some sense for sure.

Another interesting note about the Shepherd’s Field is that it’s also believed to be known as the Fields of Ruth and Boaz. It’s thought that this area used to belong to Boaz and was the site of the story with Ruth (see the book of Ruth). It makes sense that so many of the Bible stories would overlap - all of the lands in this part of the world truly are holy!

[elierlick]

In 1989, the West Bank village of Beit Sahour was met with a siege similar to Gaza’s in response to a peaceful tax strike to exercise their right to protest an illegal occupation of their land. The village was met with a brutal 42-day siege on the village with the goal of starving the inhabitants to submission. By blocking food trucks, arresting cattle, and imprisoning farmers who planted vegetables in their garden, the attack on food and basic necessities was apparent from the beginning. Beit Sahour was blocked off from interacting from other villages, on top of that had their telephone wires cut and schools closed indefinitely. The attack on education and cutting off the village are colonial principles to halt all development of life and serve to divide the population to make them easier to rule. All of these aspects are targets today in Gaza too. But the steadfastness and community organization of the people made the villagers victorious in outlasting the siege. And it is through the same steadfastness and community organization that will continue to resist the occupation today. ����🇸

Via the Palestinian Social Fund

[houseofpurplestars]

The subject of these famous photos from the First Intifada, taken by photographer Alfred Yaghoubzadeh, remained unknown for 30 years until the BBC interviewed her in 2017.

She is Micheline Awad from Beit Sahour. She was on her way to church and found young men throwing stones at the occupation forces, so she joined them.

(From The Palestinian Archive)

[starlightshadowsworld]

In the Hunger Games, Katniss has to be careful when she goes hunting. Because the Capitol have made it illegal to hunt.

But District 12 aren't provided with enough supplies, so Katniss and Gale both have to hunt just to have enough to survive.

Knowing they could very much be killed of they're caught.

They aren't allowed to forage or hunt on their own land.

I bring this up because it parallels how Israel have made it illegal for Palestinians to live off their land.

Plants like thyme also known as zatar and gundelia also known as akoub, have been made protected species by Israel.

And thus it's illegal to harvest.

Despite being key parts of Palestinian delicacies.

In 2021 5 Palestinian boys were detained by Israeli forces for trying to gather some akoub.

And it's not because Israel cares about the land.

They are currently carpet combing it to rubble afterall. They've also uprooted and destroyed 2000 olive trees in the West Bank.

These trees provide Palestinians with a lot of its fruit supply. And they rely on them especially during harvest season, which is usually when Israel attacks the trees.

It's worth mentioning that olive trees are a symbol of peace.

A Palestinian man went to harvest his olive trees and was shot by an Israeli settler.

It's not limited to plants either.

In the 80's, 18 cows were smuggled into Beit Sahour in the West Bank.

These cows were considered such a threat by the Israeli government, that they became wanted.

Because their presence meant that Palestinians didn't have to rely on Israel for their dairy.

There's a documentary about it called the Wanted 18.

Israel want Palestinians to be helpless and have to depend on them for food, and deprive them of any connection to their own land.

Much like the Capitol.

[palms-upturned]

For those celebrating Easter today, I really recommend reading this sermon by Rev. Munther Isaac. It was preached in Beit Sahour and Bethlehem on October 22nd, following the bombing of St. Porphyrius Greek Orthodox Church. In less than a week, it will mark six months of this genocide.

What is happening in Gaza is not a war or a conflict, but an annihilation — continuous genocide and ethnic cleansing through death and forced displacement. World political powers are sacrificing the people of Palestine in order to secure their interests in the Middle East; they say our annihilation is needed to keep the people of Israel safe. They offer us as sacrifices on the altar of atonement, as we pay the price for their sins with our lives.

Where is the justice? They talk about international law. They lecture us on human rights and look down upon us as if they are superior to everyone else in terms of values and morals. I say to them, “Go away with your laws and your talk about human rights.” You Europeans and Americans have been stripped naked in front of the whole world today. Your racism and hypocrisy have been exposed. Truly, is there no shame? I personally do not want to hear about peace and reconciliation.

The people of Gaza today want life. They want a night without bombing. They want medicine and surgical operations with anesthesia. They want the simplest of life’s necessities: food, clean water, and electricity. They want freedom and life with dignity. Those under bombardment, beatings, and persecution do not want to hear about reconciliation and peace. They want the end of aggression!

They asked us to pray. The people of Gaza are still asking us to pray, and they are still praying. Where do you get this faith?

We prayed. We prayed for their protection … and God did not answer us, not even in the “house of God” were church buildings able to protect them. Our children die before the silence of the world, and before the silence of God. How difficult is God’s silence!

[icedsodapop]

Of fucking course Sacha Baron Cohen will come out swinging for Amy Schumer

That said, remember the time Sacha Baron Cohen labeled a Palestinian non-profit employee a "terrorist" in his film, Bruno?

And that's not even covering the islamophobic caricatures the man had created in his career (Ali G). He has always been an anti-Palestinian islamophobic asshole.

[pal1cam]

For all the uneducated white liberal feminists who have the same mindset as Julia Hartley when she said to Dr. Mustafa Al-Barghouthi “Maybe you’re not used to women talking” (assuming that women in his culture and cultural environment are not given any rights or even the right to speak, while she was clearly interrupting him because he made anti-zionist remarks), then you are probably not aware of the fact that Palestinian woman are so very important in Palestinian society and their role in resistance and existence is so deeply embedded in our history and how they are the ones who give the men that strength and mental / emotional support to fight so courageously…

And if you want to know more in specific detail, in the year 1921 in the city of Nablus in the west bank Palestinian women created “The Arab Women Union Society” and that association/organization has been active ever since even under the zionist Israeli occupation… and in later years many other branches of this association were established under similar names such as “The Arab Women Union” in Beit Sahour that was established in 1956, and the one in Jerusalem established in 1929 by Zulaikha Shihabi.

This association participated in many of the strikes and protests against both the British mandate and the zionist Israeli occupation, as well as paying huge support to the protesters, revolutionaries and rebels of the 1936 and 1939 revolts and more.

So who’s “not used to women talking” now ?….

[tygerland]

Banksy The Flower Thrower. 2003. Painted on a wall in Beit Sahour in the West Bank.

[soon-palestine]

On October 29, 1988, the young man, Iyad Bishara, was assassinated by a Zionist sniper. Iyad, who used to throw stones at the occupation forces, climbed to the top of a column and raised the Palestinian flag. The scene from forty Iyad in the church of Beit Sahour, where his mother ululated and raised the victory sign as she promised him, so she was one of the The most famous pictures of the first intifada.

A picture of the martyr Edmund Ghanem, Iyad’s friend and the first martyr of Beit Sahour. Indeed, what was written is accurate according to narrations from the oral memory of the uprising. In the last hours, he was throwing stones and calling out to him and saying to them: Why did you kill my friend?

[dozydawn]

“A Palestinian girl provokes an Israeli soldier 28 February 1988 in Beit Sahour after the Israeli army had entered the village near Bethlehem.”

Photographed by Esaias Baitel.

[instereospace]

The heritage of Bethlehem interests me. The Christian places, because they're really old. And maybe some of the old houses, in the old city of Bethlehem, and Beit Jala, and Beit Sahour. But most people, they live in new houses, and they try to be modern. But they don't know how beautiful it is to live in a house that has a history. It’s much warmer, to be connected more with the culture. This is the real heritage for me. Because ‘home’ [is where] memories are made – so [those places] speak to that part. So it becomes heritage in a way. If you travel, maybe your camera is your heritage. But in general, I'm not that experienced with the heritage places.  

I think the Nativity Church is one of them. It's like a Palestinian heritage. It's not Christian heritage, or Muslim. No, it's real Palestinian heritage. Because you can say that Jesus Christ was a Palestinian: he was born here, he lived here. Yeah, it's a national heritage. Even if we don't stick to the religious part. Because if we look to the architecture, it's come from the Romans. [The site] has been developed: it was a market before, and it's become a holy place. I think in the old days, it was a big market. So it’s had really huge time with different people, with different cultural backgrounds, and so on and so on and so on. So I think it has this heritage aspect. – Ibrahim H.

[drsonnet]

Our #feminism..in the International day of woman

Palestinian Christian woman takes off her high heel shoes as she throws stones at Israeli soldiers, after Sunday Mass, in Beit Sahur in the #WestBank, during the First Intifada, March 6, 1988. #InternationalWomensDay

- ESAIAS BAITEL/AFP/Getty Images

Micheline Awad, who following Sunday Mass, took off her yellow heels & picked up stones to throw at IOF soldiers as they invaded Beit Sahour, West Bank in 1988

صاحبة الصورة هي الفلسطينية ميشلين عواد، حيث كانت ترتدي حينها الملابس السوداء (وتنورة)، وتحيط بعنقها وشاحاَ أصفراللون يكاد تظهر ملامحه في الصورة الملتقطة، وبيدها حذاؤها الأنثوي الأصفر، وفي اليد الأخرى تقذف الحجر تجاه الجنود الإسرائيليين وفي أعقاب الانتفاضة الأولى. 

وقبل خلع الحذاء الأصفر كانت تستعد لحضور طقوس لعيد ديني مسيحي في الكنيسة، ولم تكن تعلم حينها بأن الكاميرا سوف تظهرها في صورة قد تثيرا جدلا فيما بعد داخل  الوسط الفلسطيني.

ونقلا عن قناة " بي بي سي" قالت مشلين : "كان هناك عيد ديني في الكنسية، ولم ارتدي هذا ��للباس للمظاهرة، لم نكن نتوقع حدوثها في ذاك اليوم، فعندما رأيت الجنود يقتربون والشبان يركضون، ركضت بدوري خلف الشباب، فلم يكن بإمكاني أن اركض بالحذاء الأصفر فخلعته وبدأت أركض كغيري، وفجأة انحنيت لالتقط الحجر ولم أكن أعلم بأنه الكاميرا ستوثق هذه اللحظة".

" عمري 63 عاماً، ولم أعد احتفظ بالحذاء الأصفر".

Facebook صورة ظلت صاحبتها مجهولة لـ٣٠عاما - BBC News عربي

[friendswithclay]

“Drawing water from well, Beit Sahour, Bethlehem (1939-45)”

[mordere-diem]

"The story maker never becomes a stranger and that is your consolation."

Amna Muhammad Abu Safat, Crucifixes of Beit Sahour