history of the city of david, the mount of olives and the surrounding areas

that is a long title but it encompasses what i've learned today in my israel culture class. i am enjoying that class immensely.

today we met outside שער האשפות (dung gate), located right next to the הכותל (western wall). from there we discussed the ever famous al-aqsa mosque, the third holiest place for muslims of the world, next to mecca and medina. there is a jerusalem archaeological park in the area and near the entrance one can see the remains of the cardo maximus road which was supposed to be this amazing colonnaded road that lead to damascus gate and was used as the main road.

there was a lot of soldiers milling around. the professor said that before the soldiers go back to their unites, they do educational visits to important places of israel history, getting exposed to zionistic propaganda. they were loitering all around the western wall, dung gate, and the city of david. there are still ongoing excavations in the city of david. the excavations show different layers which go all the way to the second temple period (516 BCE - 70 BCE). he then also explained that archaeological digs are used for political reasons by the zionists to claim possession of israel/jerusalem as the rightful cultural owners.

right next to the city of david is silwan, an arab neighborhood of jerusalem. like every arab neighborhood in jerusalem, it is a highly contested area, where they have no building permits and jews are starting to infiltrate and take over the property. an very interesting fact: some of the houses in silwan are built on top of burial caves of ancient jerusalem. most arab houses are usually close to the ground but because the property is so expensive, the buildings are many storied. currently, jerusalem municipality is talking about destroying houses in silwan.

afterwards, we walked behind the temple mount/al-aqsa mosque. there were several muslim burial sites. i think only the rich are allowed to bury the dead there and also if their family for many previous generations have been buried there. on the other side, we saw the valley of jehoshaphat, where it is said that the events of the day of judgement are to take place. within this valley are series of tombs. here are pictures.

absalom's pillar

grotto of st. james & tomb of zechariah

after class, since we were in the area, kimmy sue, jonathan and i decided to trek over the valley of jehoshaphat to mount of olives. there we visited the church of all nations (basilica of agony) and the garden of gethesemane. the church is quite beautifully ornamented inside with mosaics of blues and golds. the ceiling shows twelve? nations. the garden of gethesemane was pretty as well. it is the place where it is believed jesus was arrested. the olive trees in the garden are some of the oldest trees, dating back 2000 years. amazing, if you think about it.

from there we returned to the old city and because kimmy sue and i have been talking about it for the past three weeks, we decided to do the walk of the cross. kimmy said that some of the stations are made up. it was such a nice day that i didn't mind a little make believe and visiting the places where jesus is said to have walked with the cross on the way to his crucifixion. i saw the ecce homo arch, where pontius pilate declared, "behold, the man!" to viewers on the street. i saw the places where it said he stumbled. then we ended the journey at the holy spulchre (this makes it my third visit). while the walk itself was very nice, kim and i didn't not appreciate the different catcalls from the arab men in the marketplace and the uninvited help. one went so far to say "i'm available." i don't even want to think about what that even means. i got even more 'china' and 'konichiwa'. i'm sort of getting used to them by now but it still bothers me. i have taken the politically correct nature of america for granted. oh, how i miss it.

later, lisa, carla, stefanie and i got together to plan our various trips for pesach break! soooo excited! but i am tired after walking around for a solid 6 hours so i will show you the places i will be visiting sometime later.