12 Posters That Narrate The Palestinian Story
The earliest Muslims faced Jerusalem in their prayer, the Prophet Muhammad is said to have made his miraculous nocturnal journey to heaven from Jerusalem (mi’raj), and Muslims have sung Jerusalem’s praises for centuries from the 13th century Damascene preacher Burhan al-Din al-Fazari (“The treasure of the world is Jerusalem…God directs his regard toward Jerusalem every morning, and showers upon its people His mercy and His benefits”) to the 9th century ascetic Yazid b. Maysara (“Look at the House of God, how beautiful it is!”) In the 8th century, caliphs from the Umayyad dynasty built the Dome of the Rock and the al Aqsa Mosque, which stand on the Noble Sanctuary or Temple Mount (in Muslim and Jewish parlance, respectively) to this day. The earliest Christians were mostly Jerusalem converts from Judaism and after the destruction of the city in 70 AD, the Christian community returned to live in its ruins and over the centuries preserved the sites of Calvary and Resurrection. Christians have lived in the city since the time of Christ. For Palestinians, Christians and Muslims, this history conveys their unassailable right to Jerusalem alongside Israeli Jews. Since Israel’s annexation of the eastern Arab half of the city after the 1967 War, however, the Israeli government has insisted that the Holy City is its “united” capital, emphasizing the history of Jewish kingdoms and the City of David. In that vein, Israel has built a chain of Jewish settlements around the eastern half to separate it from the would-be Palestinian state in the West Bank, settlements have been built within East Jerusalem as well, and thousands of Palestinian residents have had their residency permits revoked and face almost insurmountable obstacles toward constructing housing in their neighborhoods; all part of an effort to change the demographics of the city, already majority Jewish, and fully incorporate it into Israel “proper.” But Palestinians remain undaunted: Jerusalem is no less their city and have declared that a shared capital, which recognizes Palestinian Christians and Muslims as sovereign in Jerusalem, is a prerequisite for any final peace deal. The Palestinian artist Yusuf Hammou designed this 1979 poster for an official Palestinian commission celebrating the 1500th anniversary of the Hejira (the journey of the first Muslims from Mecca to Medina in Arabia); connecting Jerusalem to Islamic heritage and calling to mind another journey undertaking by the Prophet, the mi’raj.
Source: www.buzzfeed.com