Sea of Galilee

20 July 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  8 minutes

Tiberias © Pacman

Tiberias © Pacman

The Sea of Galilee is the largest freshwater lake in Israel und Syria (Golan Heights), and it is approximately 53 km (33 mi) in circumference, about 21 km (13 mi) long, and 13 km (8.1 mi) wide. The lake has a total area of 166.7 km2 (64.4 sq mi) at its fullest, and a maximum depth of approximately 43 m (141 feet). At levels between 215 metres (705 ft) and 209 metres (686 ft) below sea level, it is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth and the second-lowest lake overall (after the Dead Sea, a saltwater lake). The lake is fed partly by underground springs although its main source is the Jordan River which flows through it from north to south.   read more…

Theme Week East Jerusalem

14 June 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks, UNESCO World Heritage, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  7 minutes

Orient House, the unofficial seat of East Jerusalem's mayor © Abutoum

Orient House, the unofficial town hall of East Jerusalem © Abutoum

East Jerusalem is the sector of Jerusalem that was occupied by Jordan in 1948 and had remained out of the Israeli-held West Jerusalem at the end of the 1948–49 Arab–Israeli War. It includes Jerusalem’s Old City and some of the holiest sites of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, such as the Temple Mount, Western Wall, Al-Aqsa Mosque, Dome of the Rock and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, as well as a number of adjacent neighbourhoods. Israeli and Palestinian definitions of it differ; the Palestinian official position is based on the 1949 Armistice Agreements, while the Israeli position is mainly based on the current municipality boundaries of Jerusalem, which resulted from a series of administrative enlargements decided by Israeli municipal authorities since the June 1967 Six-Day War (United Nations Security Council Resolution 478, international positions on Jerusalem, City Line, which has survived to this day due to the repeatedly annulled Jerusalem Law by the UN and is a part of the Green Line). Despite its name, East Jerusalem includes neighborhoods to the north, east and south of the Old City (UNESCO World Heritage Site), and in the wider definition of the term even on all these sides of West Jerusalem. East Jerusalem is now regarded by the international community as part of Palestine.   read more…

Theme Week West Jerusalem

14 June 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  12 minutes

Mea Shearim district - Shabbat Square © Djampa/cc-by-sa-4.0

Mea Shearim district – Shabbat Square © Djampa/cc-by-sa-4.0

West Jerusalem or “New Jerusalem” refers to the section of Jerusalem that remained under Israeli control after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, whose ceasefire lines delimited the boundary with the rest of the city, which was then under Jordanian control. A number of western countries acknowledge de facto Israeli authority, but withhold de jure recognition. Israel’s claim of sovereignty over West Jerusalem is more widely accepted than its claim over East Jerusalem. In 1980, the Israeli government annexed East Jerusalem and wanted to unify the city (Jerusalem Law) but the international community opposed this step vehemently (United Nations Security Council Resolution 478), which leads to move almost all foreign embassies to Tel Aviv. As a further result, the City Line, as part of the Green Line, is still valid today. The population of Jerusalem has largely remained segregated along the city’s historical east/west division. The city contains two populations that are “almost completely economically and politically segregated .. each interacting with its separate central business district”, supporting analysis that the city has retained a duocentric, as opposed to the traditional monocentric, structure. De jure, Tel Aviv continues to be Israel’s capital, especially since the international community tolerates, but does not acknowledge, West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital (with the ecxeption of Donald Trump, Russia (Times of Israel, 4 April 2017: In curious first, Russia recognizes West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital), Guatemala and Honduras (Washington Post, 28 December 2017: Guatemala and Honduras sided with Trump on Jerusalem. Here’s why.) and Australia (The Guardian, 15 December 2018: Australia recognises West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital but holds back on embassy move).   read more…

The German Colony in Palestine

27 May 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  35 minutes

German Colony Jerusalem - Templer Communal House © Shayzu/cc-by-sa-3.0

German Colony Jerusalem – Templer Communal House © Shayzu/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Templers, a religious Protestant sect formed in southern Germany in the 19th century, settled in Palestine at the urging of their leader, Christoff Hoffman, in the belief that living in the Holy Land would hasten the second coming of Christ. The Templers built a colony in keeping with strict urban planning principles and introduced local industries that brought modernity to Palestine, which had long been neglected by the Ottomans. They were the first to organize regular transportation services between Jaffa, Acre and Nazareth, which also allowed for mail delivery. In 1874 the Christian denomination of the Temple Society underwent a schism and later envoys of the Evangelical State Church of Prussia’s older Provinces successfully proselytised among the schismatics, making up about a third of the colonists. Thus the Colony became a place of partisans of two different Christian denominations and their respective congregations.   read more…

Jericho, one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world

15 April 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  6 minutes

Quarantal Monastery - Monastery of the Temptation © Tamar Hayardeni/cc-by-3.0

Quarantal Monastery – Monastery of the Temptation © Tamar Hayardeni/cc-by-3.0

Jericho is a city located near the Jordan River in the West Bank. It is the administrative seat of the Jericho Governorate. In 2007, it had a population of 20,000. The city was occupied by Jordan from 1949 to 1967, and has been held under Israeli occupation since 1967; administrative control was handed over to the Palestinian Authority in 1994. It is believed to be one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world. Jericho is located 258 metres (846 ft) below sea level in an oasis in Wadi Qelt in the Jordan Valley. The nearby spring of Ein es-Sultan produces 3.8 m3 (1,000 gallons) of water per minute, irrigating some 10 square kilometres (2,500 acres) through multiple channels and feeding into the Jordan River, 10 kilometres (6 mi) away. The constant sunshine, rich alluvial soil, and abundant water from the spring have always made Jericho an attractive place for settlement.   read more…

Via Dolorosa and Caesarea Maritima in Palestine

26 February 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions, UNESCO World Heritage, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  11 minutes

Via Dolorosa © magister

Via Dolorosa © magister


VIA DOLOROSA

The Via Dolorosa is a street, in two parts, within the Old City of Jerusalem, held to be the path that Jesus walked, carrying his cross, on the way to his crucifixion. The winding route from the Antonia Fortress west to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre—a distance of about 600 metres (2,000 feet)—is a celebrated place of Christian pilgrimage. The current route has been established since the 18th century, replacing various earlier versions. It is today marked by nine Stations of the Cross; there have been fourteen stations since the late 15th century, with the remaining five stations being inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.   read more…

Theme Week Jerusalem, Al-Quds and The Holy, many names for one of the oldest cities in the world

19 October 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks, UNESCO World Heritage, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  5 minutes

The Western Wall, the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosque © Sheepdog85/cc-by-sa-3.0-de

The Western Wall, the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosque © Sheepdog85/cc-by-sa-3.0-de

Jerusalem/al-Quds, located on a plateau in the Judean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea, is one of the oldest cities in the world. It is considered holy to the three major Abrahamic religions — Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Israelis (Jerusalem Law) and Palestinians both claim Jerusalem as their capital, as Israel maintains its primary governmental institutions there and the State of Palestine ultimately foresees it as its seat of power; however, neither claim is recognized internationally (United Nations Security Council Resolution 478, International positions on Jerusalem and United States recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel). De jure, Tel Aviv (were all foreign embassies are located at) remain to be Israel’s capital, even though it is de facto West Jerusalem. The city has 800,000 inhabitants. During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times. The oldest part of the city was settled in the 4th millennium BCE. In 1538, walls were built around Jerusalem under Suleiman the Magnificent. Today, those walls define the Old City, which has been traditionally divided into four quarters—known since the early 19th century as the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters. The Old City became a World Heritage site in 1981, and is on the List of World Heritage in Danger. What is particularly striking about the decades-long “capital dispute” is that Jerusalem before 1920 was a lot, but above all a small settlement without a capital function. In this respect, there can be no “justified claim” be given on the city. It was not until the British Mandate of Palestine that the mandate headquarters was moved to Jerusalem, so that Jerusalem became the capital of British Palestine. Scientifically proven is that the city has been one of several spiritual centers for several thousand years. However, at the beginning there was neither Christianity, Judaism nor Islam.   read more…

Bethlehem, birthplace of Jesus Christ

25 December 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  12 minutes

Church of the Nativity © flickr.com - Neil Ward/cc-by-2.0

Church of the Nativity © flickr.com – Neil Ward/cc-by-2.0

Bethlehem is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank in Palestine and approximately 8 kilometers (5.0 mi) south of Jerusalem, with a population of about 30,000 people. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority and a hub of Palestinian culture and tourism. The New Testament identifies Bethlehem as the birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth. The town is inhabited by one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, although the size of the community has shrunk due to emigration.   read more…

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