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Al-Quds â€“ Holy City of Three Religions - PHOTOSESSION

Al-Quds â€“ Holy City of Three Religions -<font color=red> PHOTOSESSION</font>

22 April 2010 10:03 (UTC +04:00)

APA correspondent reports from the city, which left five millenniums behind and became the scene of war and confrontation for almost one thousand years.

East and West Al-Quds

The city was divided to two parts: West Al-Quds, the Jewish enclave and East Al-Quds mostly populated by Arabs. The Old City, surrounded by ancient high walls and embraced treasures of historic Al-Quds, is located at the central part of this conglomerate. The people are very attentive to observe this division. The buses are never crossing the borders of the eastern and western parts of the city. The people need to take taxi to travel from one end of the city to other. There are no obstacles for the tourists and other persons having Israelâ€™s visas to travel in the city, but Palestinians can not enjoy with this privilege. The Palestinians should have special ID-cards to travel to the Old City. Al-Quds was divided by a barrier, which isolated Israel from the West Bank. Its construction was started in 2003. Earlier it was planned to construct 703 km walls, but it was impossible to complete it. 20 percent of the walls donâ€™t pass through the Green Line in the West Bank. In contrary, it turns to the Palestinian territory joining 10 percent of the West Bank territory to Israel. Israel says it constructed the walls with 8 meters of altitude for security and prevention of terrorist threat from the Palestinian side.

At first view, terrorist threat seems to be reduced, but the citizens donâ€™t know will they be allowed to cross check-points or not. Our group can not enter Bethlehem populated by Arabs. Security forces didnâ€™t explain why they banned entrance to the city. Al-Quds residents told us that this is ordinary case when the soldiers donâ€™t allow entrance to the city and donâ€™t explain why they do that. They didnâ€™t allow us to return retracing our course and our bus was forced to move throughout the walls and we overcame 20-minute distance for two hours.

Most of Palestinians are banned to enter Al-Quds. They can not cross the walls. Only few Palestinians can get special pass. Local residents said they couldnâ€™t reach schools, hospitals because of walls and farmers were isolated from their lands and some families couldnâ€™t meet their relatives.

Leader of the Israelâ€™s Ir Amin non-governmental organization Ehud Uzielin said the walls debarred Palestinians of many rights. â€œIsrael constructed these walls for security. Palestinians living in the West Bank can not arrive in Al-Quds. This is not a solution. It needs to solve this problem not violating the rights of Palestiniansâ€. The Palestinians living in Al-Quds have no property right and they can build only one-storey house. Therefore Palestinians are forced to leave Al-Quds and to settle in the West Bank.

Constructions in Al-Quds

The Israeli government is constructing 1600 new houses in the eastern part of Al-Quds and with this violates the status quo in the city hanging by a thread. Thatâ€™s why protest actions are held every Friday in Sheikh Jarrah street of the Eastern Al-Quds against the construction of houses by the Israeli government for Jews in this quarter. I had a chance to participate in one of these protest actions joined by 200-300 people. People chanted â€œAl-Quds is two capitals for two countriesâ€. The majority of the protesters were young, alongside with the Palestinians, Israelis, who do not support the governmentâ€™s policy to build houses in the Eastern Al-Quds, also joined the action. Israeli police did not make an effort to break up the rally, they were only observing it.

Head of Ir Amim nongovernmental organization Ehud Uzielin says that 40-45 percent of the Jews living in Al-Quds agree to the division of the city into two parts for the sake of peace and welfare. 15 percent of the Jews do not accept this proposal, as many Jews consider that such a division would be dangerous.

Al-Quds â€“ holy city of three celestial religions

Even if Al-Quds is divided into two, gets the status of the official capital of Israel and Palestinian authority it will be difficult to determine the status of the central part â€“ Old City. Sacred temples of three celestial religions â€“ Islam, Christianity and Judaism are located in this territory surrounded with ancient fortress walls and the majority of the believers strive to visit it. For Muslims Al-Quds is a holy city, where al-Aqsa mosque is located. For Jews Al-Quds is the place, where Prophet Abraham sacrificed his son Ismayil, Prophet Sulaimanâ€™s palace is located, Prophet David gained fame. For Christians Al-Quds is the holy city, where Jesus lived the last days of his life, the place of the Last Supper, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection.

One can enter the Old City through one of the seven doors. We entered the Old City through the Damascus Gates â€“ the largest road leading to the eastern Al-Quds. Access to the Old City from the Western Al-Quds is possible only through Jaffa Gate. The Old City consists of four quarters â€“ Muslim, Jewish, Christian and Armenian quarters. Through the Damascus Gate we enter the Muslim quarter, the biggest bazaar of the Near East. The asking price may be reduced by 3-4, sometimes even 10 times. Al-Aqsa (Al-Haram Al-Sharif), the biggest mosque of Al-Quds, is located a little far from the bazaar. According to Koran, after the Prophet Muhammad took the night journey from Masjid al-Haram to Masjid al-Aqsa, he ascended to the upper heavens. The construction of the mosque started by Omar ibn Khattab and completed by Abdullah Valid in 713. I regret that I could not enter the mosque, on Fridays the mosque is closed for tourists. When they knew that I was Christian, they told me to come another day.

Via Dolorosa Street or the way of Sorrow, which is sacred for any Christian, catholic and protestant begins from Moslem block. The Way of Sorrow â€“ is the road to Golgotha under Pontius Pilate, where Jesus was going with christcross in his hand. This road stretches from the place where he was crucified till the Angels Church where he was buried. There are churches of all confessions here.

For visiting the sacred place of Judaism â€“ Wailing Wall, you have to check in with special device at the airport. Israel government hold well-marked security measures here too. It is the only part remaining from Temple Complex. Jewish come here to express their sorrow for the destroyed Temple. Pilgrims come here to pray; some of them write their wish on a paper and poke it into the holes in the Wall. They hope that Allah will hear their prays.

The status of Al-Quds â€“ is a moot point. Both Israel and Palestine Autonomic consider Al-Quds as their capital, but most of the Palestinians are devoid of a de-facto right of going there. Israelâ€™s sovereign on Eastern Al-Quds hasnâ€™t been recognized by UN and by most of the world countries. Today â€œMiddle East Allianceâ€ continues its efforts in direction of conducting negotiations between the sides and to move the conflict, which has continued more than 60 years from the â€œdead pointâ€. But the fortune of the holy Al-Quds is still unknown because of the separating walls and ideological views.