Gaza in 1917. What Led to Such Terrible Destruction?

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Gaza in 1917. What Led to Such Terrible Destruction? -- Excerpts from a previous posting Posted: 21 Jul 2014 Gaza City in World War I, 1917 (Library of Congress). What caused such destruction? Turks prepare to attack the Suez Canal, 1915 In the early 1900s, the British Empire relied on the Suez Canal to maintain communications and trade with India, Australia and New Zealand.  And that was precisely why Germany encouraged Turkey to challenge British rule over Egypt and British control of the Suez Canal. In early 1915, the Turkish army in Palestine crossed the Sinai and attacked British troops along the Suez. The British army beat back the attacks, took the war north into Sinai and pushed the Turkish army back to a defense line stretching from Gaza, located on the Mediterranean, to Be'er Sheva, some 40 miles inland. Great Mosque of Gaza (circa 1880) The Mosque after the fighting (1917) In March and April 1917 the British army attempted to push through Gaza and up the Mediterranean coast in battles that involved as many as 60,000 soldiers, British and French ships firing on Gaza from the Mediterranean, the use of poison gas, and the deployment of newly developed British tanks. The British suffered a disastrous defeat. Ruins of Gaza, believed to be after the 1917 battles British trenches in Gaza. After the defeat, the  British army switched to more mobile tactics. British tanks destroyed in the Gaza fighting The British campaign for Jerusalem would be stalled for six months.  It would be led by a new commander, a large number of reinforcements, and a new strategy that took the war in a new direction, east toward Be'er Sheva.  British Prisoners of War, captured in Gaza 1917 Footnote: History records Jews living in Gaza for thousands of years.  [View the mosaic depicting King David from a 6th century synagogue in Gaza.] Mosaic of King David (Israel Museum) Ottoman tax records showed dozens of Jewish families in Gaza in the Middle Ages.  One of the most famous Gazan Jews was Rabbi Israel Ben Moses Najara (16th Century) who composed prayers and Sabbath zmirot (songs) popular to this day.  He was buried in Gaza. Jewish families fled Gaza in the 1929 pogroms. Population records still showed Jews living in Gaza until 1945. Kfar Darom, named for a community mentioned in the Talmud, was a Jewish kibbutz established in the Gaza Strip in 1930 that was abandoned in the 1948 war.  Kfar Darom was reestablished in 1970 but evacuated by Israel in the 2005 "dis

World War I and the Jews

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Announcing a new feature: WW100 -- World War I and the Jews of Palestine, Commemorating the Centenary since the Outbreak of the War to End all Wars Posted: 28 Jun 2014  We will present over the next year special features commemorating the centenary of World War I, showing the major battles that shook Palestine, the Jewish population of the Holy Land, and the Jewish soldiers who fought -- on both sides.  Below are sample pictures: Turks prepare to attack the Suez Canal Austrian Jewish soldiers at the Kotel Jewish students and teachers after the capture of Rishon LeZion by New Zealand soldiers

Israel's History - a Picture a Day - scenes from the Holy Land

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From the 4 Corners of the World: Picture Collection from New Zealand, Part II Posted: 18 Jun 2014  Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee (circa 1890, colored slide, Presbyterian  Research Centre, Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand) The Presbyterian Church Archives Research Centre holds a fascinating collection of 144 glass Lantern slides of various scenes from the Holy Land. The majority appear to have been taken in the latter years of the 19th century. See Part I here.     The Tower of David's Citadel at Jaffa Gate, Jerusalem. The clock tower on the left was built in 1908 and torn down in 1922, enabling the dating of the picture. (Presbyterian Research Centre, Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand)      Western Wall (1867, (Presbyterian Research Centre,  Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand) and here The picture of the Western Wall is from the Presbyterian Research Centre, but it also appeared in the Israel Daily Picture two years ago.  It was taken by Frank Mason Good in 1866/67 and published by the Palestine Exploration Fund. Note in both photos the single figure praying and the buckets (?) hanging on the wall. Hebron and the Cave of the Patriarchs (circa 1890) Jacob's Well, near Nablus (Shechem) and  Joseph's Tomb. (1868) Click on photos to enlarge. Click on captions to view the original photographs. Mobile users: visit www.israeldailypicture.com

Mosul Iraq -- Match Historical Pictures to Today's Headlines

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Mosul Iraq -- Match Historical Pictures to Today's Headlines Posted: 13 Jun 2014 Jews of Mosul (Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection,  California Museum of Photography at UCR) Jihadi forces overran Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, this week. Analysts explain Mosul's significance as the center of Iraq's oil-rich areas, the gateway for the Sunni radicals to attack Baghdad, and a debacle for the U.S.-supported Iraqi army.  But Mosul also has an ancient history.  It was the Biblical city of Nineveh, so large that the Book of Jonah describes it as a "great city of three days "Jewish Cobblers Repairing Shoes for Arabs, near  Mosul, Mesopotamia" (Iraq) (Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography at UCR ARTSblock, University of  California, Riverside) journey in breadth."  The Assyrian King Sennacherib built a massive palace there on the banks of the Tigris River. We present pictures of Mosul 80 years ago and of Jews of Mosul  approximately 100 years ago. Read here a 2007 account of a Jewish chaplain from the US Army's 101st Airborne who discovered the remnants of Mosul's Jewish community. Mosul, Iraq, 1932 (Library of Congress) Mosul and the Tigris in the background, 1932 (Library of Congress) Sennacherib's castle, Mosul, Iraq, 1932 (Library of Congress) See also here

The First "American Colony" Was Established in the Holy Land 150 Years Ago.

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The First "American Colony" Was Established in the Holy Land 150 Years Ago. Help Us Find It in Photographs Posted: 05 Jun 2014  The American "Colony" in the 1860s. Please help us obtain  such pictures in high-resolution digitized form We are proud that the photographs presented here are all "kosher."  They usually have lapsed copyright restrictions, but, in any case, we seek and obtain permission from the relevant collections, archives and libraries.  All pictures are presented with the links to the original source, and we find librarians and archivists thankful for our site driving readers to their material. On occasion, however, we have skipped certain collections because of requests for payment. Photograph of the colony founder, George Jones Adams, c. 1841 We believe that pictures of Americans attempting to establish a colony near Jaffa in the 1860s are worthy of an entry in these pages.   (Our research found that Mark Twain met some of the members of the failed colony and wrote about them.) Unfortunately, the photographs can only be obtained in digitized high-resolution with payment.  In one case, a small American museum contains documents and photographs, and images must be purchased.  In the case of the Library of Congress, which has been amazingly cooperative in releasing their photographs, the photograph described below has never been digitized. Title: The American Settlement, near Joppa, Palestine. Erected by the Adams Colony from Maine and New Hampshire, 1866-7  Date Created/Published: [1866 or 1867] Medium: 1 photographic print. Summary: Photograph shows buildings of the "American Colony" or "Adams City" near Jaffa, now Tel Aviv, Israel which was founded by George Jones Adams (ca. 1811-1880) in 1866. Please click on the Paypal "Donate" button on the top right of our website,www.israeldailypicture.com, to assist us in purchasing these historic, high-resolution digitized images. (We are not purchasing the originals, just digitized copies.)

Israel's History - a Picture a Day - The Shavuot Holiday in the Holy Land

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The Shavuot Holiday in the Holy Land Posted: 04 Jun 2014  Shavuot celebration in Tel Aviv (1935, Israel Government Press Office, HT: Gina) "And it shall be when you come into the land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance and you possess it and dwell therein.  You shall take the first of all the fruit of the ground from the land that the Lord your God gives you, and you shall put it in a basket and you shall go to the place which the Lord your God shall choose to dwell in." [Deuteronomy XXVI:1-2] During the days of the Temple in Jerusalem Jews were commanded to bring their first fruits to the sanctuary during the Shavuot (Pentecost) pilgrimage festival.  It was a joyous thanksgiving holiday.  Poster for Shavuot (1940, Israel Government Press Office) Children's procession in Kibbutz Ein Harod (1938, Israel Government Press Office) A Shavuot gathering?  Original caption: The Keren Hayesod. Agricultural Colonies on Plain of Esdraelon  "The Emek [Jezre'el]." Zionist children at play. A spring group. Children picking wild flowers [Library of Congress, circa 1920-1933] In the early 20th century, the collective Kibbutz and Moshav agricultural movements adopted the holiday to exhibit their produce and farm equipment. The new "tradition" continues to this day. Reader Josh Korn of Canada provided us with this picture and a request: Kibbutz Naan, Shavuot 1932 (Courtesy Josh Korn) This photo is from Kibbutz Naan, dated from Shavuot 1932. I know only one of the people in the photo: the guy wearing glasses on the left is my dad. I'd love to find out who the others are.

Jewish Festivals - Shavuot The Book of Ruth Recreated 100 Years Ago. This feature is one of our most popular posting.

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Chapter: Jewish Festivals - Shavuot The Book of Ruth Recreated 100 Years Ago. This feature is one of our most popular posting Posted: 31 May 2014 Photo portrait of "Ruth the Moabitess" (Library of Congress) Ruth said, "Do not entreat me to leave you, to return from  following you, for wherever you go, I will go... Your people shall be my people, your God my God" And Naomi and Ruth both went on until they arrived at Bethlehem he Jewish holiday of Shavuot -Pentecost is celebrated this week.  The holiday has several traditional names: Shavuot, the festival of weeks, marking seven weeks after Passover; Chag HaKatzir, the festival of reaping grains; and Chag HaBikkurim, the festival of first fruits.  Shavuot, according to Jewish tradition, is the day the Children of Israel accepted the Torah at Mt. Sinai.  It is also believed to be the day of King David's birth and death.   Ruth came to a field that belonged to Boaz who was  of the family of Naomi's deceased husband The reading of the Book of Ruth is one tradition of the holiday.  Ruth, a Moabite and widow of a Jewish man (and a princess according to commentators), gave up her life in Moab to join her Jewish mother-in-law, Naomi, in the Land of Israel.  She insisted on adopting Naomi's God, Torah and religion.   A central element of the story of Ruth is her going to the local fields where barley and wheat were being harvested so that she could collect charitable handouts.  She gleans in the fields of Boaz, a judge and a relative of Ruth's dead husband (as such he had a levirate obligation to marry the widow).  The union resulted in a child, Obed, the grandfather of King David.   Boaz said to his servant, who stood over the reapers,  "To whom doesthis maiden belong?"   Boaz said to Ruth, "Do not go to glean in  another field...here you shall stay with my maidens" The members of the American Colony were religious Christians who established their community in the Holy Land.  They were steeped in the Bible and photographed countryside scenes that referred to biblical incidents and prohibitions.  Boaz said to her at mealtime, "Come here and partake  of the bread..." He ordered his servants "Pretend to  forget some of the bundles for her."  Ruth carried it to the city and Naomi saw what she had gleaned We have matched the pictures with corresponding verses from the Book of Ruth.  We present a few of the dozens of "Ruth" photographs found in the Library of Congress' American Colony collection.   See more of the pictures here.   Ruth came to the threshing floor and Boaz said, "Ready  the shawl you are wearing and hold it," and she held it, and he measured out six measures of barley.... A major effort was made by the photographers to re-enact the story of Ruth, probably in the fields near Bethlehem.  "Ruth," we believe, was a young member of the American Colony community; the remaining "cast" were villagers from the Bethlehem area who were actually harvesting, threshing and winnowing their crops. Unfortunately, we don't know when the "Ruth and Boaz series" was photographed, but we estimate approximately 100 years ago.   Click on the pictures to enlarge.   Click on the caption to view the original.    

The Gates of Jerusalem's Old City -- In Honor of "Jerusalem Day"

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Chapter: Jewish Festivals -- The Gates of Jerusalem's Old City -- In Honor of "Jerusalem Day" Posted: 28 May 2014   Sha'arei Hulda, the Double & Triple Gates, now sealed         עומדות, היו רגלינו בשערייך, ירושלים ירושלים הבנויה כעיר שחוברה-לה יחדיו Our feet did stand firm within your gates, O Jerusalem Jerusalem, built up, is like a city that is united - Psalms 122           Israel celebrated "Jerusalem Day" May 28, 2014, commemorating the reuniting of the city of Jerusalem during the 1967 war.  For 19 years, between 1948 and 1967, the city was split between warring Jordanian and Israeli forces. Thousands of Israelis visited Jerusalem, danced to the Western Wall, and marched around the Old City's gates.  We present here antique pictures of the gates, some taken 160 years ago.   Click on the photos to enlarge, click on the caption to read more about each gate.                 Golden Gate, Sha'ar Harachamim (now sealed)                Lion's Gate                            Herod's Gate           The New Gate       Damascus Gate        Dung Gate      Zion Gate    Jaffa Gate (hand colored)