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Testing the Waters— Palestine & Israel, 2006 |
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Journal, March 27, 2006—RamallahFor photos: Water in Silwan & the City of David In the Heart of the Great Mother: Water in Silwan & the City of David When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that he intended to make war on Jerusalem, he consulted with his officials and military staff about blocking off the water from the springs outside the city, and they helped him. A large force of men assembled, and they blocked all the springs and the stream that flowed through the land. "Why should the kings of Assyria come and find plenty of water?" they said. —2 Chronicles 32:2-4 It was Hezekiah who blocked the upper outlet of the Gihon spring and channeled the water down to the west side of the City of David. He succeeded in everything he undertook. —2 Chronicles 32:30 Jerusalem was a revelation, if I can use that word in this location, an epiphany. I wished to explore the Silwan area, for the second time, otherwise known as the City of David, mainly because of the home demolitions occurring here, and also because of the region's 5000 year history. Clinching my motivation was hearing that a Disney-like museum about the region had opened recently. Unlike the last time when I visited in the winter of 2004, virtually alone, no staff, no tourists, this time the archeological park was fully staffed and teeming with tourists, large groups, Scandinavian, South African, USA from the south, American Jews, Israeli Jews, and me. Tourism in the Levant seems on the rise, not necessarily a good sign. I happily joined the throng, not minding at all being the tourist. Because I had a special mission, to show the tourism, as a minor theme, but to depict as a major theme the region and how water works and worked and how the Palestinians living in the neighborhood are being threatened with removal, much like District 6 in Cape Town.
Here's some of what I discovered about water in the city of David. Please don't quote me on any of this; I remain baffled about how all this once worked. Apparently during that period, some 3000 yrs ago, water coursed on both sides of the slopes the city was built on and was used for irrigation. This is most unlike the relation between water and settlement in most parts of the world where site are inhabited directly at the sources of water. Instead, water falling on the top of the region's protuberance, entered the substrata, and flowed thru the slopes. It emerged in Gideon's Spring, outside the Jebusite city walls. Tunnels brought water inside the city walls to the famed Pool of Shiloah, Silwan in Arabic, Siloam in Hebrew. It was thus protected if the city were under siege. Other pools were likewise outside, but one rested under the end of a vertical shaft the people had carved out of the soft limestone--with the help of water excavating a passageway--and could be dipped into without threat of invaders climbing up thru the hole. Or something like that. I confess to puzzlement about how all this geology and history worked. Much is speculation, the result of excavations and archeological theorizing. The early peoples had written little, tho some had and is in scripture or left an imprint on plaques. What I experienced is the following: I entered the visitor area high up, just south of and down from the Old City. For 11.5 shekels (about $2.50), half price because of the elders' rate (they call us pensioners ), I went on a self-guided tour, with map in hand; this map also was a mystery to me. Luckily I could hitch onto tour groups and listen to their guides, no extra charge. One group was Southern Christian, complete with minister, who later read scripture at the pool of Shiloah. I began my journey of discovery by walking down a steep path, observing remains of what is called the acropolis, apparently the palace of King David. Then some tower bases, some dwellings, all of rock, mostly soft porous limestone, of course, and if not for the written and spoken explanations I'm not sure I'd know what I was gazing at. At one point I came upon a group of Jewish college students, sitting quietly taking notes on a lecture in Hebrew, actually a disputation between two older men. Perhaps they were arguing about the meaning of the City of David, and whether the state had the right to confiscate local Palestinian homes, but I doubt that. More likely they were disputing the interpretation of the archeological evidence. I should have inquired, I should have photographed, but the moment did not appear. Eventually I came to the entry passage for the Warren Shaft. Earlier, when I bought my ticket from the cheery woman in the booth, she'd asked, wet tunnel or dry? Wet is completely dark, you'd need a flashlight, and you'd be walking thru knee to hip high water. Dry, I replied, this time. The wet is the tunnel of Hezekiah. The dry is Warren's Shaft, discovered in the late 1800s by Mr. Warren. Down a steep rocky slope, into total darkness, to be at the beginning of a watercourse. Earlier, I'd heard teenagers giggling and splashing about. Now, to show this scene, the water, I remembered that I had a flash and used it, results usable, but not picturesque. I was stuck behind those Southern Christians, some of whom were obese. Others wobbled. How would they get thru Warren's Shaft, so narrow, so steep? But they did, perhaps the power of belief. I made my way slowly, trying to picture a sense of this mystery tour. To be so deep underground, as if in the heart of the great mother, thru its vessels, its chambers, feeling its heartbeat. The water is the blood of the earth. Then I emerged into the bright Mediterranean light. I was on a road, remaining with the Christians to the Pool of Shiloah. During its use period, 3000 years ago to I don't know how recent, it was huge and rectangular, about 50 meters by 30, its depth dependent on the season, maybe 20 meters max. Only a portion had been excavated, showing steps leading down to wherever the pools top had been during a particular time of year. A 1-meter wide black water pipe coursed with water. The pool was dry. The faint smell of sewage permeated the air. Peculiar: boys and men selling bottled water here. 1 liter for 1 dollar.
I finished my tour by resting near a tour bus with American English-speaking Jewish teenagers lounging about. I noticed at least 3 army and police cars, plus uniformed men with large rifles--a ubiquitous sight in the Holy Land these days--apparently guarding this tour group. After sipping what remained of my water and munching on a few figs, I headed up the now dry wadi (valley in Arabic) to rejoin the old city. Thinking: in the days of David, this was a river. So that is part of the story of water during the time of King David. No one mentioned the home demolitions, the Israeli rationale that they are on archeologically valuable land, or that Israelis are trying to colonize the neighborhood, confiscating Palestinian property illegally? What else presents itself as news on this day, aside from the archeological work and its interpretations and the tourism and the house demolitions? No water flows in the two main wadis skirting the southern side of Jerusalem. Today they are dry. And underneath--I could smell the stench--runs some of the sewage of Jerusalem. If Jeff Halper of the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions, a group that is in the forefront of protecting Palestinian homes from ruination, is to be believed, some of Jerusalem's sewage is dumped into what remains of the water flowing thru the wadis. It then enters the Kidron valley, and flows downstream past more settlements, with more effluent bubbling in. It ultimately courses thru Palestinian lands. The people obviously cannot use the filthy water and are water deprived. This part of the story for later, if I can manage to find and show it.
Jerusalem - Water Systems of Biblical Times Virtual Walk thru Hezekiah's Tunnel Ethnic cleansing in Silwan |
