Jerusalem Memory Project Documents Palestinian History Through Photos Since 19th Century

The "Jerusalem Memory" collection, compiled by Jordanian historian Mohammed Hashem Ghosheh over decades, offers a visual chronicle of Palestinian architectural and social history from the late 19th century to the present. The collection, which spans the Ottoman, British Mandate, and Jordanian periods, as well as Palestinian resistance and subsequent transformations, is being showcased through continuous coverage on the "Arabs 48" Telegram channel. Ghosheh meticulously selected historical photographs, which were added to the Anadolu Agency archive, making them accessible to the public, researchers, and those interested in Jerusalem and Palestinian history.

Translated information accompanying selected images from the collection, originally published in five Arabic volumes, aims to present these visual records to a wider audience and preserve them for future generations. Ghosheh was awarded the King Faisal Prize in 2020 for his intellectual and research work on Jerusalem.

Ghosheh links his research to his personal experience of displacement, as his family was forced to leave Jerusalem in 1954 following the Nakba and settled in Kuwait. The Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967 prevented their return. He described the years of separation as filled with pain due to the inability to return, stating, "Jerusalem and Palestine were not just our homeland, but our future, our past, and our heart." He noted that their return to Palestine was prohibited until 1994.

After returning in 1994, Ghosheh dedicated himself to exploring the city and documenting its history and landmarks. He initiated research to document every historical artifact in Jerusalem and republish its history based on his fieldwork and primary sources. Ghosheh believes historians' responsibility extends beyond recording past events to preserving heritage and civilization for future generations, emphasizing, "We must continue to write about our heritage, our history, and our civilization, because without our heritage, we cannot find our future." He expressed his belief in the eventual return of Palestinians to their homeland and the right of future generations to find their heritage preserved, highlighting the importance of publishing Palestinian historical studies in various languages to reach global academic institutions.

Ghosheh, also an architect, has documented numerous historical Islamic and Christian sites in Gaza and Jerusalem over nearly 30 years. He created architectural drawings of facades, sections, and plans for historical landmarks, many of which have been damaged or destroyed by Israeli attacks. He cited the Great Omari Mosque and Sayyid Hashem Mosque in Gaza, along with churches and other mosques and historical sites in the Strip, as examples needing restoration. He stressed that preserving these sites is "a key to victory and the future for our nation and our people, because a people without a history cannot achieve anything in their future."

Ghosheh considers photographs a crucial source for studying Palestinian history and heritage, revealing details of daily life, customs, architectural development, and lifestyles. He noted that travelers in the 19th century captured images that provided insights unobtainable from written documents alone. He stated, "Photographs are a vital source for the history of Palestine, Jerusalem, and their heritage. As historians, we must use photographs alongside documents."

Ghosheh also referenced Anadolu Agency's Gaza trilogy, "The Guide," "The Witness," and "The Accused," which he said contain important documents about the Israeli "genocidal war" in the Strip and crimes against Palestinians. He observed a growing global awareness of the Palestinian cause, quantifying the world's pain and hope for Palestine as nine out of ten. Ghosheh concluded that all who carry Palestine and Jerusalem in their consciousness and feelings are Palestinian, asserting that the entire world is Palestinian because it rejects the occupation, which he called the last of its kind in contemporary history.