Regions with significant populations | |
---|---|
Palestine, Palestinian diaspora | |
Languages | |
Arabic | |
Religion | |
Islam | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Afro-Jordanians, Afro-Syrians, Afro-Saudis, Al-Akhdam, Afro-Omanis, Afro-Iraqis |
Afro-Palestinians are Palestinians of black African heritage. A minority of Afro-Palestinians, who number around 350-400, reside in an African enclave around the Bab al-Majlis, [1] in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem. [2] [3] Some of the community dwell in other areas of Jerusalem such as Beit Hanina and A-Tur. [3]
There are also Bedouin Palestinians outside Jerusalem who have descent lines linking them to people of African origin [4] such as in the West Bank of Jericho and Gaza.
By the 9th century, it is estimated that some three million Africans had been resettled as enslaved people in the Middle East, working as soldiers and labourers in the riverine plantation economies. [1] As is illustrated by the life of Mansa Musa, King of the medieval kingdom of Mali, pilgrimage by African converts to Islam became an established practice, though regular pilgrimage only became commonplace in the 15th century, as the Islamic faith spread beyond the narrow confines of sultanate courts to the people at large. [1] There are some Palestinian communities that trace their origins to pilgrims from Sudan and Central Africa (mainly Chad) who are said to have reached Palestine as early as the 12th century. Their initial aim was to take part in the Hajj and reach Mecca, after which they visited Jerusalem to visit the al-Aqsa Mosque. [2] Many Afro-Palestinians also hail from forefathers who came to Palestine enslaved in service to the Ottomans. [5]
People whose ancestors came from Nigeria, Sudan, Senegal and Chad make up most of the community, and most of these came to Palestine during the British Mandate. [6] Many, according to Abraham Milligram, came as conscripted labourers during General Edmund Allenby's campaign against the Turks in the latter stages of WW1. [7] [3] Another group trace their lineage to the Arab Salvation Army who fought on the Arab side of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. [8]
The Jerusalem community of Afro-Palestinians, 50 families [9] now numbering some 350 (or 450) [2] members, reside in two compounds outside the Ḥaram ash-Sharīf (west of the Inspector's Gate): Ribat al-Mansuri and Ribat of Aladdin (Ribat al-Baseri/Ribat Aladdin al-Bassir/Ribat Al'a ad-Deen Busari). [3] [10] [2] They were built between 1267 and 1382 [2] and served as ribats (hostels for visiting Muslim pilgrims) under the Mamluks. This distinctive enclave has been called Jerusalem's Little Harlem. [11] During the Arab Revolt of WW1, the Ottomans converted the compounds into jails — one known as 'the Blood Prison' and the other as 'the hanging prison' — where prisoners were detained and executed. [12] The community has restructured part of this former prison to create a mosque. [13] Until the Israeli occupation that began in 1967, they were employed as guards at the Ḥaram ash-Sharīf, a function now taken over by Israeli soldiers. [10]
These have close links with similar communities in Acre and Jericho, established when Africans came to work in the Umayyad sugar industry. [14] The community in northern Jericho have often been called "the slaves of Duyuk" even in modern times. [15]
Following Ottoman rule, the ribats became a part of the religious trust (waqf). [12] The Palestinian leader and mufti of Jerusalem Sheikh Amin al-Husseini rented out these compounds to Palestinians of African background, [2] in gratitude for their loyalty as protectors of the al-Aqsa Mosque after one of the African guards, Jibril Tahruri, took a bullet aimed at the mufti. [16] The rent remains largely nominal. [3] [17] Afro-Palestinians whose connection to Jerusalem predates 1947 found themselves in one of the most troubled areas in the region. [2] Falling in love with the city of Jerusalem [18] and with deep ties to Islam, [19] they married Palestinians and continue to identify as Palestinians. [9] After 1948, in particular, black Palestinian men married women coming from the peasant fellahin society, but never Bedouin women. [20]
The African Palestinians who now live in the two compounds near al-Aqsa mosque have called the area home since 1930. [12] They have experienced prejudice, with some Palestinian Arabs [21] referring to them as "slaves" ( abeed ) and to their neighbourhood as the "slaves' prison" (habs al-abeed), and their colour has led to objections against them marrying Palestinians with lighter skin. [9] [3] According to Mousa Qous, director of the African Community Society and a former member of the PFLP, "Sometimes when a black Palestinian wants to marry a white Palestinian woman, some members of her family might object." Interracial marriage with Afro-Palestinians has become more common in recent years. [8] In colloquial Palestinian Arabic, standard usage prefers the word sumr (dark colour) over sawd, which has an uncouth connotation. [22]
By contrast, Ali Jiddah, a tour guide and also a former member of the PFLP, has stated that he personally never experienced prejudice over his skin colour from Palestinian Arabs, claiming Afro-Palestinians enjoy a special status for their contributions to the Palestinian struggle. [3] [21] Fatima Barnawi, of mixed Nigerian-Palestinian descent, was the first Palestinian woman to be arrested on terrorism charges for attempting to bomb a movie theater in downtown Jerusalem in 1967. Although the bomb failed to explode, she was sentenced to 30 years in prison, ultimately serving only ten. [21] Jiddah placed four grenades on Strauss Street in a 1968 attack in downtown Jerusalem, wounding nine Israeli civilians. His cousin Mahmoud likewise committed a similar attack. Both men served 17 years in prison before being released in a prisoner swap in 1985. [3] According to Jiddah, any racism by Palestinian Arabs could be blamed on ignorance, [9] claiming that he had experienced similar prejudice from Israelis. "We Afro-Palestinians are dually oppressed, as Palestinians and because of our color the Israelis call us 'kushis.'" [21] According to Mahmoud, Israeli police are the main perpetrators of racism against the community. [21] In 2022, Mohammed Firawi was released from prison after five years for allegedly throwing stones at Israeli police. The community celebrated his return to the African Quarter, which was cited as cause for his subsequent re-arrest and week-long expulsion from Jerusalem. [23]
The African Community Society (ACS) was established in 1983 as an off-shoot of the former Sudanese Welfare Club, which disbanded following Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem. ACS organizes social activities, sports, mutual aid, and other means to empower Afro-Palestinians in Jerusalem. [23]
The Temple Mount, also known as Haram al-Sharif, al-Aqsa Mosque compound, or simply al-Aqsa, and sometimes as Jerusalem's holyesplanade, is a hill in the Old City of Jerusalem that has been venerated as a holy site in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam for thousands of years.
The Aqsa Mosque, also known as the Qibli Mosque or Qibli Chapel, is the main congregational mosque or prayer hall in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem. In some sources the building is also named al-Masjid al-Aqṣā, but this name primarily applies to the whole compound in which the building sits, which is itself also known as "Al-Aqsa Mosque". The wider compound is known as Al-Aqsa or Al-Aqsa mosque compound, also known as al-Ḥaram al-Sharīf.
The Holy Land is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the eastern bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. Today, the term "Holy Land" usually refers to a territory roughly corresponding to the modern states of Israel and Palestine. Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Baháʼís regard it as holy.
Maqluba is a traditional Levantine dish that is popular across the Levant including in Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq.
Sunni Islam is a major religion in Palestine, being the religion of the majority of the Palestinian population. Muslims comprise 85% of the population of the West Bank, when including Israeli settlers, and 99% of the population of the Gaza Strip. The largest denomination among Palestinian Muslims are Sunnis, comprising 98–99% of the total Muslim population.
Freedom of religion is the freedom to practice religion, change one's religion, mix religions, or to be irreligious. Religion in the State of Palestine plays a strong role in society, including in the legal system and the educational system.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the State of Palestine:
The Islamic Museum is a museum at Al Aqsa in the Old City section of Jerusalem. On display are exhibits from ten periods of Islamic history encompassing several Muslim regions. The museum is west of al-Aqsa Mosque, across a courtyard.
The Jerusalem Waqf and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Department, also known as the Jerusalem Waqf, the Jordanian Waqf or simply the Waqf, is the Jordanian-appointed organization responsible for controlling and managing the current Islamic edifices on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, known to Muslims as Al-Aqsa, which includes the Dome of the Rock. The Jerusalem Waqf is guided by a council composed of 18 members and headed by a director, all appointed by Jordan. The current director of the Waqf, since 2005, is Sheikh Azzam al-Khatib.
In 2009, clashes between Muslim Palestinians and Israeli police erupted on September 27, 2009, and continued to late October. Violence spread through East Jerusalem and parts of the West Bank, and included throwing of Molotov cocktails and stones at Israeli security forces and civilians. Israeli police responded with arrests of rioters and sporadic age-based restriction of access to the Temple Mount. Several dozen rioters, police and Israeli civilians have been injured.
Ibrahim Dakkak (1929-2016) was a Palestinian civil engineer and activist. He is remembered as a leading figure in Jerusalem public life, particularly after the onset of Israeli occupation of the West Bank.
Racism in the Palestinian territories encompasses all forms and manifestations of racism experienced in the Palestinian Territories, of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, irrespective of the religion, colour, creed, or ethnic origin of the perpetrator and victim, or their citizenship, residency, or visitor status. It may refer to Jewish settler attitudes regarding Palestinians as well as Palestinian attitudes to Jews and the settlement enterprise undertaken in their name.
Murabitat is an Islamist political movement of Muslim women, funded by the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel. The group organises classes at Al-Aqsa on Arabic literacy and qira'at and tajweed in Qur'anic recitation.
The 2017 Temple Mount crisis was a period of violent tensions related to the Temple Mount, which began on 14 July 2017, after a shooting incident in the complex in which Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli police officers. Following the attack, Israeli authorities installed metal detectors at the entrance to the Mount in a step that caused large Palestinian protests and was severely criticized by Palestinian leaders, the Arab League, and other Muslim leaders, on the basis that it constituted a change in the "status quo" of the Temple Mount entry restrictions.
Hashemite custodianship refers to the Jordanian royal family's role in tending Muslim and Christian holy sites in the city of Jerusalem. The legacy traces back to 1924 when the Supreme Muslim Council, the highest Muslim body in charge of Muslim community affairs in Mandatory Palestine, chose Hussein bin Ali as custodian of Al-Aqsa. The custodianship became a Hashemite legacy administered by consecutive Jordanian kings.
The Inspector's Gate is one of the gates of the al-Aqsa Compound. It is the second-northernmost gates in the compound's west wall, after the Bani Ghanim Gate. It is north of the Iron Gate.
Events in the year 2021 in the State of Palestine.
On 15 April 2022, clashes erupted between Palestinians and Israeli Security Forces on the Al-Aqsa Compound in the Old City of Jerusalem. According to the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, the clashes began when Palestinians threw stones, firecrackers, and other heavy objects at Israeli police officers. The policemen used tear gas shells, stun grenades and police batons against the Palestinians. Some Palestinians afterwards barricaded themselves inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque and proceeded to throw stones at the officers. In response, police raided the mosque, arresting those who had barricaded themselves inside. In addition, some damage was done to the mosque's structure.
The Ribat of Sultan al-Mansur Qalawun, or simply al-Ribat al-Mansuri or al-Mansuriyya. It is a ribat that was given by (Waqf) the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt Al-Mansur Qalawun to the poor and visitors of Jerusalem in the year 681 AH / 1282 AD, as can be seen from an inscription above the door of the ribat. Alaa al-Din Al-Basir supervised its construction. It is one of the few royal institutions built outside Al-Aqsa Mosque. A number of sheikhs supervised it.