Jerusalem Before Israel: 49 Fascinating Photos Of Life In The Arab Holy City

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A grocer's shop.

Circa 1900-1920.Library of Congress

2 of 50

Two women stop to talk.

Ramallah. Circa 1898-1914.Library of Congress

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The street inside of the Jaffa Gate.

Circa 1917-1934.Library of Congress

4 of 50

A Yemenite Jew.

Circa 1898-1914.Library of Congress

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A group of Bedouins prepare coffee in a tent.

1936.Library of Congress

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A woman in Bethlehem.

Bethlehem. Circa 1900-1920.Library of Congress

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A porter carrying 50 empty petrol tins on his back.

Circa 1914-1918.Library of Congress

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A woman walks below the arch of ecce homo.

Circa 1898-1914.Library of Congress

9 of 50

A Ramallah woman in an embroidered dress.

Ramallah. Circa 1940-1946.Library of Congress

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The American Colony store.

Circa 1920-1935.Library of Congress

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A woman poses with a jug on her head.

Ramallah. Circa 1898-1914.Library of Congress

12 of 50

A man fights off a locust plague with a flame thrower.

1930.Library of Congress

13 of 50

A vegetable market on the streets of Nazareth.

Circa 1934-1937.Library of Congress

14 of 50

A woman, labelled, in the original caption, as a "peasant girl."

Circa 1900-1920.Library of Congress

15 of 50

The street of arches.

Circa 1898-1914.Library of Congress

16 of 50

A coffee house spills out onto the streets.

Circa 1900-1920.Library of Congress

17 of 50

A woman carries her wares to the marketplace.

Circa 1898-1914.Library of Congress

18 of 50

A mother carries her child with a jug on her head.

Beersheba. Circa 1900-1920.Library of Congress

19 of 50

A fruit vendor displays his goods.

Circa 1900-1920.Library of Congress

20 of 50

A donkey waits in the street of arches.

Circa 1898-1914.Library of Congress

21 of 50

A Bedouin man.

Circa 1898-1914.Library of Congress

22 of 50

A Jewish rabbi living in Jerusalem, called, in the original caption, "The Jew of Jerusalem."

Circa 1900-1910.Library of Congress

23 of 50

The scene on David Street.

Circa 1898-1946.Library of Congress

24 of 50

A Bedouin woman.

Circa 1898-1914.Library of Congress

25 of 50

A procession leave Jerusalem, on their way to Nebi Musa to visit the tomb of Moses.

1936.Library of Congress

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Three women stand by the door with their children.

Bethlehem. 1936.Library of Congress

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A group of people, labelled in the original caption as "natives," sit down for a meal.

Circa 1900-1920.Library of Congress

28 of 50

A woman barters over the price of bread.

Circa 1900-1920.Library of Congress

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A crowd gathers in Nebi Musa.

1936.Library of Congress

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A Bedouin woman poses for a photograph.

Circa 1898-1914.Library of Congress

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A man walks down the streets in the Jewish quarters.

Circa 1920-1933.Library of Congress

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Artisans work with mother of pearl.

Circa 1898-1914.Library of Congress

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A woman sits in front of the village oven.

Circa 1898-1914.Library of Congress

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A worker drills holes into beads.

Circa 1900-1920.Library of Congress

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Two women working at a mill.

Circa 1898-1914.Library of Congress

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Lepers beg for alms.

Circa 1900-1920.Library of Congress

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A vendor sells meat and bread.

Circa 1900-1920.Library of Congress

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Workers carrying waterskins.

Circa 1900-1920.Library of Congress

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A group of women carrying water jars on their heads.

Circa 1900-1920.Library of Congress

40 of 50

A mother carries her baby.

Beersheba. Circa 1900-1920.Library of Congress

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Workers beat olives out of a tree.

Circa 1900-1920.Library of Congress

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A young girl picks olives.

Circa 1900-1920.Library of Congress

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Workers crush olives with the broken column of an ancient building.

Beit Jibrin. Circa 1920-1933.Library of Congress

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A coffee shop with a gramophone.

Circa 1900-1920.Library of Congress

45 of 50

A young Bedouin boy wearing a cartridge belt.

Circa 1898-1914.Library of Congress

46 of 50

A group of beggars.

Circa 1900-1920.Library of Congress

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A characteristic city street.

Circa 1900-1920.Library of Congress

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Two men smoke on the streets of Bethlehem.

Circa 1900-1920.Library of Congress

49 of 50

A Druze Sheikh.

Circa 1900-1920.Library of Congress

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Jerusalem Before Israel: 49 Fascinating Photos Of Life In The Arab Holy City

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Few places have gone through as many changes as Jerusalem. As the holy city of every Abrahamic religion, it has been the site of wars and conquests for centuries. It passed through the hands of countless kingdoms and countless people — and gone through massive changes each time.

The last great change happened in 1948, upon the foundation of Israel. Since then, Jerusalem has been claimed by both Israel and Palestine. It is a city split in half, divided between Muslims and Jews, in the center of a war that has raged on for decades.

Before Israel, however, the old Jerusalem was a very different place. For hundreds of years before the state of Israel was formed, Jerusalem was an Arab city. It spent hundreds of years under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, as a city distinctly filled with that empire's people and culture.

Then, in 1915, the old Jerusalem started to change. The British took control of the city, filling it with troops and police that kept the Arab population under their thumb. European immigrants started to pour into the city, especially through the growing Jewish Zionist movement. Over the next 25 years, the population tripled.

The area, under British control, was now ruled as part of a new state called Mandatory Palestine, consisting of the regions of modern Palestine and Jordan. The area became, increasingly, a land filled with both Arabs and Jews, living side by side. Conflicts started to grow, though, as both the Jews and the Arabs believed that the British had promised Jerusalem to them.

The Arabs who had lived there for years led protests and revolts against their changing city, and, after an influx of Jewish immigrants poured into the city in the wake of World War II, the area turned violent, erupting into a war that still rages today.

But before Israel, there was a different Jerusalem – one all but forgotten, that, today, lives on only in photographs.

After this look at the old Jerusalem, for more glimpses into the cultures that once were, check out 1970s Iran before the Islamic Revolution or the Inuit before forced relocation.