Captions translated from Dutch to English 2021
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| Customs control ("gumruk" in Arabic). From Jaffa, Palestinian agricultural products were exported all over the world. Oranges of course, but also wine. |
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| Daughters of Palestine", this photo reads. Not all Arabs are Muslims, some are Christians. But no less Arab or Palestinian for that. Scholten speaks of "Catholic natives" |
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Different types of bread
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| Fair! |
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Farmer with typical farmer's scarf (keffijeh). During a major uprising against the British a few years after Frank Scholten's journey, this will become the symbol of Palestinian national identity, supplanting the Fez as the most popular headwear
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Friday Prayer
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| In Palestine, all kinds of nationalities lived together. The book contains photos of Indians, Africans, Europeans, etc. This African Palestinian is clearly at ease with the Ottoman Fez. |
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| In the 1920s, Jaffa was booming, judging by the photos of construction workers at work. |
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| Jaffa |
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| Jewish craftsman |
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| Jewish quarter. The (small) Jewish communities in Palestine lived peacefully with the Palestinians. |
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| Last Supper for the sheep chosen for the Feast of Sacrifice |
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| Tanning |
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Lunch from a tanner
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| Melon harvest (and "hump") |
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| Mosque with Corinthian columns. |
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| Palestine was then still a British colony. Here the British gendarmerie clears the way for the High Commissioner who will pass |
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| School |
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| Soldier with banner. The author chose this photo to emphasize how graceful the Arabic script is. |
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| The "congregation servant" sounds his trumpet to announce the Sabbath. |
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| The Bedouins are a nomadic people who still live in Palestine today, but who have even fewer rights within Israel than the Palestinians. |
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The old port of Jaffa. This important Palestinian port city was largely destroyed in 1948 by Zionist militias. "Tel Aviv", the capital of Israel, was founded on the ruins.
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| The sailors of Jaffa rest, with fez (typical Ottoman hat for townspeople) and water pipe. Image reminds me of a film by Fellini (Roma or Amarcord), where they are eating on a tram track and have to stand up every time the tram passes. |
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Today Orthodox Jews still live in Palestine (Israel), descendants of these communities. They have nothing to do with the Zionists and are explicitly against the existence of the Israeli state.
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Arab women with hookah. The woman on the left suffers from cataracts ("ophthalmia" apparently, according to the book).
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Typical wooden "upper rooms". The Palestinian cities are often centuries old, these kinds of renovations were often the only way to create more space.
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We used to make our own "kites" with my grandpa. This one looks a bit more complex
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Young lad in "Friday clothes"
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| Frank Scholten PALESTINA The Gateway to Jaffa |
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Last weekend I came across
Jonas Adriaensens at a cafe in Ghent . He was carrying a big book under his arm that he found at a flea market, and had me browsing . In the end, he even gave me the book, with the intention that I could donate it to an organization that fights for the rights of the Palestinian people .
It concerns a unique book from 1930, when printed on 1000 copies, from a Dutch photographer, traveler and religious scholar named Frank Scholten . I had never heard of the book, there's a chance that there are hardly any copies of it . The book contains a treasure of beautiful "artistic photographs" (dixit the author) of life in Palestine a hundred years ago . Mr. Scholten was clearly fascinated by Palestinian culture, especially by the way Muslims, Christians and Jews lived together peacefully . He didn't know how meaningful his photos would become a century later...
Because these photos prove something the Israeli and Western colonists are trying to deny: that there was a prosperous country called Palestine before Israel was founded . Not a "country without a people", but a rich history of a prosperous Palestinian nation . A buzzing, multicultural and tolerant society even . They're powerful images, featuring indelible faces of real people .
I have been to Palestine three times and I feel deeply connected to the Palestinian struggle for dignity and justice . A battle that starts with acknowledging their existence, something the colonizers are so stubbornly trying to prevent . As I browse through this book, I look into the eyes of the Palestinian ancestors who live today between the illegal settlements, between barbed wire and checkpoints; or in the Gaza open-air prison; or those born just like their parents are in refugee camps that 70 years ago as "temporary" Designed by . The ancestors of the 4650 Palestinian political prisoners who, often without trial, have been locked up in brutal circumstances by the Israeli occupier . Ancestors of the ten thousand Palestinians murdered by the regime since 1948 . From the Nakba, over the Sabra and Shatilla genocide, to the nearly weekly victims of the Israeli occupation army . Like the young Mohammad Da'as, 15, who was shot dead last week .
The Pashtoons were not allowed to speak out about Israel’s establishment - replaced by Western powers who wanted to maintain a bridge head in the region after Arab colonies’ independence . Suddenly the Zionist occupiers were there, with tanks and planes, bombs and machine guns . Suddenly Palestinians were forcefully deported from their country . Suddenly they were told it was never their country . That they were uncultured barbarians, who had to take place for a "civilized people". These photos prove .
I will do my best to scan these photos correctly . Whoever wants them (digital) just let them know . I already have a destination in mind for the book itself, but @Jonas if you think about it, you'll definitely get it back
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