Photography | Palestine

Al-Aqsa Mosque and al-Haram al-Sharif, al-Quds (Jerusalem) المسجد الأقصى

Series: A photographic tour of Palestine narrated by quotes from my book, Fugitive Dreams: Chronicles of Occupation and Resistance.

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Skyline from the Haram’s courtyard (Photo by the author, 2013).

al-Haram al-Sharif compound on the southeast corner of the Old City, seen from the Mount of Olives. The Dome of the Rock is the golden dome at the center, and the Aqsa mosque is to the left by the southern wall. Wadi Kadroun (Kidron Valley) in the foreground, lined with cemeteries, is where the resurrection is to take place (Photo by the author, 2004).

Entering the Haram

“Early next morning, I surveyed Jerusalem from my hotel room window. Little changed, apart from a new major road cutting through its center (at the dividing line between East and West). After lunch with the Bakers, one of their sons, also named Hakeem, took me on a walking tour of the Old City. Since it was a strike day, everything was closed except for the holy places and the gift shops. We wandered through the narrow alleys, finding our way to the Holy Sepulchre Church, then to the al-Haram al-Sharif area housing the Dome of the Rock and the Aqsa Mosque.”