Jerusalem: The Biography (165 page)
Read Jerusalem: The Biography Online
Authors: Simon Sebag-Montefiore
Tags: #Asian / Middle Eastern history
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The Families remain important in Jerusalem. After the death of Faisal Husseini, Arafat appointed the philosopher Sari Nusseibeh (cousin of Weejah), as Palestinian representative in Jerusalem, but sacked him after he rejected suicide bombings. The founder of al-Quds University, Nusseibeh remains the city’s intellectual maverick, admired by both sides. At the time of writing, the Palestinian representative for Jerusalem is Adnan al-Husseini; another cousin, Dr Rafiq al-Husseini, advises President Abbas. As for the Khalidis, Rashid Khalidi, the Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University in New York, advises Barack Obama.
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On a last visit to Jerusalem in 1992 before his death, Edward Said called the Church ‘an alien, run-down, unattractive place full of frumpy middle-aged tourists milling about in a decrepit and ill-lit area where Copts, Greeks, Armenians and other Christian sects nurtured their unattractive ecclesiastical gardens in sometimes open combat with each other’. The most famous sign of that open combat is a little ladder belonging to the Armenians on the balcony outside the right-hand window in the façade of the Church which tour guides claim can never be moved without other sects seizingit. In fact, the ladder leads to a balcony where the Armenian superior used to drink coffee with his friends and tend his flower garden: it is there so that the balcony can be cleaned.
An Orion ebook
First published in Great Britain in 2011 by Orion Books
This ebook first published in 2011 by Orion Books
© Simon Sebag Montefiore 2011
The right of Simon Sebag Montefiore to be identified as the author
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is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978 0 29785864 5
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Table of Contents
Notes on Names, Transliterations and Titles
13. Jewish Wars: The Death of Jerusalem
16. Sunset of the Byzantines: Persian Invasion
18. The Umayyads: The Temple Restored
19. The Abbasids: Distant Masters
20. The Fatimids: Tolerance and Lunacy
23. The Golden Age of Outremer
27. The Third Crusade: Saladin and Richard
31. The Magnificence of Suleiman
35. The New Romantics: Chateaubriand and Disraeli
43. The Oud -Player Of Jerusalem
45. Arab Revolt, Balfour Declaration
47. The Victors And The Spoils
51. Jewish Independence, Arab Catastrophe
Table of Contents
Notes on Names, Transliterations and Titles
13. Jewish Wars: The Death of Jerusalem
16. Sunset of the Byzantines: Persian Invasion
18. The Umayyads: The Temple Restored
19. The Abbasids: Distant Masters
20. The Fatimids: Tolerance and Lunacy
23. The Golden Age of Outremer
27. The Third Crusade: Saladin and Richard
31. The Magnificence of Suleiman
35. The New Romantics: Chateaubriand and Disraeli
43. The Oud -Player Of Jerusalem
45. Arab Revolt, Balfour Declaration
47. The Victors And The Spoils