| Submit your comments on this article |
| Israel-Palestine |
| The mother of all Palestinian modern-day curses |
| 2004-12-14 |
| During a Dead Sea-area dig in 2002, Prof. Yizhar Hirschfeld discovered two small packages wrapped in cloth. The contents of one of them, just recently made public, was a scathing curse aimed at Israeli leaders. "Oh God almighty, I beg you God to destroy Ariel Sharon, son of Devorah, son of Eve." Thus opens a unique text, written in eloquent Arabic, on parchment found more than two years ago at the bottom of the Dead Sea. "Destroy all his supporters, loyal aides and confidants, and all those who love him and whom he loves among the human beings and among devils and demons," the anonymous writer continues with his curse. The Dead Sea leaves those who visit it with a doleful impression. It is evaporating fast and needs artificial resuscitation. The once grand inlet in its southern part now has dry patches. Sinkholes are opening around it, endangering anyone walking on the shore. The Dead Sea at various times has been a bustling center of human activity. Hebrew University Prof. Yizhar Hirschfeld spent years studying the region. In August 2002, he started digging near Matzad Kidron (Hirbat Mazen in Arabic) in the remnants of a magnificent fortress that belonged to Hasmonean King Alexander Yanai from 103 to 76 BCE, south of the Einot Zukim reserve. The fortress' walls are well-preserved, rising five or six meters high. This fortress was, in fact, a shipyard and housed Alexander Yanai's royal ship, Hirschfeld says. In his book "Longing for the Desert: The Dead Sea Valley in the Time of the Second Temple," he explains that the fortress' location was chosen for its solid land, as opposed to the swampy shifting land north of it. This meant boats could be brought close to the shore and towed to the shipyard. The Dead Sea's rapidly sinking level, an ecological hazard, is a blessing to archaeologists. At certain points, the sea has receded up to 200 meters from the beach, and explorers are now digging in the exposed land. In August 2002, Hirschfeld and his team dug up 2,500 bronze coins inscribed "King Jonathan," Alexander Yanai's Hebrew name. These coins are part of what is known as "the Dead Sea treasure" - hundreds of thousands of coins that may have fallen from one of the king's ships. They were discovered more than 15 years ago, and several others have been discovered since. "The people who worked with me searched a few dozen meters offshore and kept finding more and more coins," Hirschfeld says. One of his aides, Yoav Lupen, found something else 20 meters from the shore - two small packages of parchment wrapped in cloth, soaked in a preservative substance with a pungent odor resembling turpentine, and folded in sheets of lead. The packages were handed over to antiquities' preserver Orna Cohen, who opened one of them. It contained a modern, astonishingly venomous curse script. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #10 by now? Notice the lack of a smile by anyone within 10 yds of the Muqata before.... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-12-14 9:43:29 PM |
| #9 The thought of digging him up when we only finally put him under ground is too terrible to bear Not to mention he smells by now ... heh. |
| Posted by: too true 2004-12-14 9:24:24 PM |
| #8 OK, so long as you get a stand-in for Arafat. The thought of digging him up when we only finally put him under ground is too terrible to bear. Put me down for 100 shares. I'll hide it in the housekeeping budget somehow. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2004-12-14 9:00:37 PM |
| #7 Trailing wife, This is just the beginning, the best is yet to come. I announce the first Palestinian full featured western :"Cursed by Allah rides agin", Starring the late Arafat, Clint Eastwood and Eli Wallach, with a guest performance by Jimmah Carter. |
| Posted by: EoZ 2004-12-14 5:31:38 PM |
| #6 I think you're on to something, Elder. As written Arabic is lovely to look upon, I would suggest that they start with a variety of sizes suitable for framing, and t-shirts in various sizes and colours. If the "artists" provide a translation on the back in the usual EU languages, the European aborigines will be thrilled to hang such 'native art' on their walls and bodies. In fact, it would probably sell well in North America for the same reasons, just as t-shirts with Japanese sold well over here, and t-shirts with English were a fad in Japan. Then, too, busy people don't have time to blow things up..... |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2004-12-14 12:32:29 PM |
| #5 As the Palestinian economy is not in a good condition right now, I have a wonderfull Idea for them : Export their curses abroad. I am sure the Europeans will stand in line for buying genuine "100% Palestinian Curses(TM)", against Dubia and the US in general. Perhaps Madonna is also interested in one :) |
| Posted by: Elder of Zion 2004-12-14 9:31:55 AM |
| #4 Sounds pretty rhizomatic to me. A modern English prof would give him an "A". |
| Posted by: Spot 2004-12-14 9:22:59 AM |
| #3 Ah, the fabled 115th chapter of the Koran has been found (by a Jew no less). |
| Posted by: ed 2004-12-14 8:30:54 AM |
| #2 It seems that these are retrograde curses. Instead of affecting Israel, the curse backfired and finished Arafat, the lord of the flies, master of the house of Harkonen ;) |
| Posted by: Elder of Zion 2004-12-14 8:18:53 AM |
| #1 Freshman English 101: Creative Writing for non-majors. but the text provides clues pointing to his identity That poor person no doubt is now praying as hard as he cursed, that the famed Israeli scientists don't decide he must be found. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2004-12-14 7:54:41 AM |