HEBRON: It is the mother of hospices in Palestine, set up more than 700 years ago during the time of Saladin in 1279 as a resting place for passers-by and the poor.
The Abrahamic Hospice has maintained its presence in the city of Hebron over the centuries and continues to feed the hungry, even confronting the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Its general supervisor Luay Al-Khatib told Arab News that the hospice operated throughout the year, with the traditional Palestinian crushed wheat dish of jarisha being prepared and served most days.
Ramadan was no exception, and Al-Khatib estimated that 1,000 meals of rice, vegetables and meat were being prepared every day.
Last Ramadan the hospice served 500,000 meals, an increase from previous years due to the difficult economic conditions that people were facing because of the pandemic.
Al-Khatib did not believe that the hospice was only meant for the poor, as even Muslim delegations from overseas would visit the hospice and eat jarisha.
The hospice is a hive of activity and volunteers toil away, all while respecting the health and safety standards put in place to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Al-Khatib said the ongoing pandemic had made working in the hospice more difficult and that exceptional measures had been imposed, measures that had not been undertaken since the hospice was established.
Although the location of the hospice has changed twice during the last century, it remains near the Ibrahimi Mosque and in the heart of the old city.
It was called rabat or tablania, referring to the sounding of drums to mark the availability of meals near the mosque. It gains additional value from its proximity to the mosque, which is one of the world’s oldest and holds great religious significance as Muslims believe it was built on the tomb of Prophet Abraham.
Historians regard Hebron as being the birthplace for the idea of establishing hospices around the Muslim world and believe there is no known hospice older than the Abrahamic Hospice.
Chefs begin their work from dawn, preparing meals according to a daily program and distributing them early in the morning.
Al-Khatib said the hospice was keen to deliver meals to people who could not reach the site, in addition to providing food for those who were quarantined at home or in hospital.
Although the hospice is administratively affiliated with the Palestinian Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs, all of its expenses are covered by donations from people inside the city and out, with philanthropists competing to provide financial and in-kind support.
Hospices, which are called tekkiah in Arabic, flourished in Palestine during the era of the Fatimids, Ayyubids and Ottomans.
One of the most famous in Jerusalem is Tekke Khasky Sultan. It was set up by Sultana Roxelana, the wife of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.
Charitable hospices spread throughout Palestine as part of community initiatives.
They often became dedicated to providing food to the poor in refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, helping those who had been displaced from their cities and villages during the Nakba in 1948.
Hebron hospice feeding the hungry after more than 700 years
https://arab.news/9gafc
Hebron hospice feeding the hungry after more than 700 years
- Last Ramadan the hospice served 500,000 meals, an increase from previous years due to the difficult economic conditions that people were facing because of the pandemic
Syrian military tells civilians to evacuate contested area east of Aleppo amid rising tensions
- Syria’s military has announced it will open a “humanitarian corridor” for civilians to evacuate from an area in Aleppo province
- This follows several days of intense clashes between government forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces
DAMASCUS: Syria’s military said it would open a corridor Thursday for civilians to evacuate an area of Aleppo province that has seen a military buildup following intense clashes between government and Kurdish-led forces in Aleppo city.
The army’s announcement late Wednesday — which said civilians would be able to evacuate through the “humanitarian corridor” from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday — appeared to signal plans for an offensive in the towns of Deir Hafer and Maskana and surrounding areas, about 60 kilometers (40 miles) east of Aleppo city.
The military called on the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and other armed groups to withdraw to the other side of the the Euphrates River, to the east of the contested zone.
Syrian government troops have already sent troop reinforcements to the area after accusing the SDF of building up its own forces there, which the SDF denied. There have been limited exchanges of fire between the two sides, and the SDF has said that Turkish drones carried out strikes there.
The government has accused the SDF of launching drone strikes in Aleppo city, including one that hit the Aleppo governorate building on Saturday shortly after two Cabinet ministers and a local official held a news conference there.
The tensions in the Deir Hafer area come after several days of intense clashes last week in Aleppo city that ended with the evacuation of Kurdish fighters and government forces taking control of three contested neighborhoods. The fighting killed at least 23 people, wounded dozens more, and displaced tens of thousands.
The fighting broke out as negotiations have stalled between Damascus and the SDF, which controls large swaths of northeast Syria, over an agreement to integrate their forces and for the central government to take control of institutions including border crossings and oil fields in the northeast.
Some of the factions that make up the new Syrian army, which was formed after the fall of former President Bashar Assad in a rebel offensive in December 2024, were previously Turkiye-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.
The SDF for years has been the main US partner in Syria in fighting against the Daesh group, but Turkiye considers the SDF a terrorist organization because of its association with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged a long-running insurgency in Turkiye. A peace process is now underway.
Despite the long-running US support for the SDF, the Trump administration has also developed close ties with the government of interim Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa and has pushed the Kurds to implement the integration deal. Washington has so far avoided publicly taking sides in the clashes in Aleppo.
The SDF in a statement warned of “dangerous repercussions on civilians, infrastructure, and vital facilities” in case of a further escalation and said Damascus bears “full responsibility for this escalation and all ensuing humanitarian and security repercussions in the region.”
Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of US Central Command, said in a statement Tuesday that the US is “closely monitoring” the situation and called for “all parties to exercise maximum restraint, avoid actions that could further escalate tensions, and prioritize the protection of civilians and critical infrastructure.” He called on the parties to “return to the negotiating table in good faith.”
Al-Sharaa blasts the SDF
In a televised interview aired Wednesday, Al-Sharaa praised the “courage of the Kurds” and said he would guarantee their rights and wants them to be part of the Syrian army, but he lashed out at the SDF.
He accused the group of not abiding by an agreement reached last year under which their forces were supposed to withdraw from neighborhoods they controlled in Aleppo city and of forcibly preventing civilians from leaving when the army opened a corridor for them to evacuate amid the recent clashes.
Al-Sharaa claimed that the SDF refused attempts by France and the US to mediate a ceasefire and withdrawal of Kurdish forces during the clashes due to an order from the PKK.
The interview was initially intended to air Tuesday on Shams TV, a broadcaster based in Irbil — the seat of northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region — but was canceled for what the station initially said were technical reasons.
Later the station’s manager said that the interview had been spiked out of fear of further inflaming tensions because of the hard line Al-Sharaa took against the SDF.
Syria’s state TV station instead aired clips from the interview on Wednesday. There was no immediate response from the SDF to Al-Sharaa’s comments.
