A Free Moment

The piece was shot in a built structure located on a hill in north-east Jerusalem, known as 'Tell el-Ful'. Construction work for King Hussein of Jordan's Summer palace started there in 1966 by the royal Jordanian family. The hill was a site of Jordanian-Israeli battles during the Six-Day War (1967) and the area was eventually occupied by Israeli forces. The building of the palace was never completed, and the concrete skeleton remains in Israeli territory until this day. The structure is at 840 meters above sea level and is overlooking Jerusalem's old city, the Israeli settlement Pisgat-Ze'ev, Palestinian Authority areas including the suburbs of Ramallah and almost the whole width of the State of Israel, from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean. Archaeological excavations have revealed remains, in and around the hill, from several historical periods: the Copper age, the Neo-Babylonian, Hasmonean and Roman periods. Scholars identify the site as Gibeah, in which King Saul built his fortress (1 Samuel 8-31). (Chelouche Gallery)