Ossendowski and another Poles traverse the Holy Land

"From the terrace of my shelter led by Bishop Fellinger, something was shown to me about the existence of which barely anyone knows. On 1 of the narrow streets of the arabian territory stands a cottage taller than others and much neater. On the front the white signs: “House of Poland”. I visited, naturally, this one, but the Consulate of the Republic of Poland, a Polish outpost in the Holy Land. After a busy, long priestly life in Jerusalem, this home was acquired by the canon Marcin Pińciurek, expanded it, built it up and bought rather a dispute, located next to the square, on which any ruins with the Polish flag stuck over them are displayed. In the cottage there is simply a chapel, respective modestly furnished and equipped with essential bed linen of rooms, a bathroom and beautiful, drowning in flowering and flowering plants of the yard," Ferdinand Ossendowski wrote.

The Holy Land is the birthplace of Jesus. For Christians, these are the most crucial places. Poles have been going to the territories of present-day Israel and Palestine for centuries. The testimonies of Polish trips before the 14th century are not much. We know that the outstanding Polish chronicler Jan Długosz was on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. We know about Polish Crusaders who participated in the Second Crusade. The most common journeys, in recorded sources, begin from the 19th century. Pilgrimages to the Holy Land were held: Blessed Archbishop Antoni Nowowiejski, Fr Karol Niedziałkowski, Fr Adam Żółkiewski. Their records and diaries remained from the trip. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Polish home was established for doughnuts, so many of our countrymen moved in this area. Of course, the protagonist of my reports – Ferdinand Ossendowski, was besides going to the Holy Land. During planet War II, over 50,000 of our countrymen through Palestine. In 1944, 6 1000 Polish refugees (including over a 1000 Polish children) were present in the Rehowot, Jaffa, Haifa, Ain Karem, Bethany, Ramallah and Bethlehem war centers.

Today many Poles live in Israel, they are Jews of Polish origin, descendants of Holocaust survivors, or – in the aged – survivors of Shoa themselves. Irgun, a Zionist organization, building the foundations of the Israeli state, actually recruited from many Jews of Polish origin. Menachem Begin, leader of Irgun, later Israeli Prime Minister and Nobel Peace Prize winner, studied before planet War II at the University of Warsaw. To the mediate East he got in with Anders' Army, where the Polish general allowed judaic soldiers to leave the service, knowing that they wanted to fight in Palestine.

The past of the Holy Land is very complicated and marked with Jewish-Arab conflicts. My study is simply a journey through the ages, after history, to realize what the Holy Land is now, what the situation is, precisely what our country our country is in present – I want to mention this story. The Canaanites settled in the area of present - day Israel about 2500 B.C.E. In the 12th century B.C.E., the confederate part of Canaan was taken over by the tribes of Israel. In the 11th century B.C.E., the first of the Israeli kings began to rule. In the Old Testament and the Torah, there is simply a "show" of territories which the Almighty God--Jehovah granted to the Israelites. These lands were invaded by Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, Greece, Rome. The Romans called this land Palestine. Armed uprisings broke out in the Roman state of Judea. On August 4, 70, the Romans demolished the Temple of Jerusalem. In 636 these lands invaded Muslims. They were controlled by the clans of Ummajjads, Abbasids, Tulunids, Ichsids, Fatimids, Seljuks, Ajjubids and Mameluks' military fraternity. During the Crusade, the Crusaders fought against Muslims in these areas. The most crucial of the events on these lands was the birth of Jesus and his crucifixion about 33 C.E. From the 16th century to the 20th century there was the Ottoman Empire in these areas. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the judaic settlements in the region have been increasing and returning to the concept of reconstruction of the Israeli state. Especially after the genocide of the Holocaust, demands were raised in the global rebuilding of the State of Israel.

The United Kingdom held a mandate over Palestine, but there were intense Jewish-Arab fights (Escalating in 1947 until the civilian War). It was an armed conflict for control of the ground. London withdrew from its mandate, and an independent Israel uprising was announced on May 14, 1948. The UN adopted Resolution 181 on the division of Palestine into 2 states.

The First Israeli-Arab War broke out in 1948. Egyptian, Iraqi, Syrian, and Transjordan troops struck the judaic state. This was due to the failure of arabian countries to recognise the United Nations territorial division of Palestine. The arabian offensive was an effort to destruct the emerging Israel. little many but better organized and commanded fresh Israeli army defeated the arabian coalition. The truce agreements were signed in 1949. Israel gained fresh territories—Western Galilee, Western Negev, part of Jerusalem. Transjordania controlled Samaria, Judea, part of Jerusalem, Egypt retained the Gaza Strip. Today's territorial control of Israel developed in successive wars against the arabian state (in 1967 and 1973). triumph in the 1967 Six-Day War resulted in Israel taking over east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. The armed Palestinian uprising (first intifada) began in 1987. In 1994, the Israeli-Palestinian Agreements established Palestinian National Authorities. The president was Jasir Arafat. erstwhile he died, he was replaced by Mahmud Abbas. In 2013, Abbas appointed the State of Palestine to replace the Palestinian Authority, although Israel did not recognise the country's independence.

After the pandemic, the pilgrimage movement is not as many as it utilized to be. I walk through a gate covered from the top by a semi-rail topped with a cross. I am passed by fewer groups or individuals – spiritual sisters from different parts of the world, tourists. There is no crowd that was here before 2020. I found myself, so in a akin situation as Ossendowski – the communicative revolved around the time erstwhile travel was not so popular. I'm going to the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre. This is the destination of all pilgrim after Via Crucis. Ferdinand and I are on the Jesus trail.

“I was attracted to the ancient basilica of the Holy Sepulchre. Almost all block of its walls, all tile of the floor, all object located in the main nave, in chapels and in various parts of this immense structure – it appeals to the imagination and Christian feeling," Ferdinand Ossendowski wrote. “Touring the basilica and Jerusalem, pilgrims meet many of these direct relics after Christ. I have already mentioned a shard of stone closing the entrance to the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, where the body of the Savior was laid. In the chapel of Angel, or at the vestibule of the Holy Sepulchre, the remainder of this stone," he added.

I'm traveling further, ahead, where Ossendowski is. I look from the terrace at 1 of the Israeli settlements. Like the Polish writer, I sat down with a local household for dinner. All generations of families, household Nestor – Szlomo, Pole and Jew, who left Poland in the 1950s, gathered. His children and grandchildren. I'm a war reporter, so there are questions about Ukraine, about war. In return, I learn that only but for children who run around the table, all household members served in the army – men and women. No exception. The children are waiting, too, due to the fact that this is what Israel looks like. The military is an work and besides a forge of judaic patriotism. The evening brings the dream chill, after a full day of walks in sinter. I remember candles burning in many Christian temples I passed in the Holy Land. I have a minute to look at the pictures. I already know that although the Fires did not die out as Ossendowski warned, many of his teachings about this place are inactive valid. The underestimated Polish literature giant one more time kidnapped a Polish traveler on an amazing journey. “Poles in this country have done a lot, they have done a lot,” my interviewer in Israel emphasizes. "Polish language is popular here, and was especially popular a fewer generations back," he adds.

_{Graphics: Wikimedia Commons}

_{Travel quotes by Ferdinand Antoni Ossendowski for: Antoni Ferdinand Ossendowski, Gasning Fires – a journey to Palestine, Syria and Mesopotamia, ZYSK I S-KA Publishing House, Poznań 2011}

_{As part of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage scholarship}