Just 10 years after the first Wright Brothers flight at Kitty Hawk, the first aircraft landed in Jerusalem on December 31, 1913, flown by a Frenchman, Marc Bonnier. The flight was part of a seven-week tour of the Mediterranean that began and ended in France.
Bonnier lands in Jerusalem, 1913. The man on the far right appears
to be the mayor of Jerusalem, Salim Hussein el-Husseini. Note
the unidentified Jewish man on the left. (Library of Congress)
On May 1, 1914, Turkish aviators Salim Bey and Kemal Bey landed their aircraft in Jerusalem. After that flight, military aircraft began to fill the skies over Palestine.
Turkish plane in Jerusalem, 1914
The early aircrafts' biggest military advantage was its ability to provide reconnaissance data of enemy troops' deployment. In that regard, the plane's advantage was slightly more than the observation balloons used by armies two centuries earlier. But quickly machine guns and bombs were added to the planes, and air combat and ground support changed the nature of modern warfare.
German reconnaissance flight over Ramla, 1915 (Australian
War Memorial)
Turkey utilized aircraft to provide intelligence during its 1916 attack on the Suez Canal and to observe British troops' two attempts to capture Gaza in early 1917.
By the fall of 1917, German and Turkish aircraft had to be stopped from reporting back on British commanders' plan to unleash a flank attack against Be'er Sheva. The challenge was met by British and Australian planes, and the Turks at the Be'er Sheva garrison and in Gaza were caught unprepared.
German planes near Gaza
Turkish anti-aircraft guns, 1917
Aerial photo of Jerusalem taken by German pilot in 1917. (Library of Congress)
Click here for another view. By the end of 1917, Jerusalem was in British hands.
German and Turkish officers at the
funeral of a German pilot in Nazareth (Desert Column)
Memorial plaque in Jenin for
fallen German pilots 
German plane captured by Australian soldiers, 1917.
Pilot is behind the plane's left wing. (ANZACS.org)
Australian aircraft in Palestine, 1918 (Australian
War Memorial)
The Library of Congress and the Australian War Memorial provide many photographs of the combat aircraft, the men who flew them, and the graves of those who fell.
Click on the photos to enlarge. Click on the captions to see the originals.
Do you want to see every edition of the Israel Daily Picture? Enter your email address in the box in the right hand column and click on "submit."- DEC16
R.I.P. Actor Peter O'Toole, But Here's the Real "Lawrence of Arabia" With addition of photo of Lawrence with General Allenby in Jerusalem
The real T.E. Lawrence, Hero of World War I (Wikimedia) 
Peter O'Toole as T. E. Lawrence "of Arabia"
H/T: AA
Winston Churchill, Lawrence, and Prince Abdullah meeting
in Jerusalem (Library of Congress archives, 1921)
The death of actor Peter O'Toole this week reminded many of his remarkable 1962 film "Lawrence of Arabia" depicting the World War I exploits of a British officer, T. E. Lawrence.
Lawrence is credited with uniting Arab tribes in Arabia against the ruling Ottoman Empire and, through the use of guerrilla tactics, assisting the British war effort to defeat the Turks.
While the film succeeds in portraying the Arab revolt as an important aspect of World War I, it takes some liberties in the facts, starting with the physical differences of O'Toole (6 feet 3 inches - 190 cm) and Lawrence (a diminutive 5 feet 3 inches - 160 cm). The film also does not present the full extent of Lawrence's diplomatic activities.
Lawrence (left) in conversation with British commander
Edmund Allenby when he entered Jerusalem after its
surrender in December 11, 1917. (Screen capture)
The secret Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916 divided up the Middle East between colonial powers, France and Great Britain, contrary to promises made by Lawrence to his Arab allies. But after World War I, Lawrence became a publicly acclaimed hero, and he successfully pressed for the granting of territories to his Hashemite allies from the Arabian Hedjaz. Syria (and then Iraq), would be ruled by King Feisal, and Transjordan would be ruled by Emir Abdullah.
Lawrence can be seen in a film commemorating the surrender of Jerusalem in December 1917. According to the Imperial War Museum synopsis accompanying the film:
The General entered Jerusalem on 11 December, accompanied by his staff (T. E. Lawrence ["Lawrence of Arabia"] among them), French and Italian officers, and various other international representatives.
The Weizmann-Feisal meeting brokered by Lawrence
In the course of his work with the Hashemites, T. E. Lawrence introduced Feisal to Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann in December 1918 and served as their interpreter. According to historian Martin Gilbert, Weizmann recorded in his notes, "Feisal explained that 'it was curious there should be friction between Jews and Arabs in Palestine.'" [Weizmann would later become Israel's first president.]
Gilbert continued: "On January 3, 1919, Feisal and Weizmann met again in London, to sign an 'Agreement between the King of the Hedjaz and the Zionists.' Lawrence, who was once again the guiding hand in this agreement, hoped that it would ensure what he, Lawrence, termed 'the lines of Arab and Zionist policy converging in the not distant future.'"
"On March 1, 1919 Lawrence, while in Paris as the senior British representative with the Hedjaz Delegation, drafted and then wrote out in his own hand a letter from Feisal to the American Zionist Felix Frankfurter. In this letter, Feisal declared, 'We Arabs, especially the educated among us, look with the deepest sympathy on the Zionist movement.'”
Lawrence in the front seat, Samuel in
the back at the meeting in Transjordan (1921)
According to the Library of Congress' description of these hand-colored pictures, "The photographs show meetings between Arab, Bedouin, and British officials around April 17-27, 1921, at Amir Abdullah ibn Hussein's camp at Amman, Jordan. During these meetings British High Commissioner Herbert Samuel proclaimed Amir Abdullah as the ruler of Transjordan, under British protection."
The new British High Commissioner to Palestine,
Herbert Samuel, flanked by Lawrence and
Abdullah (hand-colored, 1921)
Lawrence was a key player in the meeting.
One of the photographers at the Amman meeting was John Whiting, a member of the original "American Colony" family and member of the Colony's photographic department. He was also a member of British intelligence and almost certainly had contact with Lawrence.
In 1922, the British split off Transjordan from the Mandate of Palestine. In 1946, the Mandate of Transjordan became the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. In the 1948 war with Israel, Jordan occupied the "West Bank" of the Jordan River and annexed it in 1950. The annexation was not recognized by the vast majority of the world's countries, including the members of the Arab League.0Add a comment
Jerusalem under blanket of snow. View from the Christian Quarter showing the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,
Mosque of Omar on the Temple Mount and Mt. of Olives. (circa 1900)
Strong rain, winds and snow storms are hitting the Middle East this week. And snow is falling today in Jerusalem, the Golan and parts of the Galilee.
We present here pictures of snow in Jerusalem taken early in the 20th century and found in the Library of Congress collection.
British soldiers at the Western Wall (1921)
Children of the "American Colony" (1921). These pictures were hand-colored and found in a Colony family album. 
Children of the "American Colony" playing in the snow (1921)
"Snow-balling" on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem (1942)
Australian soldiers and Arabs "snow-balling" (1942) 0Add a comment
- DEC11
On this Day, December 11, Gen. Edmund Allenby Entered Jerusalem after the British Rout of the Turkish-German Army in 1917. Re-posting an earlier feature
Photographers accompanied the Imperial British Army forces throughout the battles of World War I in Palestine, starting at the Suez Canal in 1915 and continuing through the capture of Damascus in 1918.
Allenby entering Jerusalem December 11, 1917
Turkish Camel Corps in Be'er Sheva (1917, Library of Congress archives)
The grand scale of the fighting in Palestine is not fully recognized today even by historians, with attention often focused on the European front. One statistic may put the fighting into perspective: The British army suffered more than half a million casualties; the Turks even more.
The Israel Daily Picture site has presented hundreds of pictures of the fighting between the British Imperial Forces and the Turkish and German forces on the battlefields of Sinai, Gaza, Be'er Sheva, and Jerusalem. Most of the photographs, such as those on this page, were found in the U.S. Library of Congress' American Colony collection.
Click on a picture to enlarge.
Click on the caption to view the original picture.
Austrian army troops approaches Jerusalem's Jaffa Gate (1916) 
Turkish troops preparing to attack the Suez Canal 1915
We present below a film from the British Imperial War Museum of British Commander Edmund Allenby's entrance into Jerusalem on December 11, 1917.
According to the Imperial War Museum synopsis accompanying the film:
General Allenby walking through the Jaffa Gate into the Old City of Jerusalem. Click HERE to view the video
The General entered Jerusalem on 11 December, accompanied by his staff (T. E. Lawrence ["Lawrence of Arabia"] among them), French and Italian officers, and various other international representatives. At the Jaffa gate he was greeted by a guard of Commonwealth and Allied troops; dismounting, he and his comrades entered the city on foot, as instructed. Allenby had been less than fifteen minutes in the city. After 400 years of Ottoman rule, Jerusalem had passed into British hands..0Add a comment
We present here Part 2 from the Church of Ireland Library's photographic collection of pictures taken by David Brown in 1897. View Part 1HERE
Carriage parking lot outside of Jerusalem's Old City's Jaffa Gate and beneath David's Citadel. The photo pre-dates
the opening made adjacent to Jaffa Gate to enable entrance of the German Emperor's carriage in 1898. View
inside Jaffa Gate HERE Credit: RCB Library, 1897).
The Church of Ireland's Representative Church Body Library's full collection can be viewed HERE.
The photos here are presented with the permission of the RCB Library.
Click on pictures to enlarge; click on the captions to view the original photo. Subscribe to receivewww.israeldailypicture.com in your email by entering your address in the right sidebar.
On the road to the Jerusalem train station with Jaffa Gate and David's Citadel in the background. Other 19th
Century photographers also used this same perspective for a landscape picture of Jerusalem.
(Credit: RCB Library, 1897)
Rachel's tomb between Jerusalem and Bethlehem (Credit: RCB Library, 1897) View a previous feature on
Rachel's tomb HERE
Money changer in Jerusalem (apparently Jewish). A picture of money changers was also a standard photo taken by
photographers visiting the Holy Land, perhaps because of the New Testament story of Jesus and the money changers.
View an earlier posting on money changers and their unique tables HERE. (Credit: RCB Library, 1897)
"Plowing with an ox and ass" -- the original caption. This is another standard picture by 19th century photographers,
apparently because of the Biblical prohibition "Thou shall not plow with an ox and an ass together" (Deuteronomy XX).
View a previous posting on photographing Biblical prohibitions HERE. (Credit: RCB Library, 1897)
Responsible Archivists Preserve Their Photographic Treasures
The Golden Gate of the Old City. The sealed gates, the closest to the location of the Jewish Temples, face the
Mt. of Olives. View a previous posting on the Golden Gate, also known as Sha'ar Harachamim, HERE.
(Credit: RCB Library, 1897)0Add a comment
In 2011, Rev. Stephen White brought to Dublin several old cardboard boxes found in the old Church of Ireland Killaloe deanery in Limerick. He delivered them to Dr. Susan Hood, the archivist for the Church of Ireland's Representative Church Body Library.
What a treasure looks like. Boxes of lantern slides -- the precursor to
photographic slides and slide projectors
Dr. Hood understood she had
just received a photographic treasure: hundreds of century-old "lantern slides" of sites in Ireland, India, and the Holy Land.
Coming ashore at Jaffa Port (Credit: RCB Library, 1897). Note the
Turkish flag flying
Dr. Hood deserves credit for preserving the images, digitizing them last year and posting them on the RCB's homepage.
We thank her for granting us permission to publish the RCB photographs.
Last year, Dr. Hood and BBC undertook an investigation to discover the name of hitherto anonymous photographer. They were able to identify him as David Brown, a soap manufacturer from Donaghmore who was also an amateur photographer. In 1897 he joined a pilgrimage led by his brother in law, a Presbyterian minister from Northern Ireland.
We present here Part 1 of the RCB Library Collection.
Click on pictures to enlarge. Click on the caption to view the original.
Damascus Gate (Credit: RCB Library, 1897) View inside Damascus Gate HERE
View Herod's Gate HERE
View Lions Gate HERE
Jews praying at the Western "Wailing" Wall. The day is a Sabbath or Jewish Festival since the men are wearing
their Sabbath finery, including fur hats. The photograph is very unusual since in virtually all of the other 19th
century pictures at the Wall men are not wearing their customary prayer shawls (talitot) perhaps because of a
Jewish prohibition of carrying objects on the Sabbath, or because of the harassment of Muslim authorities.
(Credit: RCB Library, 1897)
Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The man on the right is believed to be the photographer, David Brown. Note
the Turkish soldier on duty inside the Church. (Credit: RCB Library, 1897). A Turkish soldier was also on guard
in Joseph's Tomb in Shechem (Nablus). See below.
Joseph's Tomb (Credit: RCB Library, 1897). Certain
pictures, such as this one, were almost obligatory to
all visiting photographers assembling a travelogue.
Turkish guard inside Joseph's Tomb (Library
of Congress 1900)
Next: Part 2 of the Irish Church collection
A "hides market," according to the RCB's Library caption, but no location is given. Actually, the photo is taken
in Jerusalem at the entrance of the Al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount. Looming over the complex
on the hill is the Tifferet Yisrael Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter (Credit: RCB Library, 1897). The
synagogue was destroyed along with the Jewish Quarter in 1948.
To read more on the Church of Ireland RCB Library collection and its discovery click HERE andHERE and HERE
2View comments
We are always on the lookout for libraries and archives digitizing their collections of photographs of the Holy Land from the 19th and early 20th centuries. In future weeks we hope to present vintage pictures from Ireland, Arizona, and California archives.
A photograph from the Emory collection published last month. We
enlarged the sign, but were unable to decipher all of the writing.
Why? Because the photos are valuable historical evidence of Jewish life in Eretz Yisrael 150 years ago, well before Theodore Herzl and the Zionist idea, years before the Holocaust and the State of Israel's establishment.
Moreover, as we research we often find pictures of better quality and with greater detail, such as these pictures of the money changer in the Old City.
The sign in the Emory collection
listing Rabbi Kook as the
rabbinic supervisor. To what?
The money changer?
The same picture -- not brown from age and without cropping. This photo will
appear in a future feature on a California university's collection. The full
sign in Hebrew and Yiddish shows an advertisement for cheese. Another
sign advertises a printing shop
The full sign advertises cheese
products made in Chedera with
the supervision of Rabbi Kook of
Jaffa. The ad promotes" spoiled
butter and cheese," which, when
fried, was considered a delicacy
Click on pictures to enlarge.
Click on captions to view the original.
The differences
between two pictures
"Jerusalem - Road to the Station." The road starts at the Jaffa Gate
and passes over the Hinom Valley and Sultan's Pool (Chatham
University Archives, circa 1895)
We recently published incredible hand-colored slides from Chatham University.
The adjacent picture, although scratched and dark, is a beautiful landscape scene of the area between the Jerusalem train station and Jaffa Gate.
Below it is a slide of the same picture from the Library of Congress' mint collection of pictures from the Holy Land. The initials P.Z. on the bottom left of the picture indicates that it was produced by at the Photochrom and Photoglob company in Zurich in the mid-1890s. According to the Library of Congress, photochrom prints are "ink-based images produced through the direct photographic transfer of an original negative on litho and chromographic printing plates.
Several hand-colored pictures have appeared in www.israeldailypicture.com in the last two years. We will publish a feature on the Library of Congress' photochrome collection in the near future.
Road to Jerusalem station (Library of Congress collection) 0Add a comment
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Re-posting - History of Aviation in the Holy Land: Military Aircraft Filled the Skies - picture a day
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