#ashkelon

Holiday Inn Hotel in Ashkelon (was later known as Harlington hotel, now called Galei Tamar), Designed by Yaakov and Amnon Rechter circa 1998-2000.

(Quds) Israeli occupation forces arrested foreign journalist and human rights activist Andrey X in Tel Aviv after he put a “Free Palestine” sticker on a memorial in Sderot.

In a post on his account after being released following four days in an Israeli jail, he confirmed that he was assaulted before being abducted and was severely beaten by the forces with no reason other than their sadistic pleasure.

UPDATE: Approximately 10 rockets were fired by Hamas from Gaza, most of the rockets were successfully intercepted by the IDF. Initial reports of impacts in Ashkelon, southern Israel. No physical injuries reported thus far. Vehicles damaged. Updates to follow.

Every (hopefully) person I just met in Ashkelon has fled their homes. The woman who helped me sort out my change in a corner store without a cash register screen. The man who welcomed me to his country. The families in the park celebrating Shabbat together with music and food. The gift shop woman who consistently got me a strawberry slushy.

This was the city that was bombed. This was the city they evacuated. They were not other. They were not lesser.

These people are losing a home for who knows how long. These people are losing their lives and their friends and their family and the people who smile at them when they walk down the street and their doctors and their bankers and every employee that’s ever given them change back.

Yet there are people cheering in the streets on both sides of this fight.

I went to the Southern Levant to study a culture long lost. To revive our knowledge of it and to understand it for what it was and what it means for us now. But I do not care to uncover something lost if I do not have anyone to give it back to.

People are dying. Civilians and soldiers alike. People are being massacred on both sides. People are dying.

6,000-Year-Old Copper Fishhook Discovered in Israel

The hook, most likely used for catch sharks or other large marine animals, will be exhibited on April 3 at the 48th Archaeological Congress.

A 6,000-year-old copper fishhook—one of the oldest ever found—was discovered in 2018 during excavations prior to the construction of the new Agamim neighborhood in Ashkelon, the Israel Antiquity Authority (IAA) revealed on Wednesday.

The hook, most likely used to catch sharks or other large marine animals, will be exhibited on April 3 at the 48th Archaeological Congress.

“This unique find is 6.5 cm long and 4 cm wide, its large dimensions making it suitable for hunting 2–3 m long sharks or large tuna fish. More ancient fishhooks found previously were made of bone and were much smaller than this one,” said the IAA’s Yael Abadi-Reiss, co-director of the excavation.

“The use of copper began in the Chalcolithic period, and it is fascinating to discover that this technological innovation was applied in antiquity for the production of fishhooks for fishermen along the Mediterranean coast,” she added.

In the Chalcolithic period there were large villages around Ashkelon, whose economies were based on agricultural practices still common today, such as the pasturing of sheep, goat and cattle, the cultivation of wheat, barley and legumes and the tending of fruit orchards.

“We learn about the dietary habits of the people who lived here 6,000 years ago from the remains of animal bones found in ancient rubbish pits, from burnt wheat grains found in ovens, and from the hunting, cooking and food-processing tools retrieved, including flint sickles, and a variety of pottery vessels that served for the storage, cooking and the conservation of food by fermentation and salting,” said Abadi-Reiss.