East Jerusalem Noir: Not Very Suspenseful Stories of East Jerusalem

 So I read East Jerusalem Noir edited by Rawya Jarjara Burbara, an anthology of stories taking place in East Jerusalem.  All the stories were written in Arabic and translated into English.  I was expecting them to be mysteries, but they didn't seem very mysterious or suspenseful.  They averaged to a B grade for the anthology.  That means that I thought the anthology was good, but not very good and certainly not excellent.

                                                 

 

The story that stood out was "Fleeing From The Assyrian Soldiers" by Ziad Khadash.  It totally revolutionized my view of the Biblical period.  

The King Melchizedek is said to be the ruler of Salem which was how Jerusalem was referred to before it was conquered by David, the King of the Kingdom of Judah.  In Hebrew Salem could be Shaleym which means complete, or it could be Shalom which means peace.  Melchizedek could be translated as "my king is just" which is a justificatory name.  

Since Y's often become J's , and the "Sh" sound often becomes an S in transliteration, Jerusalem could originally have been Yerusha L'am in Hebrew which would mean the inheritance of the nation. This is educated speculation on my part.   Of course, King David conquered Jerusalem.  It wasn't an inheritance. 

The original inhabitants of Jerusalem were a Canaanite tribe called Jebusites. The city was called Jebus.  Yebus means "trampled place" according to Ziad Khadash.  I'd imagine that the city was trampled when King David's army invaded.  Khadash depicts the Jebusites as continuing to live in Jebus during the reign of King David.  Bathsheba, who was the mother of Solomon, David's successor, is alleged to be a Jebusite in Khadash's tale. This would mean that the royal house of the Kings of Judah was part Jebusite.  From the Biblical perspective, that's quite extraordinary.   

I also found a story called "An Astronaut in Jerusalem" by Iyad Shamasnah memorable. In this tale,  a boy who wanted to be an astronaut drew galaxies and constellations.  The boy's father died while he was attending al-Quds University.  When he returned home after graduation, he sat on his father's grave and wept. As a result of his father's death, he had inherited the family home.  The Israeli settlement commander gave him a large check in return for giving up the house.  He refused the payment.  He actually ripped up the check.  He probably could have gone anywhere in the world with that money, but his family's home meant more to him. Would I have ripped up the check? Probably not, but I understood the protagonist's perspective and could feel empathy for him.