06.02.2012                      13.Schwat. 5772

Feature:

The finest photographs of early 20th century Palestine, shuttered in controversy

The family of Armenian refugee and photographer Elia Kahvedjian is fighting to preserve his legacy.

On the counter of the small photography shop Photo Elia in the Old City of Jerusalem lies an early 20th century picture of the Western Wall, which appears squeezed among the homes of the Mughrabi Quarter that no longer exists. To contemporary Israeli eyes, there is something striking about the scene of worshippers: Women and men are praying together in public.
Another photograph shows the flight of the German Zeppelin here in 1931. The gigantic airship hovers in black and white like a strange UFO above the Old City. In a third picture, large sailboats are seen in the Yarkon estuary; in a fourth, a European-style clock tower rises above the Jaffa gate and in a fifth the Kapulsky chain of cafes is seen in its humble beginnings: a small coffee wagon with a sign that reads "Kapulsky" at the edge of Jerusalem's Zion Square….