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Jill, Duchess of Hamilton
whose books also appear under
Jill Hamilton
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Articles on Jill
Hamilton
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ABC radio Australia - Interview
with Steve Price and Phil Smith.
August 10, 2004
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The Daily Telegraph UK
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The Duchess who
likes squashing myths
By Damian Thompson.
September 11, 2005
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The Sunday Times Scotland
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Stone’s biblical past is exposed as myth
by Mark Macaskill and Jason Allardyce.
September 18, 2005
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The
Spectator -
The dog and
duchess by Jeffrey
Bernard.
July 3,
1993
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The Catholic Herald
- Let the faith
blossom. Jill, Duchess of Hamilton on the lost
art of Christian gardening.
March 18, 2007
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ABC radio Australia
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The Daily Telegraph
September 11, 2005
The Duchess who
likes squashing myths
By Damian Thompson
Jill,
Duchess of Hamilton, has just come back from an expedition to
Palestine. "If the Second Coming were to happen tomorrow," she
reports, "Jesus would think he'd landed near Bondi Beach."
That
seems a crazy statement until you realise that the duchess is referring
to the widespread planting of the hardy Australian eucalyptus in the
Middle East. Although a proud Aussie herself, she believes
passionately that foreign plants and trees don't belong in the Holy
Land-or London, for that matter
But that
wasn't the reason for her expedition. It was indignation at the
neglect of Palestinian archaeological sites that led this historian
and conservationist - before her divorce, Scotland's premier
noblewoman - to clamber over a huge boulder separating Israeli from
Palestinian territory.
On the
Palestinian side, in the Arab village of Beitin, is the biblical
Bethel. This is the traditional site of "Jacob's pillow", the piece
of rock on which the patriarch laid his head while having his famous
dream in the Book of Genesis.
According to legend, the pillow is none other then the Stone of
Scone, the ancient symbol of Scottish kingship which was captured by
Edward I in 1292 and brought to Westminster Abbey to be placed under
the English coronation throne.
But what
Jill discovered as she poked around the site points in a completely
different direction - and therefore, in a funny way, rocks the
foundation of the monarchy.
"As a
child in Sydney, I was brought up on the story of Jacob's Pillow,"
says Jill. "In fact I must have read the Bible or had it read to me
every day of my childhood."
The
experience left her with an intense curiosity about the Middle East
- that, and the fact that her father was a trooper with the 10th
Light Horse who beat Lawrence of Arabia into the Syrian capital by a
few hours in 1918.
Five
years ago, she wrote a book, First to Damascus, about the advance of
the Australian Light across the desert. In fact, she is now a
serious scholar, and is just embarking on a PhD at London
University's School of African and Oriental Studies. Her other
project, in conjunction with the local council, is to persuade
Fulham bus passengers to nominate places to plant trees along their
routes.....
Read the
complete article at:
www.telegraph.co.uk
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The Sunday Times - Scotland
September 18, 2005
Stone’s biblical past is exposed as myth
by Mark Macaskill and Jason Allardyce
ACCORDING to legend, it was used as a “pillow” by Jacob, the founder
of Israel, as he dreamt of angels ascending to heaven on a ladder.
The fabled Stone of Destiny was then taken from Palestine to the
north, where it became the ancient symbol of Scottish kingship.
After spending centuries resting at Westminster Abbey, it takes
pride of place in the Great Hall of Edinburgh Castle. Now the
Duchess of Hamilton claims to have unearthed evidence that unpicks
the myth. She says she has proof that the stone, far from
originating in the Middle East, was mined somewhat closer to home —
Perthshire, in fact.
Jill Hamilton, the author and historian, took rock samples from the
Palestinian village of Beitin, the traditional site of Jacob’s
epiphany...
Read the
complete article at:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2090-1786116,00.html
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The
Spectator
July 3,
1993
The dog and
duchess
by Jeffrey
Bernard
I have received many
enquiries as to the true identity of last week's duchess. My lips
must remain sealed except for one of her kisses and the chance of
that would be a fine thing. It niggled some in the Groucho Club last
Thursday when I took her there for lunch for they wondered how come
a duchess would break bread with a dissolute tippler. I have no
answer to that myself but then this life has never been so low as
three successive editors of The Spectator have liked to believe.
Even when Taki's dateline was Pentonville and mine was Barbados
there was a little disbelief here.
Anyway, the duchess
took me to lunch on Sunday. We met a little time before the bar
opened and she had the foresight to bring a vacuum flask of ice-cold
vodka, some carbonated mineral water and some smoked salmon.
Actually that wasn't just foresight, it was saintly. I have never
had even a wife who would have thought of that. In fact, a wife
would try to discourage a drink long after the bar had opened.
The roast beef we had
for lunch was excellent. Unfortunately I couldn't finish it because
the sight of the duchess sitting opposite me brought a lump to my
throat (I only have lumps in my throat or on the back of my head
nowadays) so I could not swallow, although the wine managed to
trickle down. It was a glorious day and we sat in the garden all
afternoon sipping in gentle spasms, listening to birdsong and
slightly annoyed by the noise of children.
The duchess had
borrowed a labrador dog for the weekend, having seen it suffer-ing
and panting in the back of an overheat-ed car. She had told the
dog's owner that she would look after it and he had readily agreed.
asked her if she saw me panting in the back of a car would she look
after me for a weekend. It was then that I caught my first glimpse
of her stately cold shoul-der. But my tail wags on. It is to be
hoped that every dog really does have his day even if he isn't a labrador.
At the end of the
afternoon the duchess kindly put me into a car which brought me
home. I sat in my flat gazing at the view until dusk and the lights
going on all over London, contemplating the accident of birth. I
think I would have made a good duke. Not an excessive one like
Clarence or a silly little one like Windsor or a gay one like
Mountbatten, but a civilised, sip-by-sip duke, kind to his servants
and lavish to his racehorses and parlourmaids. The trouble is that
like water I usually find my own level. On the few occasions that I
have stayed in mansions or stately homes I have embarrassed my hosts
by being found in the butler's pantry early in the morning swigging
vodka and chatting to them while they polished the silver.
The dear departed
Bryce MacNab, a delightful, penniless boozer in his day, once told
of staying the weekend with the then Lord Astor. A butler asked him
if he would be wearing a dinner jacket for supper and Bryce said,
`Don't be a fool. You know I haven't got a bloody dinner jacket.'
The butler then said, `Would you mind wearing a tie, then, to show
willing?' When Bryce left on the Monday he tried to tip the but-ler
a half-crown. The butler rejected it with some disdain saying, `I'm
sorry, sir, this is a paper house.' And talking of paper, Bryce once
rejected his paper wrapping in a fish and chip shop. He was a rugby
fanatic and just before he left the shop his eye fell on the stop
press column enveloping his cod and chips and he said to the
proprietor, `Could I have a fresh paper, please. Cardiff haven't
beaten Swansea 32-17 since 1958.'
Were I a duke he
would have certainly been on the staff. But there are small mercies,
thank God. The duchess and I shall be dining tomorrow and this time
I shall bring her a vacuum flask of cold white wine in case the
bastards haven't opened the bar again.
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The Catholic Herald
March 18, 2007
Let the faith
blossom
Jill, Duchess of Hamilton on the lost
art of Christian gardening.
Flowers have an
integral role in decorating and adorning_ Christian churches, yet
there is now little connection between adjacent church gardens and
flowers in church vases. Few move from garden to nave. This is seen
with Easter bouquets: a large number are forced in hothouses so they
will be in bloom for Easter Sunday.
Coinciding with
Easter this year is publicity about the air miles and carbon
footprints of flowers, some of which travel over 6,000 miles. Apart
from alarm over "designer" flowers, this may alert clergy and
churchgoers to other environmental issues.
The lack of
ecclesiastical concern about the outdoors is unexpected as most of
Jesus's ministry took place outside. His last free night on earth
was spent in the Garden of Gethsemane. His tomb and the site of his
Resurrection were in a garden. According to John's Gospel, when Mary
Magdalene first saw Jesus after the Resurrection she mistook him for
a gardener.
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Articles by Jill
Hamilton
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The Catholic Herald
Amid
Chelsea’s hubbub, a pilgrim’s rest
For better or worse this year's Chelsea
Flower Show reflects the prevailing national spirit of
austerity, says Jill,
Duchess of Hamilton
22 May 2009
A glass and metal flower is arranged
at the Chelsea Flower Show 2009
Among the innovations at the Chelsea Flower Show this week
was a watering system powered by two men pedalling static
training bicycles, designer vegetable gardens instead of
herbaceous borders, a three-tiered chocolate wedding cake
decorated only with freshly cut roses, twinkling miniature
fairy lights sunk into moss and an imaginative monastic garden
designed for the 21st century.
Recycling was a strong theme. This ranged from the need to
help the environment as well as stretched budgets during the
recession. As the Guardian pointed out, even many of the
celebrity guests, invited to publicise special gardens on the
opening day, were recycled.
In the same way that ornamental cabbages were fashionable
at Chelsea a few years ago, this year the designer vegetable
patch with lettuces and beans was very much a dominant theme.
There was much emphasis on demonstrating elegant ways to grow
edible food - "credit munch' - in a small space.
Like these gardens, the monastic garden, the Pilgrim's
Rest, was not made for the grand or the rich. Instead, it was
set up so many of its features could be easily and cheaply
copied by suburban gardeners.
Innovative though this garden is, it draws attention to the
lack of any current traditional garden design elements in
Catholic church gardens. Today, in the absence of any
particular or uniform style or symbolic flora, the areas
around places of worship are usually an eclectic mix of trees
and flowers.
Perhaps the Vatican could be an exhibitor in 2010 and set
new trends. As a leader of garden design in the Middle Ages
and the Renaissance the Church has an amazing historical
resource which could be employed again. It would also be very
easy for the Church, in the spirit of St Francis, to formulate
a Catholic environmental policy which could be applied to all
churches and life in general.
Chris O'Donoghue from Cranbrook in Kent, who created the
Pilgrim's Rest, says that monastic gardens were places of
reflection and meditation as well as practicality and beauty.
The garden, complete with the façade of a ruined monastic
stone and brick chapel, tiled timber walkway, a thatched
dovecote, turf seat and straw bee skeps, gives the impression
of an enclosed cloister. In contrast to a nearby garden which
was just a mass of wild plants, the Pilgrim's Rest illustrated
the advantages of using strong lines and styles in a small
area.
"Originally I wanted to do a Norman Invasion garden as
Hastings and 1066 Country are one of my sponsors - along with
a thatching firm and herb nursery," O'Donoghue explains. "But
there are not many records about gardens connected to this
period."
So O'Donoghue fell back on a classic medieval religious
garden inspired by the cloister of Brother Cadfael in the
books by Ellis Peters and the popular television adaptations
played by Derek Jacobi.
O'Donoghue enthusiastically tells reporters that the garden
is supposed to be a modern adaptation to capture the essence,
not a historical replica such as Michelham Priory and
Canterbury Cathedral.
"Usually in recreated monastic gardens there are hedges,
but I wanted something stockproof and less formal," he adds.
"So I have used woven hazel hurdles and hazel screens around
the raised beds."
These hazel hurdles give a rustic look and form a good
backdrop to the 35 plants that as well as being decorative can
be used in the kitchen and/or to relieve minor ailments: dill,
feverfew, fennel, lavender, motherwort, elder, betony and
soapwort. Others are rue, sage, hop, borage, mint, thyme,
pennyroyal, rosemary and, not to be forgotten, angelica, which
seeds so easily. Indeed, angelica, which is said to aid
indigestion, was seen in many gardens throughout the show.
All of the Pilgrim's Rest plants were grown in the late
Middle Ages, and are either indigenous or brought over by the
Romans. Indigenous plants have the advantage of being adapted
to the soil and climate in which they grow, need less water,
no chemicals and are also hospitable to the local butterflies
and other animals.
Another imaginative garden which caught much attention was
Ranelagh School Learning to Grow. This shows how schools in
concrete jungles with no access to soil can cultivate
vegetables and how children can learn the technicalities of
food production.
Containers painted sky-blue were made by students from
recycled pellets and tendered by members of the newly formed
School Gardening Club. Unlike some of the other vegetable
displays it was picturesque, as growing beside most of the
vegetables were spring flowers such as marigolds - an example
of companion planting to discourage insects.
It was heartening to see such a splendid display by a
school gardening club as the gardening movement in schools is
no longer strong Britain. Not only has this trend decreased,
it is more important now as with increasing urbanisation many
children no longer have any engagement with either soil or
agriculture.
Link:
This article as published in the Catholic Herald
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The Catholic Herald
Fear and loathing in the Holy Land
Jill, Duchess of Hamilton, reports from
Jerusalem on preparations for the Pope's visit to Israel,
which is fraught with diplomatic dangers.
May 8, 2009
Workers prepare the stage where the papal Mass will be held
in the Kidron Valley just outside Jerusalem's Old City
(AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)
While some
local Arabs welcome Pope Benedict's five-day pilgrimage to
Israel and the Palestinian territories, others are adamantly
against both the timing and the itinerary.
One hotel
proprietor explained: "It's only three months after Gaza;
1,400 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli Defence Forces;
4,100 houses were destroyed and at least 15,000 damaged. The
Pope's visit puts a polish on the war."
Another Latin
Catholic asked: "Why is the Pope not visiting Gaza? He's
visiting the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, the Wailing Wall,
the Dome of the Rock and a refugee camp. Ignoring Gaza creates
fury. He will have to make a positive statement if he wants us
to attend his Masses."
In contrast, a
Muslim who lives on the Mount of Olives near where the Pope
will be staying, countered this criticism. "We all have to go
forward. We have to show that we can live together in peace,"
he said.
In a similar
way to his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, who visited in
March 2000 and who also came as a guest of the Israeli
government, it is impossible for Pope Benedict XVI to escape
political connotations. Although the trip is described as a
pilgrimage in which he will meet Arab Catholics, the Pope is
the head of the Vatican state and also on a mission to improve
interfaith relations. He will meet the Muslim grand mufti, the
two chief rabbis, and the patriarchs of the Greek Orthodox and
Armenian Orthodox Churches.
At Tel Aviv
airport the Pope will be greeted as a head of state by
Israel's new Right-wing prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu,
and foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman. Lieberman, who is
based in Nokdim, south of Bethlehem, is one of the 300,000
Israelis who live in government-backed Israeli settlements
scattered across the West Bank which are deemed illegal under
international law. He has also caused anger by making
extremely controversial statements about Israeli Arabs.
The papal
itinerary and the heavy security has also caused displeasure
among some Catholics. One Palestinian priest who spoke on
condition of anonymity, explained: "It is usual for Church
dignitaries making a pilgrimage to come first to the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre. The Pope isn't going there until his last
day.
"He says he
wants to meet Christians, but when he comes to the Old City
where the majority live, there will be a curfew. Only the 300
to 400 people with invitations to the church will be allowed
to walk down the alleys to enter and they have to be inside by
11am. The Pope arrives one and a half hours later for an hour
and then visits the Armenians. On another day he goes to a
lunch at the Latin Patriarchate for 60 to 70 guests, mostly
Church hierarchy."
He continued:
"Everything will be closed, every shop, every stall. Not a
person is allowed on the streets. And May 15 is a sad day for
Palestinians. It's Nakba Day, the day of 'catastrophe' of
Israel's birth in May 1948."
Regardless of
these aspects, many see the visit as improving Jewish-Catholic
relationships, while Arab Christians applaud the Holy Father's
arrival as acknowledgement of their existence in a vast sea of
Judaism and Islam. Now a tiny minority within Israel's Arab
minority and the West Bank's Muslim majority, Arab Christians
often feel adrift. They have ceased to be significant in
Palestinian society.
At the most,
the number of Arab Christians in Israel is 120,000, with a
further 36,000 in the West Bank and 4,000 in Gaza. In 1948
they were a vibrant 10 per cent of the population, now they
are less than two per cent. Approximately half belong to the
six main Catholic denominations: the Latin Catholics, the
Melkites, the Maronites, the Syrian Catholics, the Armenian
Catholics and the Chaldeans - the last five of which are
Eastern Rite. However, the ratio of clergy to laity remains
high within the Catholic churches - there are 1,760 priests,
nuns and other consecrated Catholics plus hundreds of students
and lay workers.
In Jerusalem
the Arab Christian population has declined to less than
10,000. Dr Bernard Sabella, a Latin Catholic member of the
Palestinian Legislative Council and former professor of
sociology at Bethlehem University, estimates that there are
around 177 Christians to every church in Jerusalem.
As well as the
historic churches, the Pope will see some of the enduring
Catholic social institutions, including 68 schools serving
Muslims as well as Christians. Collectively, the Christian
churches have managed to remain one of the major
non-governmental landowners in Israel.
Catholics will
be able to be near the Pope at the open-air Masses in
Bethlehem, Jerusalem and Nazareth. Bulldozers, cranes and
earthmovers are landscaping a stretch of the Kidron Valley
belonging to the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land. A papal
platform of steel and a massive staircase of stone have
already risen among the olive trees and graves in one of the
last semi-wild areas beneath the ancient walls of the Old
City. Organisation is tight as there will be an estimated
4,000 people receiving Holy Communion. But this Mass will be a
rehearsal for the Mass in Nazareth which may attract 40,000
worshippers.
Christians are
in the epi-centre of the Middle East conflict. It is a life of
divisions and barriers - even between the churches. People
refer to the Catholics as if they were a monolithic whole, but
in the place of the origin of Christianity, theology, rituals
and rivalries separate each denomination from the other.
The Pope will
be consecrating unleavened bread at his Masses although most
of the local Arab Catholics receiving Communion belong to the
Eastern Rite churches who use leavened bread. Another
divergence between the Roman and Eastern Rite churches is the
ordination of married priests. Others include the liturgy and
the greater focus on the event of Jesus's Resurrection rather
than his Passion.
But two
problems which many Arab Christians share is the reading of
the Bible, especially the Old Testament, because of the
references which favour Jewish land claims, and seeing
thousands of pilgrims who are Christian Zionists.
Some Christian
tourists, especially evangelical Protestants, think that the
return of Jews to Israel paves the way for the return of Jesus
Christ. They believe that God gave all the Holy Land to the
Jews. Organisations such as the Chicago- and Jerusalem-based
International Fellowship of Christians and Jews send millions
of dollars each year to Israeli settlements.
But even
without the Christian Zionists, the Arab-Israeli conflict is
sometimes fuelled by particular readings and interpretations
of biblical passages. The understanding of the word "Israel"
in the Bible changed its meaning for Arab Christians after the
War of Independence in 1948.
Some
Palestinian Christians see the Old Testament stories as so
antipathetic to them that certain priests informally censor
the Arabic lexicon. When reading a chapter, certain offending
passages are omitted. In various translations the word
"Israel" has been substituted with the word "Jacob".
Dr Daphne
Tsimhoni, who has studied the rejection of parts of the Old
Testament by Arab Christians, said: "Arab Christians say, is
it possible that God is on the side of the oppressors? Where
are we in this story? This question becomes more curious
regarding the Muslim environment in which they live and work."
Naim Ateek, an
Anglican priest in Jerusalem, has written: "The God of the
Bible ... has come to be viewed by Palestinians as partial and
discriminating. Before the creation of ... Israel, the Old
Testament was an essential part of Christian Scripture. Since
the creation of the State, some Jews and Christians see the
Old Testament largely as a Zionist text... The fundamental
question of many Christians, whether uttered or not, is: how
can the Old Testament be the Word of God in light of the
Palestinian Christian experience with its use to support
Zionism?"
When quoting
the Bible in Jerusalem it is unlikely that the present Pope,
author of the scholarly Jesus of Nazareth, will make the same
sort of faux pas as his predecessor. In a speech in 2000 John
Paul, quoted a verse in Psalm 122: "Jerusalem restored! The
city, one united whole." The chief rabbi seized on this,
saying that the Pope recognised the Jewish right to
sovereignty in Jerusalem. If Benedict needed a further
incentive to choose his words carefully, how about this: a
press corps of over 2,000 will be covering every word and
every gesture.
Link:
This article as published in the Catholic Herald
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The Catholic Herald
‘Archaeology is
always political here’
Jill, Duchess of Hamilton, meets a legendary Jerusalem-based
biblical scholar and cousin of Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor
April 3, 2009
Fr Jerome
Murphy-O'Connor's name is almost synonymous with Jerusalem.
Mention you are going to visit the Holy City and people will
often ask if you are seeing him. Indeed, he has become a
living legend, a landmark.
Tall, very
erect, heavily built with a clipped white beard, at 74 he
looks imposing when seen under the monastic colonnades of the
École Biblique et Archéologique Française.
He puffed a
little as we walked up the stairs to the austere and orderly
study where he works, sleeps and writes. Radiating a sense of
well-being and good health, there was no need to inquire about
the illness which had put him in a coma three years ago. Much
to the relief of his innumerable friends - who call him
"Father Jerry" - his recovery had been so quick that within a
few months he had flown to Connecticut to conduct a wedding
ceremony for a diplomat.
Coming from a
deeply religious family, like his first cousin, Cardinal
Murphy-O'Connor, he has "three cousins and three uncles who
were priests, just like Cormac".
Although Fr
Murphy-O'Connor returns to Cork each summer, Jerusalem has
remained the centre of his life and work for nearly half a
century. Here he has been in the midst of the politics and
protests which continue to colour much biblical archaeology.
As the Holy
City remains the epicentre of the Israeli/Palestinian dispute,
both Israelis and Palestinians use the results of any new
archaeology digs to reinforce their identity in the region and
their land claims. It is the same in other areas, especially
in the West Bank.
However, Fr
Murphy-O'Connor's interpretations of results and surveys are
given with such impartiality that he is respected in
international academic and the religious circles. This is no
mean accomplishment.
Ever since the
first archaeological shovel in the Holy Land began sifting
evidence in the 1870s the hills and plains between the
Mediterranean and the Jordan River area have become the most
archaeologically explored area in the world. No other
countries have had as much controversy surrounding the
systematic study of the past through its physical remains than
Israel and the Occupied Territories of Palestine. Each ancient
stone of Jerusalem is a potential weapon in the struggle for
possession of the Holy City.
Excavations at
Silwan and the City of David have now become the centre of
land claims. "No one has any doubt that the Ophel Ridge, that
is, the City of David, is the oldest part of Jerusalem," says
Fr Murphy-O'Connor. "Archaeologists may sensationalise by
being too specific about certain discoveries, for example, the
Palace of David, but the dating of the material brought to
light is certain."
Controversy
also often surrounds assumptions arising from what some
experts dismiss as "post-Dan Brown pseudo-archaeology" and
from television programmes such as The Naked Archaeologist.
The film The Lost Tomb of Jesus caused the most controversy.
It concluded that a tomb in Talpiot, a suburb of West
Jerusalem, had contained the remains of Jesus and his family.
Fr.
Murphy-O'Connor dismissed this, saying that the words on the
ossuaries were "a combination of very common names. It doesn't
mean much at all. Were Talpiot the real tomb of Christ, his
family and/or disciples would have had to have moved the body,
and then by their silence acquiesced in the preaching of the
resurrection, which they knew to be false. No probable reason
can be suggested for such a lie. Nor could the secret have
been kept."
Another example
of possible fakes he refutes is the Shroud of Turin: "I still
accept the Carbon-14 results that date the linen of the Shroud
to the Middle Ages." He added that the James Ossuary is also a
fake. It is 2,000 years old, but all or part of the
inscription is a forgery.
"Archaeology
has always been political here," he added in his deep Irish
voice. "This goes back to the start of scientific archaeology
in the mid-19th century." With Easter approaching I asked him
about the statement in his best-selling guide book, The Holy
Land, which has sold nearly 50,000 copies, that "the Via
Dolorosa is defined by faith, not by history" - a
controversial remark from someone who has been Professor of
the New Testament since 1967. His reply was a direct
contradiction of what much biblical archaeology is about -
proving the details, dates and people in the Bible by matching
them against hard historical facts found in digs.
"My scepticism
regarding its traditional route stems from the high
probability that Pilate was based at Herod's palace (now the
Citadel) and that he would have judged Jesus there. Hence the
real Via Dolorosa must have started from the Jaffa Gate area."
Fr
Murphy-O'Connor explained how archaeology, "as well as being
extremely competitive, was in its early years very
nationalistic... competition between the great museums of
Europe provoked much activity".
Scientific
research began with the London-based Palestine Exploration
Fund in 1865, followed by Germany and then by the French who
constructed the impressive École Biblique in 1890. He added:
"There is an excellent book on the subject by Neil Asher
Silberman, Digging for God and Country".
In the early
days, some archaeologists disregarded the higher levels
through which they were digging and did a "leap-frog back"
going deeper until shovels hit the Bronze Age stratification
corresponding with the Bible.
"That period
was very damaging as it went through everything, including the
whole Islamic period, in order to get to the biblical period,"
he explained as he used his words to describe what is
frequently called "bulldozer archaeology". He added that the
same criticism applies sometimes today to some Palestinian
archaeologists in quest of their local ancestors: "They are so
interested in the Canaanite period that they ignore anything
after the Iron Age."
The subject of
most interest to Fr Murphy-O'Connor is New Testament
archaeology and desert monasticism. "The great churches are
all sitting on archaeological sites. Even the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre has fourth-century tombs under it." He
described how in Roman times "executions took place in
Caesarea, there was no specific place for executions in
Jerusalem. It seems that sometimes abandoned quarries were
used. This fact was confirmed in the early Sixties when
restoration work began in the Holy Sepulchre.
"Three
architects, one Armenian, one Roman Catholic and one Greek,
decided that this was the last chance to look beneath. Using
probes through the floor they went down to bedrock. They found
evidence of the quarry five metres below the church. Golgotha,
where Jesus was crucified, was a protrusion of the eastern
wall of the quarry for fine limestone that had been used
between the eighth and first century BC. The western wall was
a good place for a series of tombs - actually catacombs - as
they did not have to funnel down, just go straight in. This is
all in the sixth edition of my guide book."
Despite his
formidable reputation as a biblical scholar Fr Murphy-O'Connor
sees no problems about reconciling science and religion. "I
think that science in general should be popularised. People
are curious about all sorts of archaeology."
Jerome
Murphy-O'Connor's The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological
Guide from Earliest Times to 1700 is published by Oxford
Archaeological Guides.
Link:
The
Catholic Herald
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The Daily Telegraph
November 24, 2008
Secrets of the
'good manners’ diet
Eat as the upper classes do; it’s
the civilised way to lose weight. By Jill, Duchess of
Hamilton
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NEWS.telegraph
This wondrous and
shocking place must be saved
By Jill, Duchess of Hamilton
(Filed: 10/12/2005)
Entering the Church of The Nativity last July was the
realisation of a lifetime's dream. Nothing, though, had
prepared me for its chilling atmosphere.
Rows of Corinthian columns and faded mosaics seemed to
encompass me, as if to prepare me for the descent to the
ancient, dimly lit subterranean cave below.
Bethlehem holds such a place in my heart that my affection for
it was not diminished by the reality. But the shock was
enormous.
This grotto of limestone bears little resemblance to my
fairytale imaginary vision of a stable as depicted on
Christmas cards and nativity plays.
H V Morton in his classic In the Footsteps of the Master,
described the disillusionment felt by some visitors. "The
Palestine of reality is always in conflict with the imaginary
Palestine, so violently at times that many people cannot
relinquish this Palestine of the imagination without a feeling
of bereavement," he wrote.
Walls, pillars and a roof were built over the cave after it
was identified by Empress Helena in 325 as the site of the
birth.
Her son, Emperor Constantine, who directed that a magnificent
church was built, could be called the original Father
Christmas. Not only did he consecrate the place of the
nativity, he gave Christians what became known as Christmas
Day.
For nearly 17 centuries, the Church of the Nativity, central
to Christmas, has echoed with prayers. Unique and cherished by
millions, it is part of the cultural heritage of Christians
throughout the world.
So moved was I by the poor condition of the church, that I
decided to raise awareness of its plight. This year I will
join the expected 30,000 pilgrims to spend Christmas there.
Every tourist who visits Bethlehem will also be helping the
economy of the ailing town.
According to the mayor, Dr Victor Batarseh, unemployment is at
50 to 60 per cent. The Wall, the Israeli-built barrier, now
blights the landscape, encircling Bethlehem.
But nothing can diminish the magic of this wondrous church,
part of every Christian's heritage.
Link:
NEWS.Telegraph newspaper
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The Catholic Herald
We must save the
Church of the Nativity from ruin
By Jill, Duchess of Hamilton
December 23, 2005
Between 18,000 and 30,000 pilgrims will come to Bethlehem this
Christmas to worship in the Church of the Nativity. But an
ongoing dispute about the building's roof could mean that rain
dampens celebrations. ...
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Readable image will be available soon. |
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The Jerusalem
Post
Blair and the
stray cats of Jerusalem
By Jill
Hamilton
July. 28, 2007
Already with
his new job, based in Jerusalem, Tony Blair will have found
reminders of Britain's colonial past. He will also have come
face to face with a problem he experienced in Downing Street:
the status of stray cats.
Controversy
about cats surrounded Blair when he took up his post as prime
minister of Britain in 1997. Within months, Humphrey, the
resident cat at 10 Downing Street, went missing. This former
stray had installed himself in Downing Street eight years
earlier and become its official "mouser."
Such was
Humphrey's popularity with staff and visitors that he was one
of the few to outlast Mrs. Thatcher's hold on Downing Street.
Having bid farewell to John Major to welcome Blair, Humphrey
suddenly vanished. Questions were even asked in the House of
Commons following his disappearance. Headlines speculated on
possible causes.
By the time
Humphrey died last year in a London suburb, his celebrity had
surpassed even that of the royal corgis. By then Blair had
learned that feline friends are highly regarded in the UK,
where there is one cat for every two households.
HUMPHREY could
well become a symbol for Blair of how things become compounded
in the Middle East. Instead of dealing with just one former
stray, Blair will find that east and west Jerusalem alone have
an estimated 50,000 lost and feral cats roaming quiet corners
of the streets and scavenging off garbage bins of this ancient
city. Others survive by hunting wildlife such as small
rodents, sparrows and the odd snake. Some are fed by kind
residents.
The sight of
unfed stray cats foraging in piles of refuse - and residents
passively walking past them is a common sight.
Hollow-stomached pregnant cats scamper across streets and
alleyways in the quest for food. Their life expectancy is
estimated at around two years.
As a
spokesperson for the animal charity, JSPCA, explained:
"Without human intervention, they suffer from thirst and
dehydration during Jerusalem's long hot summers; cold and
exposure during the harsh, rainy winters, eventually dying
slow, merciless deaths from starvation, thirst, disease,
injury, abuse or as food for predators. The problem is
exacerbated by the cats' uncontrollable reproduction rate."
IF BLAIR ASKS
Ehud Olmert why, despite the Animal Protection Law passed by
the Knesset in January 1994, a year after he began his 10
years as mayor of Jerusalem, he himself did little to
alleviate the cat population, he may well receive an evasive
answer.
Blair will find
that, like many other issues in the Middle East, the question
of what to do with stray cats has a simple solution that has
never been realized. Indeed, the cats in Jerusalem are an
analogy to other occupation and residency matters, especially
the well-drafted legislation which is frequently disregarded.
This was seen
this week with the news that the animal welfare organization
Ahava has filed a police complaint about the poisoning of 60
cats and dogs in Kiryat Tivon. Many residents in Jerusalem
were surprised. They were unaware of the precedent-setting
High Court ruling in 2004 which made the poisoning, killing
and deporting of cats a criminal offence. Justices Aharon
Barak and Asher Grunis concurred on a ruling by Justice Dorner
that the arbitrary and mass killing of street cats was
"unlawful and must be rejected." The case had been brought to
the courts by the Cat Welfare Society of Israel and Let the
Animals Live organization.
THE YEAR 2004
also saw another advance for the cats of Israel. This followed
a conference co-sponsored by CHAI (Concern for Helping Animals
in Israel) and various government departments which agreed to
replace the slow and painful strychnine poisonings of animals
with humane control measures such as capturing and neutering.
These new
restrictions meant that nobody could kill cats in order to
control the population - cats now had to be neutered and
released to their home patch. Yet despairing hotel proprietors
secretly continue the practice.
However, the
municipality, which formerly used euthanasia as the only means
to control the population, now has a spaying program in place.
The chief veterinary officer for the municipality, Dr Zohar
Dvorkin, said: "About 2,000 stray cats a year are now being
neutered in Jerusalem. We do about 1,000, and the animal
charities do about the same number."
But 2,000 is
not enough. The majority of stray cats face an uncertain
future and despite their dilemma - like much else in the
Middle East - being widely discussed, not enough happens.
Adela Gertner of Spay Israel said they were looking for donors
so they can carry out more operations each week.
BLAIR IS not
likely to see the cats when he visits the Holy Sepulchre in
the Old City. Timid and nervous, they stay away from busy
places, scurrying to quiet corners when they hear footsteps.
However, if Blair goes to the Jaffa Road Car Park he will see
cat skeletons. The parking lot attendant who has been feeding
the cats living there believes that there are 65 cats,
including kittens. Numbers fluctuate. Every week a few more
die, run over by cars, succumbing to illness and disease,
starvation and dehydration.
Blair may also
be reminded that Jerusalem's cat problem, like much of today's
strife in the Middle East, partially resulted from the British
Mandate period. It is sometimes claimed that these local cats
came from the British, that it was the animal-loving British
who made the practice of domestic cats widespread in
Jerusalem. Indeed, many things may appear to come full circle
with Blair's arrival.
The writer,
Jill, Duchess of Hamilton, is a vice-president of the RSPCA in
England. She is author of God, Guns & Israel and 15 other
books, is presently researching the family law for Arab
Christians in Israel. She is affiliated to the Truman
Institute at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
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Read the article on-line
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Events and Talks
attended by
or given by Jill Hamilton
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Special Announcement
TALK by JILL, DUCHESS OF
HAMILTON
at THE AMERICAN COLONY HOTEL, EAST JERUSALEM
Pasha Room, 6.30 pm - February 19, 2006 (admission
free)
on her book: GOD, GUNS & ISRAEL
Britain, the First World War and the Jews in the Holy Land
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For
further information contact:
The Bookshop at the American Colony Hotel,
Email:
usbooks@palnet.com
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