Sergey Kadinsky
Photography
These photos were created in the Summer of 2006, as a Media Fellow at the Jerusalem office of The Israel Project. This page includes some local modern curiosities within this most ancient and holiest of cities.
Graffiti in Yerushalayim
In the holy city, graffiti can be found around Ben Yehuda Street, a pedestrian street popular with visitors, shoppers, and performers.
The Magrittesque clock was painted on an electric transformer.
Ben Yehuda Street's Russian Bookstore sells a variety of Russian and Hebrew literature, magazines and newspapers. A poster for Cyrano de Bergerac shares a window with the Russian version of Winnie Pooh and Red Riding Hood.
There are still plenty of campaign stickers left from March 2006, when Ehud Olmert's centrist Kadima Party won the majority. Pictured here is Amir Peretz of the Avoda Party, and Baruch Marzel of the Hazit Party, a right-wing spin-off of the banned Kach movement. Marzel failed to win a single seat, but his stickers can be seen all over the city.
Jonathan Pollard is an Israeli spy condemned to a life sentence in a North Carolina prison. Usually when someone from an allied country spies against the US, they get a small sentence, but Pollard had the book thrown at him, with little chance of clemency.
The sticker on the left claims a return to the Sinai and a claim to the east bank of the Jordan. The right sticker declares "Jews do not expel Jews." Unfortunately, the ruling elites have taken eminent domain to a new level, expelling entire towns for the sake of "peace."
There are three flags in the above photo. I consider two of them to be a desecration against the Jewish character of the state. The yellow flag belongs to a cult of personality centered around a deceased rabbi; and the colorful flag belongs to the gay movement.
My favorite couple photo.
Everyone in Israel eats falafels.
Argentinian futbol fans celebrating at the first game of the Copa Mundial, beating Ivory Coast by 3:1. My colleague Sara Robinson mistranslated the Hebrew Name for Ivory Coast as "Tuscan Beach." The second photo shows Brazilian Jews celebrating a victory on Kikkar Zion.
Old Train Station
South of the King David Hotel is David Remez Square, where Jerusalem's Old Train Station is located. The square is appropriately named for the state's first minister of transportation. Following noise complaints from nearby residents, and the need for more modern facilities, the station was abandoned more than a decade ago. The building dates back to 1892, when the area was a province of the Ottoman Empire. In 1917, the British took control of the region declaring it a British Mandate. Jewish independence factions, such as the Haganah, Palmach, Igun, and Lehi resisted the empire with varying degrees of violence. The station was the scene of a bombing in 1947, when Irgun member Meir Feinstein targeted the station. The British sentenced Feinstein to death. Feinstein killed himself before the executioner was able to do his task.
The railroad's memory lives on in Rakkevet (Railroad) Street.
Today, the closest railroad station to Jerusalem is at Malha Mall, on the city's southern edge. The new railroad terminal opened in April 2005.
Above is a satellite photo of the abandoned railway. To its north is the German Colony, which was settled by religious pilgrims in the 19th century. It has European-style buildings clad in Jerusalem stone. To its south are Talpiot and Arnona, which are modern Jewish neighborhoods. On the eastern edge of the photo are Arab neighborhoods, which were occupied by Jordan until 1967. On the northwest are the Givat Ram campus of Hebrew University and the Knesset. The new Malha train terminal is on the extreme southwest of this image, far away from the city center.
Jerusalem is famous for its golden sunsets. The train station was used in the 2006 Jerusalem Film Festival for the Woody Allen movie "Match Point."