Any visitor to Palestine is guaranteed a few things. Delicious deep-fried balls of ground chickpeas inside pita bread, the call of the muezzin five times a day, a permeating strong smell of black coffee through a cacophony of hooting cars and shouting in Arabic. And getting lost.
Driving, especially through the bustling streets of the de facto capital Ramallah, is a nightmare. Not because the roads are particularly unsafe but because assistance comes in the form of no street names, no street signs and no house numbers. A colleague of mine spent the better part of a year paying the wrong electricity bill because, well, he couldn’t read Arabic and the bill kept arriving under his door. It turned out to be for another apartment in another street – neither his street nor apartment were named or numbered!
Only in the last seven years, following the Ramallah centenary celebrations, have street names caught on in the growing metropolis. Yasser Arafat, former chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, now has his square and dozens of Palestinian fighters have their streets. The criteria are simple – heroes, places and ideas supported by the Palestinian people.
So it’s no surprise that South African anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela has been given his spot – if anything, the  surprise is that it took so long. But residents say it was worth waiting for. The east of the city is now nestled in the shadow of Madiba’s towering figure – a six-meter, two-ton bronze statue with right fist raised.
The statue is the first of its kind outside South Africa and took artists Christina Salvodi, Lungisa Khala and Tanya Lee seven months to create – and another 30 days to get through Israeli customs. But that’s nothing, muses Ramallah’s Mayor Mussa Hadid, compared to the 27 years Mandela spent in prison.
“The erection of Mandela’s sculpture in Ramallah carries a symbolic significance,” he says. “Mandela was an international symbol of peace and a torch to people striving for freedom and liberty.”
A staunch supporter of the Palestinian struggle against Israel, Mandela once declared that, “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.” It’s a view he repeated after warmly embracing Arafat in their first meeting in Zambia after his release in 1990.
“Like us, he is fighting against a unique form of colonization,” Mandela said of the Palestinian leader at the time, “and we wish him success in his struggle.”
Mandela is revered across the Arab and Palestinian world. The square now boasting his name is in a quiet part of the city and traffic here slows down to circle around his statue so drivers can get a good glance – looking upwards – of their hero. If you stand on tiptoes it’s almost possible to reach up high enough to touch his left hand.
Mamoun, a 19-year-old engineering student who lives not far from the now aptly renamed Mandela Square, exclaims, “He is our hero and it’s only right that a man who stood for the fight against oppression, now stands tall and proud in our city!”
Amira is another Ramallah resident who believes the square bearing Mandela’s name will become a major tourist attraction in her city.
“I am so excited that we have our own Mandela in Ramallah now,” she smiles. “Our struggle is like the struggle of South Africa – and hopefully he can watch over us just like he watched over his own people.”
Mandela’s relationship with Israel was more complicated. He was a firm supporter of the right of Jews to a national homeland, but he never forgot Israel’s support for the apartheid regime during the 1970s and 80s.
“We insist on the right of the State of Israel to exist within secure borders,” he remarked in 1993, but “with equal vigor” stressed support of “the Palestinian right to national self-determination.”
Mandela didn’t visit Israel during his presidency but agreed to receive an honorary doctorate from one of the country’s universities shortly after leaving office. He used the opportunity to impress upon the then newly elected Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak his concern about the conflict with the Palestinians and the failure of the Oslo peace process.
Israelis, like most people in the world, hold Mandela in high esteem but unsurprisingly, whereas the ceremony to unveil his statue in Ramallah received much attention in the South African and Palestinian press, it was hardly mentioned in the Israeli media.
Speaking at the inauguration, Johannesburg’s Mayor Parks Tau, who presented the statue as a gift from his city said, “Nelson Mandela himself would have been extremely proud of what has been done here today.”

Mandela Stands Tall Over People Fighting For Liberation

I have always been intrigued by sub-Saharan trade. In the interest of understanding caravan journeys better, I made trips to Mali and Morocco to observe their most famous routes. Goods such as gold, ivory – and regretfully, millions of  slaves – were moved from sub-Saharan Africa to Timbuktu, then through the desert and over the Atlas mountains to Marrakech and onto the port of Essaouira, which served as Morocco’s principal port, offering the cargo of the caravans to the world.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-30019" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/052-300x199.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="199" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/052-300x199.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/052-600x399.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/052-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/052-1024x681.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/052.jpg 1023w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
My journey from Casablanca airport to Essaouira was a 400-kilometer ride that passed along the Atlantic sea coast and then inland along plateaus dotted with argan trees endemic to the region and known the world over for its use in producing aromatic oil. It was late in the night when I arrived in Essaouira, an Arabic/Berber medina contained within a European fortress with winding alleys and streets. Finding my seafront hotel was an adventure in itself, in a town with many dead-end alleyways.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-30020 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/113-Forbes-300x199.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="199" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/113-Forbes-300x199.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/113-Forbes-600x399.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/113-Forbes-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/113-Forbes-1024x681.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/113-Forbes.jpg 1023w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
It was a moment of great excitement when I opened my windows, illuminated by the Maghreb sunlight, and realized my room was right on top of the ramparts of the fort overlooking a broad seafront. Later, while walking along the crenellated ramparts of the cannon-lined fort, I could see the city wake up on one side while the finest fisheries off the waters of Morocco were coming alive with boats and attendant gulls on the other. Upon reaching the port, I caught a glimpse of the lives of fishermen who were unloading their large catches of sardines and conger eels; a haul big enough to sustain its economy.
The historic charm of the UNESCO World Heritage listed city is evident in every twist and turn in the maze of pedestrian-only streets that make up the medina. Broken facades and decorative doors open to reveal ancient Kasbahs lined with courtyards and fountains. Essaouira has been in existence in recorded history since the days of imperial Rome, where the purple stripes of the senatorial toga (garment of ancient Rome) came from a dye factory, made from sea snails found here. Ruled by Romans and then by Berber kings, it was swept up under the influence of Islam in the eighth century and ruled by Arab kings until the Portuguese captured it in the 16th century. This was followed by French occupation and it finally came under Moroccan rulers in 1777 when it was declared an independent nation.
This rich history of occupation has provided Essaouira with a French-designed fortress, Genoese-designed port citadels, a classic Arabic medina complete with a royal Kasbah, Jewish mella or quarter and a European enclave.
Walking through its winding streets I could see Arabic, French and Spanish influences in the architecture.
Essaouira’s real beginning as an import-export center came in the 1770s when the sultan of Morocco appointed families from Casablanca, Marrakech and other northern cities to settle here and become official royal traders to conduct trade with Europe and the Americas. It has been noted that seven of the town’s leading families in the 19th century were Muslim, while 25 were Jews, who once comprised 40% of the population.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-30022 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/07-Forbes-300x199.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="199" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/07-Forbes-300x199.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/07-Forbes-600x399.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/07-Forbes-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/07-Forbes-1024x681.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/07-Forbes.jpg 1023w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
The homes of former Jewish traders and the synagogue reveal themselves through Hebrew carvings on the door lintels.
The souk area was quite interesting with many shops selling spices, wood carvings and cabinetry. Unlike the bustle found in the souks of Marrakesh, the pace here was very relaxed under the warm sunlight and a steady breeze from the ocean. The fort area has more upscale shops while the souks had a classic Arabic atmosphere. The delicious seafood available in restaurants around the harbor was absolutely amazing and at very reasonable prices. I found men here wearing the classic djellabas and women walking around in colorful qmis (long jacket) covering their baggy pants.
Essaouira is best reached from Marrakesh by road and can be covered as a day trip. Emirates Airline can fly one to Morocco from any big African city via Dubai.
With its unspoilt beaches, luxurious hotels, wonderful cafes and seafood restaurants, Essaouira is fast becoming a must-visit destination. Morocco has a lot to offer. In this context, Essaouira is often ignored. But for the intrepid traveler, it offers a special place where the caravans of the Sahara finally emptied its wares for the world to consume.

Tag: Arabic

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

Mandela Stands Tall Over People Fighting For Liberation

Where Africa’s Caravans Were Headed