• Afro Muslim woman Zohar Kardi with her 14-year-old grandson, Smayeen, as they stand by portraits of Zohar’s parents.
    Afro Muslim woman Zohar Kardi with her 14-year-old grandson, Smayeen, as they stand by portraits of Zohar’s parents.
  • Israeli border police push back Muslim demonstrators near the entrance leading to where a small community of 350 Africans who came from Chad, Senegal, Sudan and Nigeria hundreds of years ago live in the Old City of Jerusalem on March 6, 2016. The entrance is also one of the main routes for Muslim worshippers going to the Al Aqsa Mosque which has been a flashpoint for violence since September 2015.
    Israeli border police push back Muslim demonstrators near the entrance leading to where a small community of 350 Africans who came from Chad, Senegal, Sudan and Nigeria hundreds of years ago live in the Old City of Jerusalem on March 6, 2016. The entrance is also one of the main routes for Muslim worshippers going to the Al Aqsa Mosque which has been a flashpoint for violence since September 2015.
  • Afro-Palestinian Shahlin Husani with his son Muron, 8, on March 4, 2016. Shahin points to a photograph of his relative Ossama Jebdeh, 23, whom he claims was one of the first killed by Israeli troops during the second Intifada when he was trying to reach a hospital to donate blood. Shahlin and his family live in the African Muslim Community nearby the Al Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem.
    Afro-Palestinian Shahlin Husani with his son Muron, 8, on March 4, 2016. Shahin points to a photograph of his relative Ossama Jebdeh, 23, whom he claims was one of the first killed by Israeli troops during the second Intifada when he was trying to reach a hospital to donate blood. Shahlin and his family live in the African Muslim Community nearby the Al Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem.
  • Afro Palestinian woman Ream Blala as combing the hair of her daughter Shahanda at their home on March 4, 2016. Their ancestors are originally from Chad.
    Afro Palestinian woman Ream Blala as combing the hair of her daughter Shahanda at their home on March 4, 2016. Their ancestors are originally from Chad.
  • A young boy from the African Muslim community plays with a ball at the entrance to one of the detached housing complexes, called a hoash, near the Al Aqsa Mosque in the Old City.
    A young boy from the African Muslim community plays with a ball at the entrance to one of the detached housing complexes, called a hoash, near the Al Aqsa Mosque in the Old City.
  • Two of the complexes where a small community of 350 Africans who came from Chad, Senegal, Sudan and Nigeria hundreds of years ago live in the Old City of Jerusalem on March 6, 2016.
    Two of the complexes where a small community of 350 Africans who came from Chad, Senegal, Sudan and Nigeria hundreds of years ago live in the Old City of Jerusalem on March 6, 2016.
  • A young Afro Muslim boy from Chad hanging laundry in the courtyard of one of the housing complexes of the African Palestinian community in the Old City of Jerusalem.
    A young Afro Muslim boy from Chad hanging laundry in the courtyard of one of the housing complexes of the African Palestinian community in the Old City of Jerusalem.
  • An Afro Muslim boy working in his family’s clothing stall which is located along one of the main routes to the Al Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem on March 4, 2016.
    An Afro Muslim boy working in his family’s clothing stall which is located along one of the main routes to the Al Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem on March 4, 2016.

World

Afro-Palestinians inside the Old City in Jerusalem - in pictures

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Inside Jerusalem’s Old City, Afro-Palestinians – as they call themselves – live in a neighbourhood adjoining Al Aqsa mosque, trapped between two Israeli police checkpoints through which only residents can pass during the day. As a result, their shops are cut off from the crowds of worshippers who visit the mosque, leaving the community on the brink of poverty.

Photos by Heidi Levine for The National

JerusalemBenjamin NetanyahuPalestineIsrael