{"page":"\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/resources-c03aa079.css\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/lp_boclips_stylesheets-517835be.css\" media=\"all\" /\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-title='Race to restore valuable historical books and digitise them for online' data-url='/boclips/videos/5c54c472d8eafeecae168da9' data-video-url='/boclips/videos/5c54c472d8eafeecae168da9' id='bo_player_modal'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='boclips-resource-page modal-dialog panel-container'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='react-notifications-root'\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-header'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-type'\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-regular fa-circle-play'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\nVideo\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch1 class='rp-title' id='video-title'\u003e\nRace to restore valuable historical books and digitise them for online\n\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-actions'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='mr-1'\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"btn btn-success\" data-posthog-event=\"Signup: LP Signup Activity\" data-posthog-location=\"body_link_boclips\" data-remote=\"true\" href=\"/subscription/new\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet Free Access\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e for 10 Days\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-body'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-info'\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-label='Hide resource details' class='rp-hide-info' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Expand resource details' class='rp-expand-info fai fa-solid fa-up-right-and-down-left-from-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Compress resource details' class='rp-compress-info fai fa-solid fa-down-left-and-up-right-to-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-rating'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='resource-pool'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-label'\u003ePublisher:\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-name'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='text'\u003e\u003ca data-publisher-id=\"30356011\" href=\"/search?publisher_ids%5B%5D=30356011\"\u003eCurated Video\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-description'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='short-description'\u003eAt the start of the 20th century, an urgent call went out across the Middle East from Arab leaders in Jerusalem: send us your books so that we may protect them for generations to come. Now, 90 years later, the al-Aqsa mosque library is...\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='full-description hide'\u003eAt the start of the 20th century, an urgent call went out across the Middle East from Arab leaders in Jerusalem: send us your books so that we may protect them for generations to come. \u003cbr/\u003eNow, 90 years later, the al-Aqsa mosque library is fighting to restore many of these centuries-old manuscripts that have fallen into disrepair, and digitise them for the future.\u003cbr/\u003eThe al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem is Islam's third holiest site. Located on a hilltop compound known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, and to Jews as the Temple Mount, it is ground zero in the territorial and religious conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbours. \u003cbr/\u003eThe library and its 130,000 books is housed in two separate rooms in the compound, where modern steel bookshelves adorn ancient stone walls. \u003cbr/\u003eThe drive to restore the manuscripts and get them online is part of a greater global trend that has seen an array of historical documents digitised and uploaded to increase access to researchers worldwide.  \u003cbr/\u003eBut the challenge in this collection lies beyond physical distance. \u003cbr/\u003eResidents of countries with no diplomatic relations with Israel  - that's much of the Arab world - are unable to visit Jerusalem and Palestinians living in the nearby West Bank or the Gaza Strip need to secure a permit from Israel to enter the city. \u003cbr/\u003eManager of Al-Aqsa Library, Sheikh Hamed Abu Teir says: \u003cbr/\u003e\"We want to prevent past mistakes. We worked on a plan to preserve them and take pictures of them and to put them online. We are interested in putting those manuscripts online, because students in the Arab and Muslim world can't access them, a student in Algeria or Saudi Arabia for example can't reach here and access them. We want to grant him the knowledge in his own house.\"\u003cbr/\u003eThis includes reaching scholars that are little more than a 20 minute walk away from the library.  \u003cbr/\u003eAbu Teir says: \"Palestinians from the West Bank can't reach the library for example Al-quds university, one of the largest Islamic universities, is 3-4 kilometres away from this library. Its students can't come here.\"\u003cbr/\u003eThe library's manuscripts trace the history of the area. Many were donated following a call in the early 1920s from the Supreme Islamic Council, a religious governing body, which wanted to prevent Arabs from selling old manuscripts to foreign buyers and preserve the Islamic heritage in one of its holiest sites. \u003cbr/\u003eThe oldest book dates back 900 years, with some of the newer titles from the 19th century. Most of the texts are religious, but other subjects include geography, astronomy and medicine. Some of the pages contain personal letters about travel in the Middle East of the18th century.\u003cbr/\u003eThe manuscripts were stored in a library for the first few years of the 1920s, but when riots erupted in 1929 over disputes surrounding Jewish and Arab access to the sacred compound, the manuscripts were shoved into bags and arbitrarily filed into closets in a separate building nearby, where they would remain for nearly half a century, when a new space was created for them. \u003cbr/\u003eWhile unpacking the books, officials realised they had been pillaged, with many destroyed. Today's collection numbers 4,000 with about a quarter considered in poor condition. \u003cbr/\u003eThe restoration and digitisation project is funded by the Waqf, Jordan's Islamic authority which manages the holy site. With assistance from UNESCO it aims to preserve what remains.\u003cbr/\u003eRadwan Amro heads up the Manuscripts Restoration Centre. He says: \"We have a collection, a lot of this collection is in a bad condition, we're talking about 4000 manuscripts in al-haram. 1000 of this collection is in nearly in a bad case, 100 of these 1000 in a very bad cases. So we establish this centre in 2008 to keep and to preserve and to help our manuscripts to keep it, in this (current) bad situation in Jerusalem, to protect our heritage. We talk about 14 or 15 steps of processing chemical processing and biological processing, mechanical cleaning for every manuscript.\"\u003cbr/\u003eIn the six years since the project began, the 10 person team has restored 200 manuscripts as well as old maps, Ottoman population and trade registers and hand-written documents from the Mamluk period of the 13th to 16th centuries. \u003cbr/\u003eBut the painstakingly slow process of treating every individual page to protect the intricate text and the paper's delicate fibres means restorers have a long road ahead of them.\u003cbr/\u003eAmro says he cannot give an estimate as to when the restoration would be complete, joking that it could take \"hundreds of years,\" but he says nearly all of the manuscript pages have been digitised and hopes that by the end of the year they will be put online:\u003cbr/\u003e\"This mission, preserving of the manuscripts is a generation, international mission, so we must keep our heritage for the next generations to see this science and this knowledge,\" he says. \u003cbr/\u003e\"Those manuscripts are the treasure and the trust of the nation,\" says Hamed Abu Teir. \"We should preserve them.\"\u003cbr/\u003eAP Television \u003cbr/\u003eJerusalem, 27 January 2014\u003cbr/\u003e1. Wide shot of Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem's old city\u003cbr/\u003e2. Wide of Dome of the Rock\u003cbr/\u003e3. Wide exterior of Al-Aqsa mosque\u003cbr/\u003e4. Various of Sheikh Hamed Abu Teir, manager of Al-Aqsa library, opening and looking at ancient manuscripts\u003cbr/\u003e5. Close up of Abu Teir flipping pages of ancient manuscript\u003cbr/\u003e6. Tilt down from room where manuscripts are kept to pages of manuscripts on table\u003cbr/\u003e7. Close up of pages of manuscripts on table\u003cbr/\u003e8. Mid of pages of manuscripts on shelves\u003cbr/\u003e9. Close up of bound manuscripts on shelves\u003cbr/\u003e10. Abu Teir flipping manuscript\u003cbr/\u003e11. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Sheikh Hamed Abu Teir, Manager of Al-Aqsa Library:\u003cbr/\u003e\"Now there is more awareness especially in taking care of the manuscripts in the Islamic and Arab world in general ,and there are thousands of messages that can be learned from these manuscripts. We want to prevent past mistakes. We worked on a plan to preserve them and take pictures of them and to put them online. We are interested in putting those manuscripts online, because students in the Arab and Moslem world can't access them, a student in Algeria or Saudi Arabia for example can't reach here and access them. We want to grant him the knowledge in his own house.\"\u003cbr/\u003e12. Various exterior of Israeli police checking people at entrance to compound\u003cbr/\u003e13. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Sheikh Hamed Abu Teir, Manager of Al-Aqsa Library:\u003cbr/\u003e\"There are lots of challenges. Mainly that Palestinians from the West Bank can't reach the library for example Al-quds university, one of the largest Islamic universities, is 3-4 kilometres away from this library. Its students can't come here.\"\u003cbr/\u003e14. Close of manuscripts\u003cbr/\u003e15. Close up of title of manuscript\u003cbr/\u003e16. Mid of damaged binding\u003cbr/\u003e17. Close up of damaged binding\u003cbr/\u003e18. Mid of Abu Teir showing damaged binding\u003cbr/\u003e19. Close up of pages of manuscripts\u003cbr/\u003e20. Wide shot exterior of Dome of the Rock\u003cbr/\u003e21. Mid of man entering Manuscripts Restoration Centre \u003cbr/\u003e22. Close up of sign reading (Arabic, English) \"Manuscripts Restoration Center\"\u003cbr/\u003e23. Mid of lab worker putting page of manuscript in chemical liquid\u003cbr/\u003e24. Various of lab worker working on page of manuscript \u003cbr/\u003e25. SOUNDBITE (English) Radwan Amro, Chief of the Manuscripts Restoration Centre:\u003cbr/\u003e\"We have a collection, a lot of this collection is in a bad condition, we're talking about 4000 manuscripts in al-haram. 1000 of this collection is in nearly in a bad case, 100 of these 1000 in a very bad cases. So we establish this centre in 2008 to keep and to preserve and to help our manuscripts to keep it, in this (current) bad situation in Jerusalem, to protect our heritage. We talk about 14 or 15 steps of processing, chemical processing and biological processing, mechanical cleaning for every manuscript.\"\u003cbr/\u003e26. Various of restorer working on page of manuscript\u003cbr/\u003e27. Tilt down from camera to page of manuscript on table\u003cbr/\u003e28. Close up of screen showing picture of page of manuscript\u003cbr/\u003e29. SOUNDBITE (English) Radwan Amro, Chief of the Manuscripts Restoration Centre:\u003cbr/\u003e\"This mission, preserving of the manuscripts is a generation, international mission, so we must keep our heritage for the next generations to see this science and this knowledge.\"\u003cbr/\u003e30. Wide shot of women studying in Al-Aqsa library entrance\u003cbr/\u003e31. Mid of women studying\u003cbr/\u003e32. Mid of people at library\u003cbr/\u003e33. Tilt down from books shelves to women reading Quran\u003cbr/\u003e34. Close up of Quran UPSOUND \"chanting of Quran\"\u003cbr/\u003e35. Tilt down of library\u003cbr/\u003e36. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Sheikh Hamed Abu Teir, Manager of Al-Aqsa Library:\u003cbr/\u003e\"What is left of them (the manuscripts) now we make sure we take care of them and restore them and preserve them with all the different technological methods because those manuscripts are the treasure and the trust of the nation. We should preserve them.\"\u003cbr/\u003e37. Mid of women reading Quran at Library\u003cbr/\u003e38. 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