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Following are excerpts from several books and newspaper articles dating from 333 through the 1800's that deal with Jerusalem, Palestine, its inhabitants and the condition of the land.  This will give you, the reader, a glimpse into a viewpoint held down through the ages of Jerusalem. These were written mainly from a Christian viewpoint, and you may detect some anti-semitism in some of them.  I present them to you to give you a glimpse into the past.

THE MOUNTAIN DEMOCRAT PLACERVILLE CALIFORNIA 26 JUNE 1880 "There has been a real estate boom in Jerusalem within the last three years.  Euined houses have been rebuilt, the suburbs have been transformed, and inside the walls long barrack-like buildings have been constructed, in each of which several families dwell.  Nearly all the new houses are furnished with glass windows- an almost unknown feature a generation ago" DENTON JOURNAL DENTON, MARYLAND 26 JUNE 1880 DESOLATION OF PALESTINE A TRAVELER TELLS WHAT TURKISH RULE IS DOING FOR THE HOLY LAND "The Rev WJ Stacey writes to the London Times of the deplorable conditions of the Holy Land, which he has recently visited.  He says: 'Nothing can well exceed the desolateness of much of it.  Treeless, it is for twenty or thirty miles together, forests which did exist thirty years ago (e.g. on Mount Carmel and Mount Tabor) fast disappearing, rich plains of the finest garden soil asking to be cultivated at best but scratched up a few inches deep in patches, with no hedges or boundaries; mountain terraces, natural or artifically formed, ready to be planted with vines, as the German colony are doing at the foot of Mount Carmel; the villages nothing but mud huts, dust, dirt and squalor; the inhabitants with scarce clothing enough for decency; their houses-ovens; large tracts without a horse or cow, sheep or dog; no pretense at roads; except from Jaffa to Jerusalem, and this like a cart road over aplowed field, the rest, at best, like sheep-walks on the Downs of Sussex, but for far the most part like the dry bed of the most rocky river, where, amid blocks of stone each makes his way at a foot pace as best he can, or on smooth, sloping rocks on or over loose stones thrown down from the old walls on either side, which no one offers to remove; nothing upon wheels to be met within a ride of over 300 miles" "Everything is taxed, every fruit tree, so none are planted; every cow or horse, etc; every vegetable sold out of a private garden.  Every eighth egg is not taxed, but taken by the government.  Nothing, like a small farm house is to be found far or near.  If there were, the owner is liable to have soldiers or revenue officers quartered upon him, to be boarded and and lodged at his expense." GETTYSBURG COMPILER GETTYSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA 29 JULY 1880 CHANGES IN THE CITY OF JERUSALEM "A wonderful change has taken place in Jerusalem of the late years, and it is probably now a more confortable residence than ever before in its history.  Mr Schrick, who holds the appointment of Surveyor of Buildings in the holy city, has lately issued a very instructive report.  He tells us that ruined houses have been restored, or rebuilt by individuals or companies, and buildings on the Peabody plan have been erected by associations." The streets are now lighted, kept, for an eastern city, most exceptionally clean, and the great aqueduct from the Pools of Solomon has been restored, and water brought brought thence to the city. Tanneries and slaughter-houses have been removed outside of town.  The Sanitary Department is under the control of a German physician. Bethlehem and Nazareth are eagerly emulating the progress of the capital.   In the latter place windows are becoming quite frequent.  It is asserted that there is a fixed resolution on the part of thousands in Prussia to make that country as hot as possible for Jews, and it is not unlikely that this may in a measure increase the already considerable number now returning to Palestine, more especially as the German Jews already are in power in Jerusalem.  The improvements are, further, likely to lead to many Europeans wintering there. BISMARK TRIBUNE BISMARK,NORTH DAKOTA 26 NOVEMBER 1880 JERUSALEM AS A PLACE OF RESIDENCE "Jerusalem seems to be growing in favor as a place of residence for foreigners who find their native countries uncomfortable.  The foreign Jewish population has, according to Consul Moore, increased considerably of late years.  The community is now estimated at 15,000, including native Jews, against 10,000 in 1873..." OSHKOSH DAILY NORTHWESTERN OSHKOSH, WISCONSIN 12 MARCH 1881 SEA OF GALILEE "The only existing visible representatives of all  this strength and activities were the little cluster of huts called Mejdal (Magdala) and the shrunken Tiberias, with its 2,000 inhabitants. From our path not a vistage of the other places could be discerned." "It was near sunset when we entered Tiberias. We followed the road through the gate, but could easily have passed through the rents in the walls.  The now squalid city, mentioned but once in the New Testament, has been the chief home of Jewish learning since the destruction of Jerusalem.  Here the Jerusalem Talmud was completed and here is now what may be called the present theological school of the Jews. " -Prof Bartlett BUCKS COUNTY GAZETTE BRISTOL, PENNSYLVANIA 30 JUNE 1881 PALESTINE FEELS THE PULSE "Even Palestine feels the impulse of modern progress.  A new city is going up on the west side of Jerusalem, outside of the gates.  Along the turnpike of Jaffa runs the telegraph wire, and on the plain of Sharon stands the large "Jewish Agricultural College," surrounded by a model farm and thrifty nurseries.  Bethlehem is a thriving town-largely it is nominally Christian-and it carries on extensive manufactures in mother-of-pearl." FORT WAYNE DAILY GAZETTE FORT WAYNE, INDIANA 4 AUGUST 1881 SOMETHING ABOUT THE HOLY ROCK AT JERUSALEM "Since the Holy Rock, which occupies the center of the arch of what is popularly known of the Mosque of Omar is, after the Kaaba at Mecca, the most venerated spot connected with the Mohammedan religion, the difficulty of obtaining a drawing of it is proportionaly great."... According to the memorial tradition the Holy Rock is the thres(h)ing floor, on Mount Moriah, of Araunah, or Omar the Jebusite priest, which David bought of him for a place of sacrifice, and where Solomon afterwards erected the temple."