According to a press release issued by the “Khaled Shoman Foundation,” the exhibited holdings reveal “the artistic trends that Al-Khatib was interested in, so we find that the historical and orientalist-style archival images about the people and societal culture revolve around the relationship with the Holy Land.”
The acquired pictures and paintings monitor the manifestations of Palestinian life, and show the movement of people around the Dome of the Rock, the clothes used in that period, the alleys of ancient cities, the springs of water, the caravans some of which reach the outskirts of the city, the mountains of the Holy City, the ports and ships, and thus condemn the orientalist mentality that depicted and painted Jerusalem. as an empty city.

In a second atlas called “Map of Western Palestine”, all sites appear in all regions of Palestine, with the exception of the Negev Desert, which was drawn in 1872 as part of surveys and surveys carried out by the London-based “Palestine Discovery Fund”, during which twenty-six detailed maps were produced.
It is noteworthy that Hisham Al-Khatib authored a number of books, including “Jerusalem, Palestine, and Jordan,” and “Palestine and Egypt under Ottoman Rule.” He worked in the field of energy and technology for decades before assuming ministerial positions in the Jordanian government in the eighties and nineties.

Last June, the Jordanian-Palestinian researcher and politician Hisham Al-Khatib (1937-2022) passed away, leaving a collection of art holdings that include watercolor and oil paintings, machines, lithographs and engravings, in addition to many photographs, maps, atlases and valuable illustrated books that illuminate the history of the Levant and Egypt during Ottoman era.
The deceased collected his possessions over forty years, and worked to document them in a scientific manner that reflects the aspects of social and economic life in the region during four centuries, and also provides a visual record of many archaeological sites and landscapes in them as well.

Quds Press