Langs Nijl en Jordaan. Reisendrukken uit Egypte en Palestina – “Along the Nile and the Jordan: Travel Impressions from Egypt and Palestine” by Rolof Enoch van Arkel (van Ds. R. van Arkel), G.P. Marang, Arie Noordtzij. Published by D.A. Daamen’s Uitgevers-Maatschappij. The Hague, 1926. In Dutch.
A documentation of Van Arkel’s travels through Egypt and the Land of Israel during the months of February–May 1926: “We wish to tell what our eyes have seen and our ears have heard; to show the regions we traveled through as they are now, and to let the light of the present illuminate the past… We do not aim for scientific research, ” he writes. Indeed, the book is written in a flowing, accessible style, with Van Arkel vividly describing the sites and cities he visited, placing special emphasis on the architectural styles shaping the Near East and the Land of Israel.
The book is accompanied by numerous photographic plates from the Near East — Egypt and the Land of Israel — with a particular focus on Jerusalem: the Temple Mount and the Western Wall, the Pool of Siloam, the outskirts of the Old City, as well as Jaffa, the Jordan River, Bethlehem, Tiberias, Nablus, and other cities. The final chapter of the book, titled “Zionism, ” is dedicated to the wonder of the Zionist enterprise as seen through the eyes of a Dutch traveler. The author expresses admiration for the way in which the Jewish people have returned to their homeland after two thousand years of exile and are now rebuilding it: “Zionism demonstrates what unimaginable wealth of idealistic power may be imprisoned within a people!” he writes. He enthusiastically describes the momentum of the Zionist movement: “Wolffsohn and Nordau, Zangwill and Eliezer Ben-Yehuda — each in his own way inspires the masses and helps a splendid future shine before many. Zionism becomes an avalanche. It always carries a few people along. International congresses follow one another in succession, and the spirit of mystical enthusiasm continues to spread… As soon as peace was made (with the end of World War I), the Jews began to stream into the Land of Israel…” Van Arkel personally witnessed the Zionist settlement efforts, the establishment of institutions in the country, and the extensive Zionist activity to revive the land — all of which he records in his book with great enthusiasm.
[8], 263 pp. 28 cm. Impressive binding with the book’s title gilt-stamped on the cover. Rust stains on some of the pages (especially in the first section), otherwise in good condition.
