The new Imperial Hotel where we are staying in Jerusalem is an iconic colonial era building at Jaffa gate, just inside the walls of the old city. The owners of the hotel, the Dajani family, an old Jerusalemite Christian Palestinian family ( whose family tree goes back to 1492) have been engaged in a 20 year battle to save the hotel from being taken over by Elad Israeli settler organisation. Elad’s aims are to claim the old city for Jewish people and drive out the Palestinian population. The Dajani family have so far resisted successfully and the hotel is a museum of Palestinian culture and history. In the lobby is a letter to Mr Dajani from Yizak Rabin (dated 1995) inviting him to a Tourism Conference as part of ‘Peace Tourism year’, to promote tourism in the State of Israel. The word Palestine does not appear in the letter.
