The earliest photograph I own that depicts a Palestinian shatha was taken around 1905 (Image 1). My four great-uncles, the Sidawi men, ranging in age from thirty-year-old Daoud to fourteen-year-old ‘Afif, are seen posing in this photograph. In the back, a little boy in a sailor suit sits on the back of a donkey. A big picnic basket is prominently shown in the foreground. We also see a few straw hats, a couple of walking sticks, a young girl carrying a cloth-covered cooking pot or basket on her lap, and a checkered tablecloth laid down between seated people. There is something very genteel, very nineteenth-century French or Russian about this photograph—the white clothing of most of the women, with their high collars and lace; the adolescent men in white shirts with rounded collars; and the men with their thick, upturned mustaches, their suits, vests, and bow ties. And in back, juxtaposed with the elegant white clothes, two women wear traditional Palestinian clothing with headscarves covering their heads.

Another photograph, taken in 1910, reveals a mother and her two daughters having a picnic with a windmill in the background (Image 2). It could possibly be the Montefiore windmill—the first Jewish-owned mill, shipped over from Ramsgate, England, by Sir Moses Montefiore. It was built in 1857 in order to grind wheat for flour. Located in the center of Yemin Moshe [a neighborhood overlooking the Old City], in Jerusalem, it continued to function as a mill until 1876, when it was superseded by the new steam-powered windmill brought into the German Colony by the Templers. Over the ensuing years it fell into disrepair.8

However, I am more inclined to think that the windmill in this photograph is the one in the neighborhood of Rehavia, Jerusalem, built, owned, and administered by the Greek Orthodox (Rum) Church as a social project to provide the poor with flour and bread. This mill used a combination of engine power and wind, but went out of use in 1873 when the steam-powered one began to operate in the German Colony.9

Returning to the photograph, the mother, seen in profile on the right, is Sa‘ada Shatara Nasir with her two daughters, Nabiha in the center and Ni‘meh on the left. In 1924, Nabiha established Birzeit Higher School, in the town of Birzeit, north of Jerusalem, and in 1942 it adopted the name Birzeit College.10 Her sister Ni‘meh taught English at the school.11 They are sitting amid large boulders, enjoying a repast. Ni‘meh is carrying a bottle of some beverage, while Nabiha is holding in both hands a large white cup. Their summer hats lie strewn among the rocks.

Picking wildflowers in the springtime was almost a national pastime [see Image 3].12 Linda Farraj, a retired Palestinian schoolteacher, remembers with pleasure how much she enjoyed picking wildflowers with her friends:

Hala Sakakini (see Hala Sakakini), in her memoir Jerusalem and I, describes her love of nature and her fond memories of the outings she, her sister Dumia, and her mother used to take together:

I have also interviewed a few Palestinian octogenarians about their memories of shathat. Again and again it is clear how much they loved the beauty of their country and how much they enjoyed these social outings.

Alfred Farradj, a retired small business owner, had a thick brown leather album packed with photos from his youth. He showed them to me with pride as though they were his trophies [see Images 4–6].

Mimi Mouchabek, a retired UN worker who also had a voluminous collection of photographs, shared her favorite shatha stories with me:

The young Palestinians pictured in another photograph (Image 7) may have similarly rented a truck to go to Jericho rather than staying home on a Sunday. From 1947 to 1948 there were increasing curfews on private cars and more restrictions on traveling the roads due to skirmishes between Arabs and Jews that inhibited movement for the local population. I can’t help but wonder, considering the innocence of youth, whether these happy young people had any inkling of the upcoming turn of events that would lead to their impending catastrophe.

It is interesting to note that the outings included both genders, and often people of all ages, from babies to elders [see Image 8]. The types of clothing they wore were much more formal than the clothes people wear today when hiking. During the British Mandate, middle class urban young men dressed in three-piece suits, ties, sports jackets, cardigans, button-down shirts, and leather shoes, resembling the dress of the British colonialists who ruled their country. The young women wore dresses and pleated plaid skirts, sweaters, and pantyhose. Sunglasses for women seemed to have been quite popular.

As for the accoutrements, in a photo taken in Wadi al-Qilt circa 1940 (Image 9), some of the men have cigarettes hanging from their lips, while others are holding walking sticks. The men are all wearing bathing suits. The older man on the right is wearing a single piece suit, rather than the more modern short type.

In a photo of Wadi al-Mujib gorge, taken in 1940, not only can you see a large basket and a type of leather bag or suitcase, which most probably contained the picnic meal, but also several men carrying blankets or rugs over their shoulders to use for sitting on the rocks while they ate (Image 10). Some of the men are wearing shorts and some are adorned with keffiyehs, in order to protect themselves from the desert sun. One man has a pair of binoculars hanging around his neck. Perhaps for bird watching? One is carrying a broom—possibly to clear the sand or pebbles from their picnic site. One man seems to be carrying a backpack on his back underneath his carpet.

Swimming in Lake Tiberias was also a favorite activity among young Palestinians. There is something very current and modern about a photograph taken in the mid-1940s (Image 11). These young people could be anywhere in the world. They are timeless, having a wonderful time, pulling on each other’s hair, being young and silly.

John Rose, in his memoir about life in Jerusalem, Armenians of Jerusalem, recounts his outings to al-Mujib and the Dead Sea:

In a photo taken in the early 1940s, a man is holding his camera, which looks like a Brownie, and has the case strapped on his shoulder, while another a man is pulling a bunch of grapes from the basket and showing it to the photographer (Image 12).

Another photograph shows a hunting trip, another type of shatha (Image 13). It comprises men only this time, and a dog. The photo, taken in the early 1940s, looks very European with its German Ford car and its French pointing dog. Two men are reloading their rifles. One is wearing a jalabiya—a traditional long gown—and bullets on a belt around his waist. A string of dead birds, possibly quails or small pheasants, is hanging from the car emblem. The landscape looks like a large valley, possibly in Transjordan.

A photograph taken in the early 1930s seems to have been shot after a hunting trip, as exhibited by the rifles hanging on the tree in the foreground (Image 14). The well-known [Palestinian Jerusalemite—Ed.] photographer Daoud Abdo is reclining in the front, facing the camera. The picnickers are relishing their shatha, totally uninhibited, after having taken off their shoes and placing them neatly under the tree or off the blanket to the side. They are savoring their meal and drinks. From the way two of the women are holding their food, they might be eating stuffed grape leaves. Another woman is serving herself from the cooking pot. A saddled horse, their transportation, is resting in the background.

A photograph taken in the mid-1920s shows a large group of people that has just finished their meal (Image 15). They are lounging on the rugs that they brought with them for the picnic. Empty glasses and platters and bottles of beer or wine are seen in the foreground, as is an argileh (water pipe). Several of the people are holding musical instruments, which makes me think that they might have had some musical entertainment after their meal. A young boy, Sari Sakakini, the son of Khalil Sakakini, renowned teacher, scholar, and Arab nationalist, is holding a flute or a harmonica to his mouth, and an older man seated on the right, Saba Abdo, the father of the famous photographer Daoud Abdo, is holding an oud on his lap. Straw hats and tarbushes abound; young children, teenagers, adults, and seniors are together; even an Orthodox priest stands among them, raising his glass of wine.