JERUSALEM, Dec 30: Israel has silenced a centuries-old tradition in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which began here on Tuesday, by barring Palestinians from using a cannon to announce the end of fasting each day in Jerusalem. Instead of the ritual cannon, located in a graveyard on a hill abutting the Old City, Jerusalem's Muslims will end their daily fast at sunset to the boom of a sound grenade.``The cannon is a part of the tradition and Jerusalem. How can they silence it? It's a part of my family tradition, as well,'' said Rejai Sunduqeh, Jerusalem's `Madafaji', whose job is to fire the cannon. Sunduqeh had in the past received a daily amount of gunpowder from the Israeli authorities. But he was also required to provide proof each day that the total amount was used. He also had to warn the police just before firing the blast.
This year, Jerusalem City Hall, headed by Right wing mayor Ehud Olmert, told Sunduqi he had to build a locked storeroom in which to keep each day's gunpowder to prevent it
from falling into ``insecure hands''. He had no funds to build a storehouse, and Israel refused to provide the money. ``So I negotiated and in the end was able to win permission to use sound grenades just to keep the tradition alive,'' he said. But the municipality also said that it will give him only one sound grenade a day - forcing him to cancel the two other blasts which remind Muslims each day of the `sahur', or final predawn meal, and the `imsak', or beginning of the fast at sunrise.
``They told me they don't have funds to give me three sound grenades a day because each one costs 60 shekels (17 dollars),'' Sunduqeh said. He will also be limited to a daily four sound grenades during the `Eid al-Fitr', the three-day holiday marking the end of Ramadan, during which he once used to fire a good 15 cannon blasts a day. Sundqui had other scares from the Israelis in past years.
``During the (1987-1994) Intifada uprising, Israeli security agents would hide to watch over me and make sure I didn't give away
the gunpowder,'' he said. ``Can you imagine these figures coming at you in a graveyard in the dead of night,'' he said.
Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
