Library restores Palestinian history one manuscript at a time

A library in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem offers a rare glimpse into Palestinian history with its treasure trove of manuscripts dating back hundreds of years before the creation of Israel.

At the Khalidi Library in the walled Old City, Rami Salameh expertly inspects a damaged manuscript as part of the effort to restore and digitise historical Palestinian documents.

"The manuscripts range from jurisprudence to astronomy, the Prophet Mohammed's biography and the Koran," says the Italian-trained restorer as he carefully maneuvers a dry brush over a fragile text on Arabic grammar.

From his small workshop, he lets out a sigh of relief, concluding that it won't be necessary to treat the 200-year-old document for discoloration as a result of oxidation.

Working alone, Salameh has already restored 1,200 pages from over a dozen manuscripts belonging to private Palestinian libraries over the past two and a half years.

The items date back as far as 300 years, to the Ottoman period.

The majority of the manuscripts come from the Khalidi Library itself, the largest private collection of Arabic and Islamic manuscripts in the Palestinian territories.

Also on its shelves are Persian, German and French books, including an impressive collection of titles by French writer Victor Hugo.

Located in the Old City near one of the entrances to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, the library was founded by Palestinian judge Raghib Al-Khalidi in 1900.

From its main building, which overlooks the Western Wall - the holiest site where Jews can pray - warring sultans reportedly played a role in liberating Jerusalem from the Crusaders in the 12th and 13th centuries.

The collection contains books, correspondence, Ottoman decrees and...