APA

I have made this more than eighty years old building in the heart of the Old City of Gaza City an archaeological shrine after it was restored to its original appearance, which evokes a centuries-old aesthetic. This is me, Ismail Qasim, and here is my story.

The building carried the flavor of originality and tradition with the fragrance of old designs and the smell of the popular Palestinian "Manakish" that combines wild thyme and blessed olive oil, and customers come to fame from everywhere.

This place remained abandoned for about thirty years, where I used to serve pies in the past, but it was closed after the events of the first Palestinian intifada in 1987. Then I thought of reopening it and breathing life into it after its restoration to serve pies such as thyme manakish, doqqa (ground wheat), eggs and other Palestinian heritage items.

I rely on serving old meals to customers in order to preserve the heritage splendor of the place, and I relied on its design that incorporates ancient stones and warm yellow lighting.

Antiquities such as copper cups and pottery dishes were used in the presentation, as well as other heritage tools, to add an archaeological flavor to the quiet sessions and help in the success of the place, which will remain old and warm to bring back to the minds of visitors images from the time of ancestors in a time full of modernity and noisy places.

The secret of the beauty of the place is its geographical location, as it is located in the Old City inside Gaza City and enjoys the beauty of the archaeological details of the area, not to mention its proximity to the Great Omari Mosque, which is one of the ancient artistic architectural landmarks in the city.

This is why I expanded the shop in order to revive it as an archaeological landmark, especially since visitors compare it to the walls of the old city of Jerusalem.

The restoration and expansion of the shop had a great impact in making the abandoned place a real landmark that is constantly frequented by a large number of residents of the Gaza Strip, and this was my goal from the beginning: to create a place that would be the first destination for citizens, not just tourists.

Within the framework of marketing the place, I worked on continuous publication through social networking sites about the place to introduce people to it, focusing on its location and beautiful details.

I hope that this archaeological shop will become an essential destination for students to visit on school trips and recreational kindergartens, so that younger generations can learn about the civilization and history of our country's ancient heritage.

I aspire that our Palestinian youth will build this country with development projects that preserve our history and roots, as we are owners of a cause, minds, and great science.