A Journey to Jerusalem

On a beautiful sunny morning, a group of children came to the forest of the Marvellous Tree to see Suleima, the Tunisian dove appointed to take children from all over the world on fantastic journeys. Suleima greeted them warmly:
-“Hello children. Pleased to see you.”
-“Hello Suleima. We are pleased to meet you too”, the children replied then started to introduce themselves:
- “I am Joy from the United States of America”
- “I am Joseph from Spain”.
- “I am Mark from France”.
- “I am Bassim, I am from Palestine and I am living in Tunisia.”
The children were excited. They couldn’t wait to see Jerusalem.

- “I love Palestine”, Joseph said. “I can’t wait to visit the tomb of the Virgin Mary”, he added.”
-“I want to see Alharam al Sharif from where the prophet Muhammad rose to Heaven.” Salim said.

Suleima took the children on a tour around the Marvellous Tree forest then said:
- “Are you ready to go to the beautiful Palestine?”
- “We are, certainly,” the children replied enthusiastically.
When the preparations for the journey were over, Suleima and the children went to the airport.
-“You are going to take the 1am plane,” Suleima told the children.
-“Okay”, they replied.
The children took the plane while the white dove suleima flew over it till they reached Palestine, the land of peace.
Suleima shouted joyfully:
- “Welcome to Palestine”. We are going to visit the old city of Jerusalem first”.

The children were surprised to see people from different faiths praying to God. Alharam Aharif, which is the third holiest site for Muslims and the holy Christian sites of Jesus, were crowded of people.
The Palestinians welcomed Suleima warmly. They were happy to see her flying over their houses.

Suleima leaned over Al Aksa Mosque:
- “How prestigious it is!” Joy exclaimed. “Look at this large golden dome”, Joseph said. “It’s really magnificent!“
100 meters to the east of the old city lay the Mount of Olive Tree.
The children were surprised to discover that all the olive trees were yellow and nearly dead. They wondered worriedly:
- “What’s the matter with these olive trees Suleima?”
Suleima hovered over the sad olive trees then asked a small olive tree.
-“What’s wrong darling?”
The olive tree let out a heavy sigh, then started to cry bitterly. The children felt sorry for the crying tree and Suleima later on explained to them that those sad trees will not be happy till peace spreads over their country.

At the foot of the Mount, Salim discovered a tomb.
-“What’s this Suleima?” he asked.
-“This is the tomb of the Virgin Mary. This cite was rebuilt in 1130 and since then, it has been shared by Greeks, Armenians, Syrians, Copts and Muslims. Let’s go up to the summit of the Mount”, Suleima suggested. “It affords a wonderful view of the whole of Jerusalem”, she added.

On the Mount of Olive Tree, Suleima noticed something. It was a grey sad dove staying in a very old nest. Suleima approached him then asked:
-“Why are you so sad dear dove?”
- “I have been living on my own for many years. I have lost my family, my parents and my friends. I don’t know where they are. I miss them a lot”, the dove said.
Joy felt sorry for him:
- “Do you want to travel with me to America? I’ll take care of you and you will make many friends there,” she proposed.
-“I can’t leave my homeland, dear Joy; I’m really tied to Palestine by bonds too strong to be broken”.
-“Don’t worry", Suleima addressed the grey dove “We will help you”, she added.

She started to call birds from all over the world.
Hearing Suleima’s loud calls, birds from near and far started to come.
- “We’re going to help our friend. We must look for the members of his family who are scattered around the world”, Suleima said.
-“Are you willing to help him?” She asked.
-“Certainly”, the birds replied.

A few hours later, the flock of birds came back.
-“We have gone to many countries and many continents to fetch your family dear dove and here they are”, the birds said.
The Palestinian dove could not believe his eyes when he saw the members of his family in front of him.
-“Come into my arms dear son”, his old mother said cheerfully. The surprise made him cry. --“Thank you, dear friends”, the dove said, but words failed him. He has found his mother who was living in Tunisia, his father who was in Jordan, his eldest brother who was in London and his sister who was in France. Suleima congratulated the dove warmly.

Suddenly the sky rumbled and Suleima noticed clouds, so she proposed to leave Jerusalem:
-“What do you say if we go to Ramallah?", she said. “It is an amazing town with a pleasant temperature”, she explained.
- “Okay”, the children said.
The children were excited when they knew that Ramallah, which is also known as “the bride of Palestine” was hosting a dance and folklore festival. “Ramallah is the best place to celebrate the return of your family dear dove”, Suleima told the Palestinian dove.

The children danced and jumped delightfully. In the evening, they asked Suleima to take them to the beautiful Gaza beach.
- “It’s is one of the most beautiful beaches in Palestine” said Suleima.
The children hurried to the sea to swim. Suddenly, a Ghost appeared. For a few moments, the children watched the scary creature in astonishment, and then they let out a cry of fright when he started to move towards them. His eyes were full of hatred and evil.

Suleima hurried to see what was happening. The children started to gather rocks to hit him with, but it was too strong to be affected by the children's small rocks.

Suleima said: “Don’t panic children. There’s one way to beat this devil: There’s a huge olive tree that lives in a land called the Land of Miracles. We should go there and ask her to help us. Eating one leaf from this tree would transform this devil creature into a peaceful and loving one”.

The children and Suleima went to ask the miraculous olive tree to help them as they were longing to swim in the beautiful see of Gaza and they didn’t want to miss this pleasure. The way to the miraculous olive tree was long and tiring with so many obstacles, but Suleima and the children were determined to reach it.

-“You will come across many difficulties but you should be patient”, Suleima advised the children.
On their way, the children noticed a mean fox running after small rabbits and the poor rabbits were scared and crying for help.
“I’ll catch you and I’ll gulp you!” the fox shouted.
The children felt sorry because they couldn’t help the rabbits
-“Poor rabbits”, they said.
-“Don’t worry children”, Suleima said. “I will bring many leaves and distribute them to wild animals all over Palestine so that they become peaceful”, she added.
The children reached the miraculous land and they were happy to see the shining olive tree welcoming them.
She said tenderly: “Welcome to the land of miracles dear children”.
-“Thank you”, they replied.
-“Great tree, can we pick a few leaves?” they asked.
-“Of course you can,” she answered smilingly.
The children picked many leaves. When they came back to Palestine, they threw them everywhere so that wild animals could eat them.
-“Are you sure dear Suleima that animals will eat them?” Asked Salim.
-“Yes dear, these leaves have miraculous powers to attract animals”, Suleima answered.

When the monster of Gaza beach ate one tree leaf, he became so peaceful and he said:
-“Welcome to you dear children, I will leave the beach and let you swim peacefully. You have a right to swim and to enjoy yourselves. As for me, I should leave because I have spent a long time here till I became old. I have done so many bad things, I killed so many children and I prevented them from swimming in their beach”.
The children and Suleima were surprised hearing the savage creature. They were astonished to see him cry. Suleima heard that savage animals all over Palestine became peaceful and stopped eating weak creatures.
- “This is the effect of the miraculous tree leaves”, Suleima said.
The children plunged into the turquoise coloured water.

But soon Suleima reminded them that it was time to go home.
Then she distributed small papers and asked children to write the places they want to visit.
- “The place chosen by the majority will be certainly our next destination”, Suleima said.