Despite the Corona pandemic that struck the world, the Arab Nabataean capital, Petra, ranked first among 500 global sites as the most safe area, according to the global tourist site "lonelyplanet".

The city of Petra - or Al Sila'a or the Pink City - was chosen before that because of the style of its architecture carved into the rock from top to bottom, its barrier, the color of its pink rocks, and the richness of its buildings between the Siq, the Treasury, the Court, the Monastery and the Girl's Palace, as one of the Seven Wonders of the World in 2007.

Speaking to Al-Jazeera Net, the Jordanian Minister of Culture, an expert on the history of the Nabateans, Dr. Basem Al-Tuisi, says: “The Arabic alphabet was established in Petra. International, and the Nabataean era represents the most historical stage of weight in the production and accumulation of material culture in Petra and its vicinity.

City of Secrets

And because of the city's amazing architectural and historical advantage, it has gained the attention of artists, as Rahbana wove, within the framework of the city's history, the play "Petra" that Mrs. Fairouz chanted, as well as the writings of Arab writers, including: the Egyptian Youssef Zidan, the Jordanian Hashem Gharaibeh, and the Palestinian Al-Mutawakkil Taha.

Petra's aesthetics were portrayed by a number of plastic artists, including the Dutchman David Roberts, the American Fritters Edwin Church, the Egyptian Farghali Abdel Hafeez, and Jordanian artists.

Because of its strange terrain, it has been a filming location for many Hollywood films, such as "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", "Passion in the Desert", "Transformers", as well as documentaries. And photographs and picture books, as described by the photographer Sami Al-Zoubi as "an artistic marvel consisting of natural paintings and amazing compositions."

As for the artist Khaldoun Al-Daoud, who published a book on "Petra" with the participation of a number of Arab and European artists, he says that the book "represents a visual document that captures the spirit of the place in terms of mythology, history and civilization, as a center for the emergence of Arab civilization by contrasts of water and rock, solid and liquid, closed and open to horizons. The world, as Petra is a book that hides many secrets that need the artist's imagination, to explore their depths and reveal their treasures. "

Natural and political pandemics

The Pink City, which Europeans knew through Swiss Johann Berckhardt in 1812, and was visited before him by the Mamluk Sultan Al Zahir Baybars. It was subjected to a number of pandemics, including devastating natural earthquakes in the years 636, 419, 551, 749 and 1086, the last of which was in 1927, and other political ambitions of Zionism.

The Corona pandemic - which paralyzed the world - struck the city that relies on tourism with death, turning into a ghost town and disrupting the work of the people who depend on it for their livelihood from the "door of livelihood that comes from tourists," according to Nael Nawas, who works in tourism in the region.

Al-Zoubi expresses his sorrow for what happened to the city because of the epidemic, with which tourism has decreased by 90%, especially due to the closure of borders and the ban on Friday, which is a day for family outings.

Infiltrate Petra

Perhaps the most dangerous thing that the city, which was founded in 312 BC and was subject to Roman control in 106, was exposed to, is the Israeli attack through investment projects, and the fabrication of narratives and narratives that claim fake rights for the Jews in Petra through ancient myths in the shrine of Aaron.

Dr. Tweissi asserts that the Nabateans "are the first root of the cultural and political formation of Arabs in northern Arab countries, and they worshiped Arab gods who were worshiped by the Quraysh after them, and their names were Arabic and their spoken language was Arabic, and they wrote in Aramaic and then developed it into the Arabic letter form later, just as the classical historians make the word: The Arabs are, in many places, synonymous with the word Nabataeans. "

There have been many Zionist attempts to rob the heritage of Petra, but evidence indicates that the shrine of the Prophet Harun belonged to the Mamluk era, and Zahir Baybars visited it with his al-Nuwayri writer, and the mosque had not yet been built on it, and the writing indicates that its gate was built in the era of Al-Nasir bin Qalawun.

Among the claims that “the Jews were the ones who built Petra,” which is the same claim that was made about the pyramids of Egypt.

Dr. Tweissi asserts that "the remaining inscriptions bear the names of Arab kings, as well as the names of kings and public figures, and they also spoke Arabic."

After circulating a video on social media and news sites of hundreds of Israeli tourists performing Jewish rituals in the shrine, the Jordanian government resorted to closing it.

Art and investment in the arena of conflict

In the context of building narratives and hypothetical novels trying to infiltrate Petra, by leaking modern myths, an attempt was made to produce a film that distorts the history of the city, entitled "Jaber" by a Jordanian director, about Lakya bearing a Hebrew writing claiming "the right" of the Jews in Palestine and the Jordanian Petra, and it was failed due to pressure And the film crew decided to cancel its filming, and "Al-Jazeera Net" followed it at the time.

Under the heading of investment, many Jewish institutions have been active in tourism work in Petra, and it has even been reported that some tourism companies announce a program to visit "Israel" that includes a visit to Petra.

Historic confrontations

Dr. Al-Tuaysi mentions a number of large and old confrontations between the Nabateans and the Jews, and most of them recorded victory despite the Roman protection that the Jews enjoyed.

The first war was during the time of King Ubada the First, the second confrontation was during the time of King Al-Harith III, and the third war was during the reign of Malik the First, the fourth war was during the reign of Ubada the Third, and the fifth war during the reign of Al-Harith IV.

Perhaps the reason for the novels 'claim is the mysterious history of Petra or the "gap in the historical record", as critic Ihsan Abbas - who took over the presidency of the Levant Conference at the University of Jordan - says that he "read dozens of books about Petra and found no sign of the Nabataeans' writings for their history." Those who wrote the history of the Nabataeans were their enemies.

The researcher, Dr. Ziyad al-Salameen, agrees that the Nabataean state ended at the hands of the Romans.

The identity of the Nabataean Arabic letter

The Jordanian Minister of Culture affirms that Petra and the Nabataean Arabs represented "the most historical stage of weight in the production and accumulation of knowledge, and the material product in porcelain or Nabatean pottery, and they excelled in making jewelery and minting coins that bore the name of Al-Harith IV's wife," and her name was "Shaqila", which is synonymous The name of the currency in circulation in Israel is "Shekel", as its history was robbed in the same way that Palestinian fashion and food were stolen.

Dr. Al-Twaisi concludes by saying that the Nabati society "had an advanced judicial and organizational system. Through its historical development, the Nabataean inscriptions formed a clear scene for the growth of the Arabic script as the most important achievement of Arab culture in its early formation."

Petra is known as the Pink City because it was excavated in the pink rocks of Wadi Musa, and it includes a number of sites, the most important of which is the “Al-Khazneh” (Bayt Al-Hukm), which was dug in the deaf rock on the front of the Ash-Ashm Mountain, with a height of 140 meters and a width of 90 meters.

Other sites that testify to the city's long tradition: the public amphitheatres built for celebrations and public meetings, the "court" and places of worship.

The houses of the people of the city, which in turn were dug into its pink colored rock, testify to the nobility of the site, which is enhanced by the splendor of water channels, cisterns, baths, ornate rows of stairs, markets, and gates with arches.

The city is distinguished by its sealed entrance because it was dug between stiff high mountains, with a narrow slit known as the siq, reaching a length of a thousand meters, and the remains of guard rooms and observation areas appear on its sides.