Tulkarm aims to renovate century-old Ottoman train tunnel
The Ottoman Empire’s Hejaz Railway, initially seen as Sultan Abdulhamid's folly, played a key role in World War I and later in Palestine's history.
TULKARM, West Bank — Under a slope near the Palestinian village of Balaa, in the hills 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) east of Tulkarm, lies a 19th century train tunnel, a remnant of Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II’s ambitions to tie the empire’s capital, Constantinople, to the holy shrines of Islam.
Today, only the arched walls and internal chambers where passengers waited for trains remain, as the rails have been looted several times over by thieves. Yet the tunnel, called Al-Kharq (The Breach), continues to attract visitors.
“The Ottoman train tunnel was built in the time of Sultan Abdulhamid II on the ruins of a Roman and Byzantine village, between 1876 and 1908,” Mofeed Salah, the head of the Tulkarm Tourism and Archaeology Office, told Al-Monitor. “It is an Ottoman archaeological treasure and an important historical monument, 240 meters long, 6 meters wide and 12 meters tall [787 by 19½ by 39 feet]. It went out of use during World War I after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.”
Salah said, “But after that, the railway resumed its operation during the British Mandate over Palestine in 1923, and was used to move troops and equipment. After the British withdrew from Palestine, it was last used in 1948 by Israeli gangs to expel and force Palestinians out of their lands.”
