The length of the city walls that we will pass is only a few hundred meters. But Acre talks about herself in every centimeter. The story is about how a formidable ruler emerged from a small village in the mountains, how Napoleon can be defeated, what treasures are hidden in the fortified wall, how to eat fish properly and how life is stronger than anything, everywhere and always, even on the city wall.
The history of the walls of Acre is closely tied with the destiny of the rulers of the city. Their fate and the fate of Acre are surprisingly alike. In the seventeenth century, a boy was born in a small village in the mountains of Galilee. His name was Zahir al-Umar, but History knows him under the name Daher al-Omar or Dahir al-Umar. He was from the Zaydani clan. The origin of this name is obscured, but Zaydan itself claims to be descent from Zayd, the son of Hasan ibn Ali and grandson of Ali, the fourth caliph of Islam. The Daher family had strong trade ties in Damascus. Dacher’s father was a tax collector for the Ottoman rulers. As a teenager, Dacher was involved in a scuffle in Tiberias, where he killed a man. The Bedouin tribe in Galilee hid him. When the Ottoman rulers sent troops from Damascus to pacify the Galilee, Daher al-Omar was able to rebuff and became a local hero, gaining respect among the peasants. Quickly enough, he took possession of Safed, Tiberias, Sepphoris, Nazareth, Shekhem, and Acre, allied with the ruler of Egypt, and with the help of the Russian fleet expanded his rule from Beirut to Gaza.