Reading Response # 2:

The reading due for this week consisted of three articles: “Jerusalem: Then and Now” by Mick Dumper, “The History of Jerusalem: An Arab Perspective” by Rashid Khalidi, and “The Holy City Through the Ages.” Each of the readings was an analysis of Jerusalem’s history and its ties to religion, and how quickly the city expanded and was built upon.

After reading Dumper’s article, it’s crazy to think how rapidly the city expanded during the 20^th century compared to expansion prior to that, and especially around the 1980s and 90s. I kind of wonder exactly what was expanded, and what changed in the city. Whenever I visited Jerusalem, I usually stayed within the Old City and it doesn’t have a modern feel to it. Ramallah felt more modern than the Old City did, and Beit Sahour had areas that were kind of an in-between. I wish I’d had time to explore Jerusalem more to see how different it is in other neighbourhoods. From Dumper’s article, I think I really liked his line; “As a holy city it [Jerusalem] serves as a symbol, vehicle and embodiment of spiritual beliefs and aspirations, and so was given an elevated status which overcame its unpromising environment and location.” I mean, it’s true: despite not having any natural resources to export, Jerusalem is an incredibly important city, both culturally and politically, so you have to assume that it’s from its ties to religion. When I think of Jerusalem, I can’t really separate it from religion.

Considering this and what Khalidi wrote about how a lot of Jerusalem’s “history” can’t be proven empirically, and that a lot of it is based on lore (which could be based on actual events), you have to wonder how much of its history relating to religion actually happened, and how much of it was exaggerated by the victorious party after it was conquered, and how different the conflict would be today if invading armies during that time had been more secular than religious.

Rubin’s article only cemented the tie between the historical political and religious aspect of Jerusalem. When going over its military history, it seemed the new developments and expansions or conquering armies all had a tie to one of the three major monotheistic religions. It’s still the same way today. The sentence she wrote that I found particularly striking was, “Nevertheless, by the end of the century, Jerusalem was impressed upon the Muslim consciousness as Islam’s third holy city, the place where the prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven on his Night Journey.” Jerusalem is so important in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam that it has to be accepting in order to accommodate the diverse religions that are essentially the foundation of the city.