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  • 8/11/2019 Projecting Jerusalem

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    PROJECTING ERUSALEM

    EDWARD

    W. SAID

    In May 1991, was invited

    y theUniversityf Capetown o deliver

    the

    A.W.

    Davies

    Academic reedom ecturewhich, s its title uggests,

    made the claim for cademicfreedom

    t

    a

    timewhen therewas very

    little f t.Apartheid adstill

    notended, lthough fewmonths arlier

    Nelson Mandela had been

    released fromprison after wenty-seven

    years.t waspossible o meetwithMandelaquitebriefly; e was then t

    the

    center

    f national and

    internationalffortso lead

    South Africa

    from partheid nto

    nonracialist ew state.After eeinghim, spent

    about

    an

    hourwithhis

    comrade

    Walter

    isulu who, ike Mandela,had

    spent

    a

    very ong

    time n

    prison

    and

    recently

    ad been released.We

    discussedthe

    history

    f theAfrican

    ational

    Congress's truggle,

    ow

    for

    hefirst

    ime n its

    history

    n

    the

    scendancy;

    twas forme a

    deeply

    illuminatingiscussion

    with

    bvious

    points

    fdifference

    nd

    compari-

    son

    with he Palestinian

    truggle,hen,

    s

    now, very

    much

    not

    n

    the

    ascendancy.

    The warmth

    nd

    cordiality

    f

    my reception y

    Sisulu was

    slightly

    disturbed, owever,y

    a

    copy

    of

    Teddy

    Kollek's offee-table

    ook

    about

    himself

    nd

    Jerusalem ropped

    up

    on

    a

    table. t

    was

    the

    only

    book in

    Edward

    W.

    Said

    is

    University

    rofessor

    f

    English

    nd

    comparative

    literaturet Columbia

    University

    nd

    the

    uthor fnumerous ooks on

    a widerangeoftopics, ncludingOrientalism1978), TheQuestionf

    Palestine1979),

    Culture

    nd

    Imperialism1993), and,

    most

    recently,

    Representationsf

    the

    ntellectual:

    he

    1993

    Reith

    ectures

    1994).

    This

    paper

    s

    an

    abridged

    ersion f

    keynote

    ddress

    given

    o a

    conference

    on

    Jerusalem

    eld

    n

    London,15-16

    June.

    Journalf

    Palestinetudies

    XV,

    o.

    1

    (Autumn995),pp.

    5-14.

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    6 JOURNAL OF

    PALESTINE

    STUDIES

    sight, o I wasn'twrong, think, o conclude thatwith t Sisulu was

    making point ntended orme. Aftermyvisit mentioned o one of

    Sisulu's advisers hedissonance felt ecause of Kollek,who to most

    Palestinianss a symbol f srael's nnexation olicy. he later oldme

    that isulu's dea had been to makeme feelmore t ease by displaying

    Kollek'sbook: Kollek, isulu had said, was a representativef liber-

    alism and ofArab-Jewishooperation,nd he had wanted o show his

    support or

    hat

    processtoo.

    Alas,

    never aw

    Sisulu againand never ad a chance o nform im,

    for

    nstance, hat nly

    a

    fewdays after he sraelis onquered he Old

    City

    n

    earlyJune1967, Kollek, long

    with Moshe

    Dayan,

    threw ut

    almost a thousandPalestinians rom heir ncestral wellingsn the

    Haret

    l-Maghariba,

    azedtheir

    omes,

    nd built hemonumental

    laza

    that

    now

    stretches efore

    he

    Western

    Wall,

    an

    area thathas

    thus

    be-

    come

    Arab-rein,urely ewish.

    While was

    in

    South

    Africa had

    heard

    about similar acticsby Afrikaaner fficialsn downtown apetown,

    whichhad

    formerly

    ontained

    arge

    numbers

    f

    Black

    nd Coloredpeo-

    ples, who had been moved out to the townships, heirdistricts e-

    stroyed,o

    that he nner

    ity ould

    remain

    urelywhite.

    How was it that nstead f

    seizing

    n this

    xtremely

    imilar

    pisode

    fromKollek'spast, Sisulu had insteadfastened n his carefullymar-

    keted nternational

    mage

    as

    a

    humane, iberal, acifyingman?

    This

    image, of someone whose open-collared isdom and improvisatory

    style

    ndeared

    im

    o

    the

    world,

    as madeKollek

    he

    overridingymbol

    of

    Jerusalem-Israeli-helderusalem,

    t

    s

    true,

    ut somehow

    veryone's

    mayor

    nd honored s such

    everywhere.

    I need not dwellfor

    ong

    on how

    poignantly

    nd

    ironically

    his

    epi-

    sode resonates s we

    consider

    he

    currenttatusof

    Jerusalem

    nd the

    future f the

    peace process.

    n

    1991, Jerusalem lready

    had

    been an-

    nexedby sraelfor wenty-fourears,

    ts

    topography,nvironment,

    nd

    historic uramassivelyntervenedn, forcibly hanged,demographi-

    cally ampered

    ith.Yetwhat

    had communicatedtself

    f this

    unpleas-

    ant

    history

    o the outsideworld

    was

    a

    cheerful

    ymbol

    f

    pioneering,

    humane

    nterprise.

    he first

    hing

    o

    be

    noted, hen,

    s not

    ust

    Israel's

    power

    o do

    what t did

    n

    the

    face f

    nitial

    esistance nd international

    demurral-there

    ere,

    fter

    ll,

    a number f

    United

    Nations esolutions

    protesting

    nilateral

    sraeli

    measures n

    Jerusalem-but

    ts

    ability

    lso

    to have

    communicatedo the

    world hat

    what

    t

    did

    so

    peremptorily

    et

    right

    ll

    the

    piddling bjections

    hat

    might

    Only by

    first

    rojecting

    n

    have

    stopped

    othercountries. srael was

    idea of

    Jerusalem

    ould

    thus able to

    project

    n idea of

    Jerusalem

    Israel then

    proceed

    othe

    thatcontradicted ot

    only

    ts

    history

    ut

    changes

    on the

    ground.

    its

    very

    ived

    actuality,

    urning

    t from

    multicultural

    nd

    multireligious

    ity

    nto

    an

    eternally nified, rincipally ewish

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    PROJECTING ERUSALEM

    7

    city

    nder xclusivesraeli

    overeignty.nlybydoing o firstn projec-

    tions ould tthen

    roceed o the hanges n theground

    uring he ast

    eight rnineyears, hat s, toundertake hemassive rchitectural,em-

    ographic, nd politicalmetamorphosishatwould then

    orrespond o

    the

    mages nd projections.

    TheLossoftheCity: 948

    and 1967

    This

    processofprojecting

    irst, uilding nd displacing ater, egan

    in 1948 with

    what

    was then

    known s WestJerusalem,hepartof the

    city

    n

    which

    was born nd where or time grew p.

    It s crucial o

    recallherethat, s RashidKhalidiput t n his 1990Antonius ecture

    at St.

    Anthony's ollege,

    much f

    what

    today

    s

    commonly hought f

    as

    'Israeli West

    Jerusalem'

    n

    factconsistedof

    Arabneighborhoods

    before

    he

    fighting

    f the

    spring

    f

    1948,

    when over

    30,000

    of their

    inhabitants eredriven ut or

    fled

    rom

    heir uarters

    ike [Upper nd

    Lower]

    Baqa', Qatamon

    and

    Talbiyya,

    everal

    months

    before ome

    2,000 Jewswereforced ut

    of

    the

    Jewish uarter f the

    Old City.

    Before

    eturning

    or visit n

    1992, had lastbeen nTalbiyya, here

    the

    family

    ouse still

    tands,

    forty-fiveears arlier,

    n late

    1947. My

    oldest ousinYousif emainednthehouse until arly1948, butwith

    young nd

    pregnant

    ife

    he

    soon found t difficult

    o get n and

    out

    of

    Talbiyya,

    hich

    was in a

    different

    one from is

    businessnear the

    Old

    City

    walls.

    He thenmovedto

    a

    rented

    house

    in

    Baqa'

    where he re-

    mained

    till

    ateApril.By then, he

    area

    had become unlivable:

    The

    paniccaused

    by

    the

    Dayr

    Yasinmassacre n the

    outskirts

    f

    Jerusalem

    on

    9 April

    was

    amplified y

    thefall

    f

    Haifa nd the

    Palestinian

    xodus

    from he city ater

    n the

    month.

    ince early pring

    Haganah patrols

    with

    oudspeakers

    ould

    periodically

    make

    therounds n West

    Jerusa-

    lemannouncinghat hewholeareawas abouttofall oJewish orces

    and that

    esidents hould

    eave.

    Shooting

    nd

    bombing

    t

    night right-

    ened the

    mostly

    narmed nd

    totally norganized

    alestinian esidents.

    What

    made matters orsewas that

    he

    Palestinian

    eadershad left

    y

    the end of

    April.

    Therewas

    no

    protection,

    nd

    the

    Mandate

    govern-

    ment,

    till

    nominally esponsible

    or

    roviding

    aw and

    order,

    eemed

    also to

    haveabandoned hePalestinians o

    their

    well-armed

    nd

    organ-

    ized

    Zionist

    pponents.

    When

    my

    cousin took

    his wife o

    safety

    t

    the

    end of

    the

    month,

    e asked

    a

    single

    male

    relative

    f

    ours to

    say

    n

    the

    Baqa' house. In the meantime he house was broken nto by theHaganah, nd because

    they

    ound

    my

    cousin's

    hunting

    un they

    irst

    beat,

    then

    mprisoned

    he

    hapless

    relative

    or six months.And of

    course

    they imply

    ommandeered

    he

    property,

    ike

    all

    other

    Arab

    properties.

    None of

    this

    oncrete

    istory

    f oss evermade

    t

    nto

    official ecords

    of srael'sWar of

    ndependence,

    s it s

    rather

    allously alled,

    nd the

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    8

    JOURNAL OF PALESTINE STUDIES

    worldheard ittle

    rom eople like

    my cousin who, n

    the years fter

    1948,

    were oo engrossed

    n

    the

    daily truggle or urvivaln new and

    usuallyhostile nvironments.erusalem,srael, uickly ccountedfor

    much of

    the world's pprobation fter 948. This,

    after ll, was the

    mostfamous

    ity

    f a

    country hatwas celebrated s

    one of the great

    postwar

    chievements;

    he

    country

    hatmade the

    desert loom,farmed

    the

    wastelands, edesigned

    he

    environment,reated

    emocracy.t re-

    mainedfor

    latergeneration f

    sraelis, he so-called

    evisionistsike

    Benny

    Morris, om Segev, nd

    others, o reveal omeof the costs of

    Israel's

    creationborne mainly

    by

    the

    essentially ilent nd unheard

    Palestinians.Moreover,nly n the

    past yearhave some

    Israelicabinet

    records or 948 come under crutiny.hey, oo, ell taleofprogram-

    matic

    policies

    designed

    to remove

    Palestinians,fficially

    rase their

    traces,

    onsign

    hem o

    legal

    and

    institutional

    onexistence.1

    It was East

    Jerusalem's

    urn

    n

    1967.

    Within month f the

    June

    conquest, he

    barrier

    etween ast and

    Westhad

    been

    eliminated nd

    EastJerusalem

    nd its

    surrounding illages

    had been

    engulfed

    n

    the

    city's

    new

    municipalboundaries,

    extended to

    twenty-eightquare

    miles.Kollek ookover

    he

    city

    ouncil,

    heArab

    component

    as sum-

    marilydissolved, nd overtheyearsthe two halves of thecitywereweldedtogether. lthough hePalestinian

    opulation doubled

    from

    70,000

    in

    1967

    to about

    150,000

    in

    the

    earlynineties,

    hey

    were al-

    lowed o build

    on

    no

    more han

    bout

    10 percent

    he

    and.

    Land

    expro-

    priations

    n

    and

    around

    Jerusalem

    ave been massive nd

    systematic,

    but

    the

    housing

    uilthas been

    forJews,

    otArabs.2

    he

    ring

    fmassive

    (and

    massively gly)Jewish

    ettlementshat urround he

    city

    domi-

    nate the

    andscape, tating

    he

    provocative

    dea thatJerusalem

    s,

    must

    be,

    will

    lways

    e a

    Jewish ity, espite

    he

    xistence

    f

    sizeable,

    lbeit

    disabled nd encircled alestinianopulation.AlthoughastJerusalem

    has

    been

    annexed,

    he Palestinian esidents ave

    the

    egal

    designation

    of resident

    liens,

    nd the

    question

    of whether r not

    they

    will

    be

    allowed o

    vote

    n the

    lections

    eingnegotiated y

    srael

    nd the

    Pales-

    tinian

    AuthorityPA)

    has been

    a

    thorny

    ne.

    It is

    a

    sign

    of Palestinian

    owerlessness

    nd,

    t mustbe

    said,

    collec-

    tive

    ncompetence

    hat o this

    day

    the

    story

    f

    Jerusalem's

    oss both

    n

    1948

    and

    1967

    has not been told

    by them,

    ut-insofar

    s it has been

    told

    at

    all-partially

    econstructed

    ither

    y

    Israelis

    sympathetic

    nd

    unsympatheticrbyforeigners.notherwords, otonlyhas there een

    no

    Palestinian arrativef 1948 and

    after hat an at east

    challenge he

    dominant

    sraeli

    narrative,

    here

    as

    also been no

    collective alestinian

    projection

    or

    Jerusalem

    ince its all-too-definitive

    oss in

    1948 and

    again

    n

    1967.

    The effectf his

    uite xtraordinary

    istorical

    nd

    polit-

    ical neglect

    as been

    todeprive s

    of

    Jerusalem

    ell

    before

    he fact.

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    PROJECTING JERUSALEM

    9

    Israeli Plans, Palestinian

    nsouciance

    Meanwhile,srael'sbuilding preeall overJerusalem'sently olling

    hills, tsonce green alleys,

    ontinues ven s we speak.High-rise otels

    and office uildings ight

    p against he ancientwallsblot outevery-

    thingArab and Muslim

    n keepingwith the aims of

    the lamentable

    Likud mayor hud Olmert,

    ho makes one almost entimental

    bout

    Kollek.Jerusalem

    n

    its current

    xpandedform ccountsfor bout 25

    percent f

    the

    WestBank.Roads, partment ouses,malls,

    nd the ike

    arecreeping p everywhere,o much o that he five ilometer

    urban

    distinction etween

    ethlehemndJerusalems being

    rased.3On the

    other and, he losure fJerusalemo the nhabitantsf Gaza and the

    restof theWestBank has created reathardship ince,

    as Israelwell

    knows,

    East

    Jerusalem

    s

    thehub

    of theWestBank; anydesigntermi-

    nallyto fortify,solate, nd incorporatet intothe scheme

    of separa-

    tion now being pursued

    by the Labor governmentn effectmeans

    amputating

    t

    fromtsnatural onnections

    ith

    herest

    fthePalestin-

    ian territories,s well as

    gouging ut a gapinghole in

    the territories

    thatwould permanently

    mpair

    hem.

    Butthis, am sorry o say,

    s exactly srael'splan which,

    n effect,s

    an assaultnotonlyonthegeographyfthecity ut also on its culture,

    history,nd of coursereligions.

    orwhatever lse it maybe, historical

    Jerusalem

    nd

    indeedPalestine

    s

    a seamless

    malgam

    f cultures nd

    religions ngaged,

    ikemembers fthe ame family,n the ame plotof

    land

    n

    which

    ll has become ntwined ith ll. Yet o

    powerful

    nd,

    n

    my opinion,

    o

    sociallyrejectionist

    s the Zionist

    vision

    that

    t

    has

    seized on

    the

    and,

    he

    past,

    nd

    the

    iving ctuality

    f nterrelatedul-

    tures nd traditions

    n

    order o sever,

    arve

    out,

    and

    unilaterally os-

    sess

    a

    place

    that

    t asserts o be

    uniquely

    ts own. will not

    deny

    what

    many cholars ndreligious xperts ave aid,thatJerusalemccupies

    a

    specialplace

    n the

    Jewish eligion

    nd

    tradition,erhaps

    venmore

    special

    than hat f

    any

    other

    inglegroup.Certainly

    or he

    ast

    3,000

    years

    here

    has been a

    Jewish

    resence nd,

    for short

    eriod

    before

    and

    shortly

    fter he

    beginning

    fthe

    Christian

    ra,

    there

    was a

    Jewish

    kingdom

    with ts

    capital

    n

    Jerusalem.

    ut hecontinuous

    Muslim

    res-

    ence and

    rule

    in

    Jerusalem

    has been

    longer,

    nd

    therehas

    been a

    very

    dense

    For

    Israel

    to claim

    Jerusalem

    Christian

    resence

    s

    well.

    ndeed,

    during

    as its eternalundivided

    its recorded istoryf some10,000years capital does injusticeto the

    Jerusalem as had

    an almost

    unimagin:

    city' doexture tory

    able seriesof

    conquerors;

    oexisting

    radi-

    cy

    ri

    cht tured

    so

    tions have

    maintained their

    presence,

    of

    relgilous,

    cultural

    and

    sometimes

    armoniously,

    ometime

    re-

    political significance

    cariously.

    To override ll this

    by saying

    that

    nly

    he

    Jews

    ave

    right

    o

    exclusive

    overeignty

    ver he

    ity

    lies

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    10

    JOURNAL OF PALESTINE STUDIES

    in the face of historical act. or

    srael-afterll a modern tate n the

    late twentiethentury-tolaimJerusalems its eternal ndivided api-

    tal to the xclusion fthePalestinianopulation oes usticeneither o

    thenobility f thecity's nparalleled ura

    and grandeur, or to ts un-

    equivocally ich-texturedistory f

    religious, ultural, nd evenpolit-

    ical significance.

    But t s one thing o examine hepatterns f thepast and quite an-

    other o confronthe

    coarse nterjectionsf

    thepresent, hose, hat s,

    which srael ince 1967 has adopted

    n

    Jerusalem.srael'splan for eru-

    salem snothingess than odispossess

    Palestiniansnd turn hem nto

    a numerical

    minority,

    t the same time

    mplanting fortifiedewish

    presence hatwilldwarf r marginalizelltheother fthecity'smyriad

    actualities.srael

    s

    aided and abetted

    n

    this

    plan by

    the

    stampede

    f

    members

    f

    the

    U.S. Congress

    who have

    started,

    s

    part

    of the

    feeding

    frenzy

    hat

    escends

    n elected

    American

    fficialss

    the

    campaign

    ea-

    son

    approaches,

    drive o move he

    U.S.

    embassy

    rom elAviv

    o

    Jeru-

    salem, thereby reaking

    with a

    constant n

    U.S.

    foreign olicy

    since

    1948.

    It

    is

    true

    hat combination

    f nternal

    nd internationalres-

    sures

    stopped

    srael's most recent

    xpropriations

    n

    Jerusalem,

    ut

    thesemeasureswere

    only suspended ending urther inisterial

    n-

    vestigation,eaving sraelwith heoption ftakingmore and ndiffer-

    ent

    circumstances

    t

    a

    later

    ate. ndeed,what s

    remarkable

    s

    not ust

    that,

    with he

    United tates mploying

    ts

    Security

    ouncilveto o

    pro-

    tect srael's

    delinquent ehavior,

    he

    international

    ommunity

    eems

    powerless

    o

    say

    or

    do

    anything,

    ut

    that

    he

    Arabs

    and Muslims

    o-

    gether, lus especially

    he

    Palestinians,

    ave

    yet

    o

    mobilize

    heir on-

    siderableresources.

    Why,

    for

    xample,

    was the

    Arab

    League

    summit

    organized

    s

    a

    response

    o Israel's

    announced

    xpropriations

    umma-

    rily

    canceled?And

    why,despite

    ndlessevidence

    proving

    srael'sbad

    faith, oes thePAsupinely roceedwith tsnegotiations,ll thewhile

    doing absolutely othing

    ither

    ocally

    or

    internationally

    o mobilize

    Palestinians

    gainst

    srael's

    continued

    ssaulton

    Jerusalem?

    To

    answer hesequestions

    we mustfirst sk

    why

    n

    the

    Declaration

    of

    Principles DOP)

    itself

    erusalem,

    lready

    nnexed

    llegally

    nd

    ag-

    gressed gainst

    n

    all sortsof

    ways,

    was

    split

    off rom he

    West

    Bank

    and

    Gaza

    and

    eft,

    r

    rather

    onceded,

    o

    sraelfrom heoutset

    f

    nego-

    tiations?

    he answer

    must

    ie

    n

    two

    closely

    onnected

    acts: hat

    srael,

    being

    much

    more

    powerful

    nd backed

    to

    thehilt

    by

    the

    United

    tates,

    simply nilaterallyeserved or tself heright odo what t wished n

    Jerusalem

    nd

    elsewhere;

    nd that

    hePalestiniansmade this

    nd

    many

    other concessions

    because

    they

    were convincedthat

    they

    had no

    alternative.

    There s a valuable

    nsight

    nto

    he

    mentality

    hat

    produced

    o cata-

    strophicallyupine

    an

    attitude

    n

    Hanan Ashrawi's

    The

    Other ide

    of

    Peace.

    Near

    the nd

    ofthe

    book,

    Abu

    Mazin,

    he

    chief

    alestinian

    ego-

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    PROJECTING

    ERUSALEM

    11

    tiator f the

    DOP, tries o allayAshrawi's ismay

    t the text y telling

    her that fter he

    document s signed he can

    bargainwith he sraelis

    totry o getbackthethings hePalestiniansonceded.BurhanDajani,

    in his

    scrupulously areful tudy f the Oslo

    Accord,4 oes well to re-

    mind

    us that

    t

    took the sovereign ountry f

    Egypt ive ears o win

    back the

    one

    square kilometerrea of Taba, and thiswith mobilized

    foreign ffice,

    normous xperience

    n

    diplomacy,

    nd little nterestn

    Taba by Israel. t

    is also perhapsworth ecalling hatthe PA usually

    negotiateswithout

    onsultingawyers, ithno experiencewhatsoever

    in settling

    nternationalisputes, nd withno realconvictionn actu-

    allywinning

    nything

    t

    all,except

    what srael

    might eign o throw ts

    way.Theproblem fJerusalemnthepeace processtoday s therefore

    largely problem

    f the

    ncompetence,he

    nsouciance,

    he

    unaccept-

    able

    negligence

    f

    the Palestinian

    eadership

    which

    has

    in

    the first

    n-

    stance

    ctually greed

    o et

    sraeldo what twishes

    n

    Jerusalem,5

    nd

    in the econd

    nstance vincesnotthe lightestign hat t s capable of

    comprehending,

    uch ess

    executing,

    he

    truly

    erculean

    ask that s

    required

    efore

    he

    battle

    or

    erusalem

    an

    really e oined.

    WhatCan Be

    Done?

    If, then,Jerusalem

    as been takenfrom he

    Palestinians y Israel,

    dispossessing

    hem f

    t,

    what are

    thevalues and

    principles hatneed

    to be

    asserted?

    What

    are

    waysby

    which

    t

    can be

    repossessed

    n

    the

    future?erusalem,

    or ll

    itsvaunted

    anctity

    nd

    importance,

    s

    no dif-

    ferent

    rom

    he

    other

    ccupied

    erritories

    n

    principle:

    hat

    s, according

    to nternational

    aw,

    t

    s not

    srael's lone to

    disposeof,

    r to build

    n,

    or to

    exploit

    o theexclusion f Palestinians nd others. rom he out-

    set, hen,

    we need

    a clear tatementf

    purpose

    o

    guideour-way,

    nd

    if

    this neffectnvolves ethinkingndredoingOslo,then o be it. srael

    has been

    reinterpreting,

    r rather

    iolating,

    slo all

    along.

    But

    imply

    o

    speak

    aboutEastJerusalem

    echanically

    s

    Arab s not

    enough. myself

    o notat

    all

    believe

    t s

    in

    our nterestss a

    people

    to

    introduce nother ivision

    n a

    city

    hat

    has remained

    thnicallyepa-

    ratedalbeit

    municipally lued together

    n

    the manner hat srael has

    done

    it;

    think

    t wouldbe

    much

    better

    o set an

    example

    nd

    provide

    an alternative

    o such methods s

    Israel's

    by projecting

    n

    image

    ofthe

    whole

    of

    Jerusalem

    hat

    s

    truer

    o its

    complex

    mixture

    f

    religions,

    histories,nd cultureshan heone ofJerusalems somethinghatwe

    would

    ike

    to sliceback nto wo

    parts.

    Of

    courseEast

    Jerusalem

    s

    part

    of

    the

    occupied

    West

    Bank,

    nd this

    point

    needs to be

    made

    over nd

    over

    gain;

    as

    such

    therefore

    t

    has to be reconnected

    iththe

    whole

    issue of

    iberating

    alestinians

    rom

    he

    burdens

    f

    sraeli

    occupation.

    But

    beyond

    hatJerusalem

    s the

    one

    place,which,

    or hereasons

    gave

    earlier, eally

    an be a siteof coexistence nd

    sharing

    etween

    s and

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    12 JOURNAL F PALESTINE TUDIES

    the sraelis.

    or

    that eason,we should nsist n speaking fJerusalem

    as a citywith oint sovereigntynd a joint and cooperative ision, nd

    in factwe are already oing o, based on theprinciple four self-deter-

    mination nd independence s a people and as a society.

    Thepresent A s, of course, ncapable fproviding guiding ision

    onJerusalem ecause

    t has

    become heprisoner,fnot also thedutiful

    enforcer,

    f

    the sraeli

    occupation egime. am firmlyonvinced hat

    Israeland theUnited tateshave factoredn Mr.Arafat's hronic isa-

    bilities nd

    incompetencies

    nd now

    count

    on him

    to continue o do

    whathehasalways one,with he ameterribly ixed-I speak euphe-

    mistically,f course-results.

    It thereforealls o thediasporaPalestinians, ho constitutehema-

    jority

    f

    Palestinians

    n

    the world nd who

    producedthe PLO

    in

    the

    first lace, to take

    the nitiative n

    Jerusalem

    nd the

    other ccupied

    territories.

    e cannot

    accept

    the

    ogic

    that

    the

    only

    role leftforthe

    Palestinians

    s to

    capitulate

    nd

    accept

    hedictates f he

    trong,

    r that

    since the

    agenda

    is now

    peace-albeit peace

    on Israeli and American

    terms-wemust

    forget

    ur

    history

    f sacrifice.We

    cannot emain ilent

    aboutreparations

    nd restitution

    uringnegotiations

    hat

    virtuallye-

    quire

    us to

    giveup

    our own

    identityust

    to

    satisfy

    he

    paranoid de-

    mands of Israel'ssecurity bsession.We must, believe,n our own

    minds akethat ery mportant

    irst

    tep,

    which s to tell

    ourselves hat

    our

    goals

    are realizable nd can-indeed

    must-be

    worked

    or.

    After

    ll,

    Resolutions

    42 and

    338,

    the

    supposed

    basis of

    peace

    between

    Arabs

    and

    Israelis,

    re

    being

    contravened

    very ay by

    srael:Can

    these

    reso-

    lutions

    not ever

    gain

    be

    mentioned?

    n

    addition,

    we

    need

    some fair

    and

    reasonable ccounting

    f our assets. There

    s,

    as

    I

    mentioned,

    considerable

    alestinian

    ump

    n

    the

    diaspora, group

    thathas

    pro-

    duced much

    that

    oday's

    alestinians

    ossess, materially

    nd

    morally.

    We constitute a formidable nongovern-

    mental esource,

    nd

    thismust t last

    be

    Jerusalem

    S now

    the front

    mobilized.Jerusalem, o central to the

    Plesinith

    s

    lef

    land

    itself,

    s

    now the front ine in the

    Plesteinatian.

    elstruggle

    for

    alestinian elf-determination.

    Therefore

    t

    mustbe the

    hub of

    all

    our ef-

    forts-subsidized, ramatized,

    nd cam-

    paigned

    or

    nstintingly,ollectively.

    hatever

    lse

    t

    maybe,Jerusalem

    has the

    merit f

    lluminating

    he

    difference

    etween n

    exclusivist,

    ar-

    rowly deological erceptionfhistory

    nd

    society,

    nd one we need

    to

    formulatendwork

    for,

    visionthat s

    catholic, nclusive,

    nd liberat-

    ing.

    And it is also the

    place

    where

    he sraelishave staked

    theirmost

    determined,

    ost

    uncompromising

    fforts.

    I

    do not

    see how

    anything

    an

    be done to nhibit r somehow ffect

    Israel'smeasures

    n

    Jerusalem

    ithout

    ttending

    o the nformational-

    ideological

    frameworkt has erected round the

    city.

    For it is

    in

    the

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    PROJECTING ERUSALEM 13

    conceptual rameworkroundJerusalemhat srael s mostvulnerable

    to ntellectualnd moralmobilization y ts opponents. coordinated,

    well-plannednformationampaignmustbe devised o bring he facts

    to the ttentionfJerusalem'snormous orldwide onstituency.s no

    one needs to be

    reminded, acts ever peak for hemselves. heymust

    be

    articulated,isseminated,eiterated,nd recirculated. e must ake

    seriously

    he enormous

    mpact

    of

    preparingminds and heartswith

    facts ndfigures, ithnformationhat ounteractshepernicious alsi-

    fications bout Palestinians nd Jerusalem hat srael has put about.

    This is something hat, or easons that find ompletelymysterious,

    Palestinian eaders have

    alwaysmisunderstood,articularlyt times

    likethis,when sraelrelies o heavily n thevirtual bsenceofPalestin-

    ian voices and counterrepresentations.hy, or xample, ave srael's

    plans for he festival elebrating erusalem's 3,000 years s

    a

    Jewish

    capital gone

    without serious

    organized esponse

    from

    alestinians

    and

    others?

    o

    suggest

    hat here

    as been

    an

    unbroken

    ,000 years

    f

    Jewish overeignty

    n

    thecity

    s a

    fancifulrojection oisted n minds

    assumed

    o

    be

    ignorant

    nd

    gullible.

    Unless srael's ssertion hatJeru-

    salem is and

    always

    was an

    essentially ewish ity

    s shown forthe

    fraudulentlaim t s; unlessJerusalems reprojectednd represented

    as a jointlyheldcapital,not as an exclusively ewish apital, hecity

    will

    continue o be hostage o Israel'sdeeplyoffensiveesigns.

    There s, in short, generously clectichistory fJerusalem o be

    excavated nd insertedntothedebatenow dominated

    y srael;there

    is

    also a redoubtable et ofother, on-Jewishnterests

    o be made

    clear;

    and

    there

    s,

    at the

    very east,

    truer

    map

    to

    be drawn

    nd clarified

    nd

    mobilized round.

    Tacit

    acceptance

    or

    silence

    n

    the face

    of uncon-

    tested ssertionsmustbe

    dispelled

    nd dissolved. his means

    explicitly

    advancing

    much

    clearer,

    more

    principled

    alestinian

    iew of

    peace

    and,at the sametime, igorouslyriticizingheorigins s wellas the

    course

    of

    Palestinian

    articipation

    n

    the

    negotiations.

    Such

    a

    program

    oes

    not seem

    to me either

    quixotic

    r an

    unrealis-

    tic

    strategy

    o

    pursue.

    We have a

    gigantic

    slamic

    and Arab constitu-

    ency,

    a Western

    constituency,

    Christian

    one. There is also

    a

    considerable,hough artly ubmerged,

    eadiness n

    the

    part

    of other

    Europeans, mericans,

    ome

    Jews,

    nd others o isten

    o an

    alternative,

    less

    unpleasant

    ourse

    by

    whichreal

    peace

    can be achieved.

    t

    is also

    the asethatmanyArabs nEgypt, ordan, yria,North frica,heGulf,

    and

    elsewhere

    re not

    ready imply

    o normalize

    r

    complacently

    all

    into

    bed with

    srael,

    no

    matterwhat the various autocrats

    ay

    who

    somewhat

    mysteriously

    un

    things

    n a

    politically

    ssified

    Arabworld.

    Obviously

    here s

    apprehension

    bout

    stimulatingor

    even

    olerating)

    debate

    on

    ideology,

    ince that

    might pill

    over nto criticism

    f Arab

    governmentalolicies

    on civil

    ife, ationality,

    nd human

    ights.

    ut

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    14

    JOURNAL OF

    PALESTINE STUDIES

    realcampaign

    or erusalemannot, n

    my pinion, e deterredy uch

    considerations, or

    will

    t be.

    Forperhaps the time t lastapproacheswhen the Arabworldcan

    begin to free

    tself rom hemiserable, mpoverishing,nd

    undemo-

    cratic ife

    mposed

    on it

    by

    ts eaders.

    A

    campaign or

    erusalem f the

    sort

    havebeen speaking bout s part

    of thatprocess, nd

    it is cer-

    tainly

    strong

    ntidote o the

    drifting,mpossibly nwise

    coursenow

    being

    undertaken

    y

    the

    Arabs, sraelis, nd Americans

    eneaththe

    tattered anners f the

    peace process. do not see thatoverly

    raised

    and

    defended rocess

    s

    leading

    o thekind of

    peace

    most

    people

    can

    livewith or

    ny ength

    f

    ime: he

    tensions, isequilibrium,

    nd dislo-

    cationsgenerated y Israel'spartially ealizeddesigns nJerusalem

    prove his, ince

    Jerusalem

    s notthe

    xception

    uttherealruleofwhat

    the

    deologicalmperative

    ictates.

    PerhapsJerusalem, ith ts thousands f new

    Jewish esidents,

    ts

    dislodged

    Arabs,

    nd its

    llegally cquired

    paces,

    s

    already

    ost.

    f t

    s,

    then

    peace

    in

    this

    generation

    s not

    at hand. This needs

    to

    be

    clearly

    understood

    nd

    acted

    on with

    ntelligent

    etermination.n

    the other

    hand,

    t

    is never oo late

    for

    vitalized nd

    energized olitical

    will

    to

    spring

    nto

    ction,

    nd then

    maybe-just

    maybe-a

    better

    eace

    can oc-

    cur, lthoughwemaynever ee itwithour owneyes.

    NOTES

    1. See Benny Morris,

    Falsifying he Record: A

    FreshLook at Zionist

    Documentation f

    1948,

    JPS

    24, no. 3 (Spring 1995), pp. 44-62.

    2. See Housing-in astJerusalem, 994, prepared

    by the Jerusalem nformation enter

    and repro-

    duced

    in

    JPS 24,

    no. 4

    (Summer 1995), p.

    142.

    3. See the recent eportApril 1995) in theWash-

    ington

    ost

    by

    Elaine RuthFletcher.

    4. Burhan ajani, The September

    993 Israeli-

    PLO Documents: Textual nalysis,

    PS 3,no. 3

    (Spring 994),p. 17.

    5. Accordingo Yedi'ot haranot,7 January995,

    Arafatoncededn a press onference

    hat erusa-

    lemwas

    an

    internalsraelimatter.