The Struggle for Jerusalem's Holy Places


Book Description

The Struggle for Jerusalem’s Holy Places investigates the role of architecture and urban identity in relation to the political economy of the city and its wider state context seen through the lens of the holy places. Reflecting the broad disciplinary backgrounds of the authors, this book provides perspectives from architecture, urbanism, and politics, and provides in-depth investigations of historical, ethnographic and policy-related case studies. The research is substantiated by fieldwork carried out in Jerusalem over the past ten years as part of the ESRC Large Grants project ‘Conflict in Cities’. By analysing new dynamics of radicalisation through land seizure, the politicisation of parklands and tourism, the strategic manipulation of archaeological and historical narratives and material culture, and through examination of general appropriation of Jerusalem’s varied rituals, memories and symbolism for factional uses, the book reveals how possibilities of co- existence are seriously threatened in Jerusalem. Shedding new light on the key role played by everyday urban life and its spatial settings for any future political agreements about the city and its religious sites, this book is a useful reference work for students and scholars of Middle East Studies, Architecture, Religion and Urban Studies.




Divided Jerusalem


Book Description

Jerusalem is a deeply divided city. Famously, the Old City has Muslim, Armenian, Jewish and Christian quarters - all separate and at often at loggerheads. The Jewish and Palestinian (Christian and Muslim) populations lead completely separate lives with different schools, shops, taxi companies, languages and newspapers. How has the city become so hopelessly divided and will it always be so? Is there a solution possible and what has been the fate of earlier attempts to reconcile the different communities? Bernard Wasserstein examines the often unhappy history of the Holy City - one of the most contentious places in the world.




The Invention of the Land of Israel


Book Description

What is a homeland and when does it become a national territory? Why have so many people been willing to die for such places throughout the twentieth century? What is the essence of the Promised Land? Following the acclaimed and controversial The Invention of the Jewish People, Shlomo Sand examines the mysterious sacred land that has become the site of the longest-running national struggle of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The Invention of the Land of Israel deconstructs the age-old legends surrounding the Holy Land and the prejudices that continue to suffocate it. Sand’s account dissects the concept of “historical right” and tracks the creation of the modern concept of the “Land of Israel” by nineteenth-century Evangelical Protestants and Jewish Zionists. This invention, he argues, not only facilitated the colonization of the Middle East and the establishment of the State of Israel; it is also threatening the existence of the Jewish state today.




Defending the Holy Land


Book Description

A scathing and brilliant revisionist history, Defending the Holy Land is the most comprehensive analysis to date of Israel's national security and foreign policy, from the inception of the State of Israel to the present. Book jacket.




Digging for God and Country


Book Description




My Promised Land


Book Description

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW AND ECONOMIST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR “A deeply reported, deeply personal history of Zionism and Israel that does something few books even attempt: It balances the strength and weakness, the idealism and the brutality, the hope and the horror, that has always been at Zionism’s heart.”—Ezra Klein, The New York Times Winner of the Natan Book Award, the National Jewish Book Award, and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award Ari Shavit’s riveting work, now updated with new material, draws on historical documents, interviews, and private diaries and letters, as well as his own family’s story, to create a narrative larger than the sum of its parts: both personal and of profound historical dimension. As he examines the complexities and contradictions of the Israeli condition, Shavit asks difficult but important questions: Why did Israel come to be? How did it come to be? Can it survive? Culminating with an analysis of the issues and threats that Israel is facing, My Promised Land uses the defining events of the past to shed new light on the present. Shavit’s analysis of Israeli history provides a landmark portrait of a small, vibrant country living on the edge, whose identity and presence play a crucial role in today’s global political landscape.




Jerusalem in the Twentieth Century


Book Description

From one of the world's most revered historians, the first major history of contemporary Jerusalem ""Gilbert is a first-rate storyteller."" --The Wall Street Journal ""Fascinating and admirably readable . . . unmatched for sheer breadth of acutely observed historical detail."" --Christopher Walker, The Times (London) ""Most noteworthy for its richness of letters, journals and anecdotes . . . the major events of this century come alive in eyewitness accounts."" --The New York Times Book Review ""Extraordinarily vivid glimpses of Jerusalem life."" --Atlanta Journal Constitution




Saladin and the Fall of Jerusalem


Book Description

Saladin is a legendary figure in the history of the Middle East. His rise to prominence in the tumultuous arena of twelfth-century Middle Eastern politics was rapid and he quickly established himself as an intrepid statesman as well as a formidable military commander of great skill, but equally a man of honor. This detailed biography of Saladin, and history of his life and times, was written by the eminent historian Stanley Lane-Poole, who was able to access the rich and colorful chronicles of Arab historians, which provide us with a brilliant insight into the life and deeds of this warrior-monarch.Based on a lifetime of study, Saladin and the Fall of Jersusalem examines Saladin s youth, his military development, his conquest of Egypt and Syria, the Holy War against the crusaders and, crucially, his duel with Richard the Lionheart, including the struggle over Acre and, of course, the fall of Jerusalem. Stanley Lane-Poole has rendered valuable service in his different works by presenting various phases of Oriental history and life in such a way as to interest even those to whom such subjects are ordinarily a sealed book .The American Historical Review"




Fratricide in the Holy Land


Book Description

This is the first English-language book ever to apply psychoanalytic knowledge to the understanding of the most intractable international struggle in our world today—the Arab-Israeli conflict. Two ethnic groups fight over a single territory that both consider to be theirs by historical right—essentially a rational matter. But close historical examination shows that the two parties to this tragic conflict have missed innumerable opportunities for a rational partition of the territory between them and for a permanent state of peace and prosperity rather than perennial bloodshed and misery. Falk suggests that a way to understand and explain such irrational matters is to examine the unconscious aspects of the conflict. He examines large-group psychology, nationalism, group narcissism, psychogeography, the Arab and Israeli minds, and suicidal terrorism, and he offers psychobiographical studies of Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat, two key players in this tragic conflict today.




Jerusalem: a Religious History


Book Description

"Jerusalem: A Religious History" is one of the first books that goes back in history and delves into the religious underpinnings of the Abrahamic religions (Islam, Christianity, and Judaism) for their fervent support of Jerusalem and adjoining territories referred to as the Holy Lands by many. Quoting the religious texts of Jews (Torah, Tanakh, Talmud), Christians (Bible), and Muslims (Quran and Hadith), this book provides a clear picture of why the Muslims, Jews, and Christians hold Jerusalem so close to their hearts. The quoted verses of the religious texts in Quran, Bible, and Torah will make you appreciate the religious significance of Jerusalem for the various faiths and the conflicts that has plagued that region for centuries. The following are some of the topics covered in this book: => Verses about Jerusalem in Torah / Jewish scriptures and Quran => Jewish beliefs about Aaron building the calf in Jerusalem at Temple Mount => Quran and Torah's different accounts of the story of the calf built in Jerusalem for worship by Children of Israel => Select Talmud references to Jerusalem => Select Quranic references to Jerusalem => Quranic verses about Children of Israel in Jerusalem => How the World Zionist Organization pushed the cause from the "Holy Land" to the formation of Israel => How the World Zionist Organization managed to declare independence of Israel => The "Aliyah" (Jewish immigration to Israel and Jerusalem) => Summary of the wars in Israel => Religious Reasons for Evangelical Christians' Support for Israel => Birth of Jesus - Bible and Quran's accounts => Jerusalem at the Time of Jesus => Islamic scholar Ibn Kathir's account of Jesus's birth according to Islamic beliefs => The two versions of the day of Jesus's supposed crucifixion in Jerusalem (Islamic vs Christian versions) => The Crusaders nine major attacks over Jerusalem and the wars with Jews and Muslims => The biblical concept of "Greater Israel" as mentioned in Jewish holy books (modern State of Jordan, some parts of Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Turkey) => Status of current movements supporting Greater Israel => The concept of Rebuilding of the temple => Jewish beliefs about reconstruction of the temple => Role of "New Jerusalem" in Christianity End of Times (Christian Eschatology) => Per Islamic beliefs, killing of Dajjal (Anti-Christ) by Jesus in Israel (location of Ludd) toward end of times => Judaism's Holy Sites in Jerusalem => Islam's Holy Sites in Jerusalem => The ascension to the skies by Prophet Muhammad from Jerusalem with Angel Gabriel where he met Adam, Jesus. Moses, and other prophets => Christianity's Holy Sites in Jerusalem => Jerusalem under Islamic rule after Caliph Umer's conquests - The takeover from Bishop Sophronius => Salahuddian Ayyubi, Umayyads, Abbasids, other Islamic rulers in Jerusalem => The Ottoman Muslim's losing of Jerusalem to British => The British rule over Jerusalem => Jewish beliefs about King David (Prophet Dawood in Islam) => Jewish beliefs about Solomon's (Prophet Suleman in Islam) Temple => Destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Romans and the Babylonians => Construction of the Solomon's Temple => The issue about the United States' Stance on recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital => And more ...