Volume 44, Number 5 · March 27, 1997
Jerusalem Blues
By Amos Elon
City of Stone: The Hidden History of Jerusalem
by Meron Benvenisti
University of California Press, 274 pp., $24.95
Jerusalem is the great sacred cow of Israeli and Palestinian nationalism. Both sides worship the same hallowed ground. Both propagate a myth of divine promise and of Blut und Boden. Learned mullahs or rabbis offer them irrefutable exegesis and support. The terms 'holy,' 'heavenly,' and 'eternal' are bandied about freely. Palestinians demand control of, at the very least, the Arab neighborhood of Jerusalem, including the Old City. Israel's official position, anchored in a law enacted by the Begin government in 1980, [*] is that Greater Jerusalem is Israel's capital city 'for all eternity.' A few official spokesmen go further and claim it is the very 'heart of Jewish identity.'
Review, 5618 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |