Cities of Collision

Abstract

Jerusalem is an ancient cradle of human culture and one of the most important loci of three world religions. But as long as the city has existed, it has been the cause and breeding ground of conflicts, as well as the target and site of dispute and war. It is both victim and weapon. During this eventful history, the city has been destroyed several times, and its urban fabric exposed to ever-shifting ownership. Different cultures and ethnicities raise claims to the city as a symbolic cultural center. In more recent history, the city has been the staging ground for 80 years of violent conflict between Jews and Palestinian Arabs, each nurturing a long-established emotional and cultural attachment to the city, each claiming the city to be its legitimate capital.