Weblog Assignment 2: Struggling for Answers

Throughout Living Jerusalem thus far we have had to read articles from a variety of perspectives. These diverse perspectives allows us to understand the components of Jerusalem that are important to Palestinians and Israelis, not just Jerusalem as a whole. These components differ from person to person, just as Jerusalem's history varies from scholar to scholar and is highly disputed. These biases and strong opinions make it impossible to look at Jerusalem in a holistic way, especially in regards to peace talks or treaties, but as part of this assignment I will attempt to the do the impossible: discuss a possible peace treaty or solution for the Arab-Israeli conflict.

I was really moved by the attempts to bring Jerusalem to the National Mall for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. It seemed like a great starting point for peace talks, even though the intent was to represent Jerusalem in the divided state is it now. This sounds awkward, but would there be a way to bring Jerusalem to Jerusalem in the same way they attempted to bring it the US? Using the ethnographic research like that of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival allowed researchers to come to a larger consensus about the things that are the most bothersome or important to people in regards to identity, culture, religion, etc. I'm not looking for a watered-down image of Jerusalem in the least, but an image that reflects the type of ethnographic research that is valued in order to get a sense of city, country, or continent. One possible start would be to bring cartographers together to discuss possible maps for Jerusalem as whole. These maps would obviously vary and opinions would clash, but creating one map or multiple maps that indicate changes in borders/boundaries overtime would at least put the Arabs and Israelis onto the same project. Then Arab and Israeli leaders would come and discuss with the cartographers the hard boundaries which they believe could not be changed (the answer would probably be all of them, but for this project please bear with me). This would create an honest list of the boundaries that cannot be physically moved and would overlap or impede on what each side would believe to be their space. Unless each side would be willing to compromise, than this idea is extremely idealistic (which it is) and virtually useless. It may actually make people more angry, but I won't discuss that because it will tear down my whole argument and that's clearly not the point.... 

For starters, I googled maps of Jerusalem. This may seem like a basic thing to do but it seems like  decent place to start. Interestingly, almost the first full page of listings are for maps of the old city. 

Google Jerusalem Maps

I feel like the other parts of the city are even more important than the Old City, because realistically most people do not live there. The emphasis needs to be placed upon the living places and less about the religious sites. Asking people to ignore their religious backgrounds and religious centers is cruel and  a bit strange when discussing Jerusalem but it would give a different perspective on peace talks. 

This a crazy lofty goal, I'm aware, but I guess this would be a good starting point? Using various timelines such as ones featured in Karen Armstrong's book and Mick Dumper's article would be valuable. They provide insights and thoughts that people are reading and using in order to understand the conflict and the borders and would be great starting points. This map idea would force researchers to at least compile the information and have it side by side. It would be miles and miles long, and would take years but there isn't a quick fix. I certainly don't have any of the answers and this may be an idea that has been thought of, tabled, and rejected.

In a way I tried to channel Karen Armstrong, where provides numerous maps that have changed over a period of years and presents them all. Conclusion: Facts are subjective