Israeli Occupation of Jerusalem: “Annexation” or “Unification?”
The land of Israel has always been known for its importance to varying religions including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, as it is home to many sacred religious landmarks and pilgrimage destinations for each of these religions. The presence of multiple religions, all with ties to sacred sites in the area, became particularly noticeable in 1948 when the land became split into the State of Israel and the Kingdom of Jordan, but the sacred sites obviously could not be moved, meaning that there was now a forced “separation among the the region's inhabitants and their sacred shrines” (Bar, page 2).
One extreme example of this was that the Jordanians had control over the Western Wall, a place known as a sacred space for prayer to the Jews. Despite signing an armistice agreement in 1949 saying that the Jordanians could not ban Jews from coming to the Wall to pray, the Jordanians still chose to put into place laws that banned any Jews from coming to the Wall. This essentially meant they were removing a site that had become “not merely a historical site but a symbol that reached right down to the core of each soldier’s Jewish identity” from Jewish access(Armstrong, page 399).
Soon after, the Six Day War, the third of a series of Arab-Israeli wars, served as a major point of change in the history of Jerusalem. Depending on which side one takes, people may have differing opinions about whether or not this war was successful and whether Jerusalem changed for the better or for the worse afterwards. Ultimately, the first entry of the Israeli Defense forces into the Old City of Jerusalem held political significance as it signaled the start of a shift in rule of this historical city, but one viewing the event from a Jewish perspective could argue that even more significant than the economic and political changes was the reestablishment of the city, and especially the Western Wall religious symbol.
After Israel regained control of Jerusalem and much of the surrounding area, these sacred sites such as the Western Wall could return at the same or an even higher significance level than before. Armstrong wrote that the Western Wall “stood for survival, for continuity, and … and was what other generations might have called a return to paradise” (Armstrong, page 400). For the time immediately after the war, Jewish spirits were high because they felt that Jerusalem was finally reunited and they now again had access to all of the sites that were important to the history of their religion.
Although from a Jewish perspective, the 6 Day War was a very positive time in history that led to “reunification” of the city, if one takes a step back it becomes apparent that the way in which this sacred space was taken back was very hostile, and could fall under the definition of “annexation.” The new Israeli leaders had little care for the former inhabitants of Jerusalem or for the historic appearance of the city. Many changes such as the bulldozing of the historic district of Maghribi to replace this area with what is now known as the Western Wall plaza were made, and it appears that this “urban renewal” was a long process that benefited very few people overall (Armstrong, page 402-403). Ultimately, as with almost all historical events, there are many upsides and downsides to the 6 Day War and its results, but it feels that more often than not only the Jewish perspective that glamorizes this war and hides the harsh or violent aspects is shown.
Citations:
Armstrong, Karen. Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths. Ballantine Books, 1997.
Bar, Gideon. "Reconstructing the past: the creation of Jewish sacred space in the state of Israel, 1948–1967." Israel Studies (2008): 1-21.
Western wall before 1948 image: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/wp-content/uploads/2003/07/western-wall-historic.jpg
Israeli soldier image: https://res.cloudinary.com/ouwp/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1679433260/Jewishaction/goren-kotel-torah-six-day-war-50th/goren-kotel-torah-six-day-war-50th.jpg?_i=AA
Nice post about the shifting control of Jerusalem and its holy sites in 1948 and 1967. Like most conflicts, people often see things from one perspective or another, but rarely do we see or understand how elation on one side is tragedy on the other.
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