Israel Eases Path to Citizenship for 20,000 East Jerusalem Palestinians, Nov. 2020
Tulane Online Exhibits
The idea of belonging within Jerusalem is a very complex issue that has been ongoing for years. However, with the new arising of a perspective about wanting to uncover history in which it relates to biblical texts or other means, it is becoming hard to discern the belonging of one group to the area in which they currently reside. Thus comes into question the idea of citizenship and how it can play a role. First, we need to define the idea of citizenship. According to Marc Ellis, in the context of “The cycle of violence and dislocation [being] transformed into the struggle for equal rights within a common political destiny,” Ellis states “Here citizenship - the recognition of a place within a democratic social and political culture that is bound to neither ethnic nor religious identity…Citizenship is the recognition that the ideal of equality under the laws and shared responsibilities in the public realm limits claims, in the case of Jews and Palestinians the claims of both the settler and indigenous populations” (Ellis 77).
While this claim seems to be quite concrete in its status, Ellis presents another problem in stating that “As in previous epochs, settlers at some point become indigenous and the challenge is less the defeat of colonialism than it is the creation of a culture that recognizes the diversity of Israel/Palestine as the path for a new identity and future” (Ellis 77). As time has progressed, the division between settler and indigenous has become more blurred due to “the divide between settler and indigenes breaks down over time because the barrier themselves is false historically and in the present” (Ellis 78). When should the idea of indigenous and settlers be removed from the conversation when talking about citizenship to the area? Truthfully it is quite difficult to say if the settler vs indigenous argument will ever be truly disassociated with claims to being a citizen, especially with projects done by companies that believe the excavation of homes leading to the discovery of the city of David is their right. Hopefully, however, it the coming future, we will begin to understand the claims to land and what it truly means to be a citizen in such a conflicted area.
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