To Rule Jerusalem

Twentieth-century Jerusalem is doubly divided. It is a holy site for both Judaism and Islam. Additionally, secular Israelis and Palestinians alike ground their respective national identities within the city, sharing it with each other and with those of their own faith who yield to a higher divine law rather than a secular democratic one. To Rule Jerusalem is a historical and ethnographic account of how Jerusalem has become the battleground for conflicts both within and between the Israeli and Palestinian communities. Based on hundreds of interviews with powerful players and ordinary citizens over the course of a decade, this book evokes the ways in which struggles are experienced and managed in the life of the city. To Rule Jerusalem is a forceful study of the intertwining of religion and politics, exploring the city as simultaneously an ordinary place and an extraordinary symbol.