Nationalism and the Haram Al-Sharif/Temple Mount: The Exclusivity of Holiness

ISBN-13: 9783319499192 / Angielski / Twarda / 2017 / 193 str.

Erik Freas

Opis

This book examines the manner in which the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount has been appropriated by both Palestinian Arab nationalism and Zionism (Jewish/Israeli nationalism) as a nationalist symbol that legitimizes the respective movements' claims to Palestine/Eretz Israel. Whereas historically, the site's significance had always been understood in religious terms, from the late-nineteenth century onward, its significance became reconfigured within the context of modern, nationalist discourses--a Palestinian one and a Zionist one. In neither case, however, did the site become secularized, even if, in their original incarnations, Palestinian nationalism and Zionism were essentially secular movements. Influence has rather run in the other direction, with the site's religious significance vis-a-vis Islam and Judaism gradually altering the character of both Palestinian nationalism and Zionism, in a manner that has served to blur the line between both movements and their respective majority faiths.

Spis treści

[actual titles yet to be determined]

Chapter 1 – Provides background on the site’s religious history with respect to Judaism and Islam.

Chapter 2 – Discusses the early development of Zionism and Palestinian nationalism ideologically. 

Chapter 3 – Discusses the site’s nationalization during the British mandatory period up through the Wailing Wall Disturbances of 1929.

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Chapter 4 – Discusses the site’s nationalization during the British mandatory period in the aftermath of the Wailing Wall Disturbances of 1929.

Chapter 5 – Covers developments during the period 1948 – 1967, when Jerusalem was a divided city and the site was strongly contextualized within secular nationalist paradigms. 

Chapter 6 – Discusses developments immediately following the Six Days War, which marked the beginning of a convergence between Israeli national identity and Jewish religious identity and Palestinians’ rejection of secular Arab nationalism.

Chapter 7 – Discusses developments related to archeological activity, and the construction of narratives corresponding to respective nationalisms; among other things, this saw a strengthening of ties between nationalisms and respective majority religions.

Chapter 8 – Discusses the growing pervasiveness of Orthodox Jews and Hamas in defining Israeli and Palestinian nationalist discourses, in a manner greatly emphasizing their respective religious dimensions.

Chapter 9 – Discusses the growing influence of Protestant millennialism, not just among religious Israelis and Palestinian Christians, but also among Palestinian Muslims.

Chapter 10 – Discusses the emergence of the Islamic movement of Israel as a significant force in East Jerusalem.

Chapter 11 – Discusses more recent developments, coming up to the present.

Conclusion

O autorze

Erik Freas is Assistant Professor of Modern Middle East History at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York, USA. Freas’s research focuses on Muslim-Christian Arab relations in Palestine during the Mandate and late-Ottoman periods. He is the author of Muslim-Christian Relations in Late Ottoman Palestine: Where Nationalism and Religion Intersect.