Living together separately: Arabs and Jews in contemporary Jerusalem

Abstract

Michael Romann and Alex Weingrod, Living Together Separately: Arabs and Jews in Contemporary Jerusalem. Princeton University Press, 2014.Michael Romann and Alex Weingrod are professors at Tel Aviv University and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, both residents of Jerusalem. This comprehensive study focuses on the everyday ethnic relations between Jews and Arabs, both in residential and business locations within the ancient Holy City. Utilizing a mix of documents, studies, official reports, field interviews and observations, detailed investigations in large factory and a major hospital, the book covers two decades from 1967 to 1987. As the authors stated, the study is an attempt to present Jerusalem's realities without ideological preconceptions and to examine the variety of exchanges from the view point of both Jews and Arabs.(xxii)The first of the nine chapters of the book deals with the history of this very contested city, from biblical times to the 20th century. The Jews cannot envision a state without Jerusalem as the capital. The city holds great religious significance for the Arabs, Muslims and Christians, who inherited that land for thousands of years. In time, Jerusalem was divided according to religious and ethnic times into four sections: Muslim, Jewish, Christian and Armenian. Despite this voluntarily segregation, there were frequent contacts between them. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the political forum in Jerusalem was made up of a Muslim mayor and Christian and Jewish councilors. The same pattern continued under the British Mandate system.After the war in 1948, the city was partitioned into two different and disconnected entities. The border line became dangerous and both communities moved away, in opposite directions. Jerusalem was reunited in 1967 under Jewish jurisdiction, and this created different kinds of problems. There were problems regarding the legal status of the Arabs (some had Jordanian passports, some took Israeli citizenship). The Jewish government wanted to impose laws on the Arabs, who did not recognize their authority. Arabs expressed their resistance in different forms such as demonstrations, strikes, terror or noncooperation. However, many worked for Jewish companies and have continued to do so.The authors exemplify the complexity of problems with an example of a village, Abu Tur, inhabited by Arabs before 1967, where Jews moved in after the war. The two groups have separate schools and hospitals. There are few incentives for these two groups to interact. Jews are apprehensive of Arabs for terrorist attacks. Arabs are also afraid the Israeli police might pick them up following an incident in the neighborhood. However, this does not mean the groups have no contacts whatsoever. Many Arabs work for Jewish companies and stores, though it is not common to see Jews working for Arabs. There are Jews who rent apartments from Arab landlords. In the past, some of these landlords dealt with British and Jewish citizens. There is an economic incentive. Many times, these Jewish renters would act as brokers for the Arab landlords and for other Arabs. At the same time, the landlords became protectors for their tenants against any kind of harassment.Michael Romann and Alex Weingrod continue the study with an analysis of work relations between Jews and Arabs. …