Palestinian protesters hurl stones during clashes with Israeli forces in Shuafat, a Palestinian neighborhood next to the Israeli settlement of Ramat Shlomo, in East Jerusalem on May 14, 2021. Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images Current Analysis Jerusalem Youth at the Forefront of 2021’s Unity Intifada The Palestinian uprising of April, May and June 2021—known as the Unity Intifada—is part of a long tradition of revolutionary political activity in which Palestinians from Jerusalem have often played a role. Akram Salhab and Dahoud al-Ghoul report from the city about the reasons youth feel compelled Akram Salhab, Dahoud al-Ghoul • 11 min read
Palestine Issue 2021 Current Analysis Revisiting MERIP Coverage of Gaza, Jerusalem and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict For more than 50 years, MERIP has provided a depth of analysis on Palestine and Palestinian politics that is unmatched. Here we dive into the archives to highlight both historical and recent MERIP articles that provide key context for the current crises in Gaza and Jerusalem as well as important bac The Editors • 7 min read
MER Article Jerusalem's Colonial Landscapes of Loss Israel’s settler-colonial project has been premised on a set of racial and spatial assumptions that require the dispossession—even the elimination—of the native Palestinians. Over the seven decades of Israeli rule in Jerusalem and throughout historic Palestine, the state has produced abiding landsca Thomas Abowd • 7 min read
Current Analysis The United States’ Recognition of Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel and the Challenge to the International Consensus On December 6, 2017, US President Donald Trump announced that the US was recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and would be moving its embassy there from Tel Aviv in fulfillment of the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act (henceforth Embassy Act). In one fell swoop, the US has seriously challenged 70 Mahmud Muna, Mandy Turner • 17 min read
Current Analysis China's Stance on East Jerusalem For those accustomed to the themes of Sino-Arab diplomacy, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s speech at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo on January 21 was predictable enough. It might not have attracted much attention at all if not for Xi’s statement [http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2016xivisitm Mohammed al-Sudairi • 6 min read
Current Analysis Jerusalem Mixed and Unmixed The popular Israeli television series, Arab Labor, follows the lives of the fictional journalist Amjad and his family, all of whom are Palestinian citizens of Israel. Season one of the series, which first aired on Israeli public television in 2007, introduces Amjad and his endearingly unquenchable f Michelle Campos • 10 min read
Current Analysis Four More Years The 2012 US presidential election elicited less interest among Palestinians than any such contest in living memory. While most Israelis, and their government in particular, expressed a clear preference for a Republican victory, Palestinians seemed resigned to continuity in US foreign policy irrespec Mouin Rabbani, Chris Toensing • 11 min read
Current Analysis An All-Consuming Occupation On June 6, 2012, the Jerusalem Development Authority launched its fourth annual Jerusalem Festival of Light in the Old City. The previous year’s show had been a resounding success, according to sponsors quoted in the Jerusalem Post, with over 250,000 visitors enjoying “art installations bursting wit Rebecca L. Stein • 8 min read
Current Analysis Contesting Past and Present in Silwan On September 1, Elad -- a Hebrew acronym for “To the City of David” -- convened its eleventh annual archaeological conference at the “City of David National Park” in the Wadi Hilwa neighborhood of Silwan. Silwan, home to about 45,000 people, is one of 28 Palestinian villages incorporated into East J Joel Beinin • 9 min read
MER Article Carving Up the Capital Samera remembers a time, during the tumultuous and violent years of the first intifada (1987-1993), when her Jerusalem was a place quite different than it is today. Though tens of thousands of Palestinians under Israeli occupation were imprisoned in those years, many of them tortured, a measure of h Thomas Abowd • 16 min read
MER Article Jerusalem Texts Reviewed Salim Tamari, ed., Jerusalem, 1948: The Arab Neighborhoods and Their Fate in the War (Jerusalem: Institute of Jerusalem Studies and Badil Resource Center, 1999). Meron Benvenisti, City of Stone: The Hidden History of Jerusalem (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1996). Mic Thomas Abowd • 7 min read
MER Article Jerusalem Voices Editor’s Note: In preparing this special issue, we asked a number of Jerusalem residents to share their thoughts about the significance of the city to them and about ways of thinking about Jerusalem’s future. AZMI BISHARA Azmi Bishara teaches philosophy at Birzeit University in the West Bank. (Author not identified) • 7 min read
