The City that is as Complicated as its Walls

I thought that the reading these two articles together was a really interesting combination.  Reading about how the city is divided and the actual physical presence of the walls and then reading about what people have done to the walls was an interesting contrast

One part that stuck out to me was in Klein's article on page 54.  He was talking about how in 1967 Jerusalem was intended to be a place of holiness for Jews, Christians, and Muslims under Israeli sovereignty.  Even though I believe that this can happen, I see the immediate flaw with the statement under Israeli sovereignty.  After being in this class for seven weeks, I have learned that any sort of agreement that allows for one group to have supreme rule is not going to be effective.

With that being said, this also goes against the laws of Zionism.  Zionism says that Jerusalem is meant to be for Jews and only Jews.  The selfish Jewish part of me agrees with this.  But the other part of me, the inclusive, pleasing, and harmonizing part of me, strongly disagrees with this.  Yes, Jews have a right to the land, but so do other religions.  We all have history here.

We all agree that Jerusalem is a holy place.  Even those that do not identify with a religion can feel the holiness of this place.  What if this idea of a unanimous holy place could take hold?  What if we just all agreed to have not one particular religion in power, and instead work to become a modern holy city?  People in the modern world are already turning to this idea of secularization and spirituality.  What would happen if Jerusalem did the same?

With that, the idea of walls in such a city would be an utmost disgrace.  I thought that the classification of the kinds of walls was really interesting.  In prison, walls are used to keep dangerous people in, while at the same time keeping the common man out.  Walls for barricade are used for protection.  However, we all know the story of the Great Wall of China.  Walls of aggression are used to inspire fear.  Sheltering walls provide privacy, and castle walls are meant to separate the upper part of society.  The presence of any of these walls takes away the holiness from the city, and instead the focus becomes the walls.

The focus on the walls brings the attention of graffiti artists.  Recently, graffiti has become what would have been considered a nuisance and has now gotten its deserved attention as art form.  There have been many graffiti exhibits in art museums around the country.  Popular artists such as Banksy and Shepard Fairey have become renowned.  I think these artists have become so famous because of their exquisite talent but also because they have chosen an arena to do their work where people cannot avoid it.  I think that is why so many Palestinians have chosen this route to display their emotions and opinions towards this topic because of that reason as well.

There was another part that jumped out at me in Klein's article when he was talking about the medical field.  I was interested to see that many doctors cross the boarders more fluidly than anyone else.  Sure, they cross to help the sick, but it's also curious that many of the people in the hospital are potentially there because of bombs or attacks from the other side.

Essentially, the presence of the walls distracts from the overall meaning of the city.  However, an interesting questions is has the presence of the walls in itself created something new and meaningful?