When Jerusalem was divided in 1948, its Old City and surrounding areas came under Jordanian rule and became known as Arab Jerusalem. The story of these parts of the city is largely undocumented, and many questions concerning their history and identity remain unaddressed. How was Jerusalem defined as an Arab city after 1948? How did the city live its spatial and temporal division? This paper provides a historical account of the loss of Jerusalem Municipality townhall in West Jerusalem in 1948, drawing on the records of the Municipality of Arab Jerusalem and on contemporary Palestinian local press of this era. The loss of the Jerusalem Municipality townhall had devastating effects on the city’s essential services and resulted in its regression for years to come.
Mi 19 Jun 2019 | 17:00–19:00
A Municipality Seeking Refuge: Rethinking the Historiography of Arab Jerusalem (1948-1967)
Haneen Naamneh (London School of Economics and Political Science), Chair: Mona Kareem (EUME Fellow 2018/19)
Forum Transregionale Studien, Wallotstr. 14, 14193 Berlin
Yet, the paper traces not just the loss but also the survival of this institution as part of the Palestinian refuge and endurance narratives after the Nakba. As such, it transcends conventional analysis of the mere material loss and captures its political and social meanings. Such an approach allows us to better understand post-1948 Jerusalem, and to challenge the dominant historiographical view of Arab Jerusalem as a city-in-waiting, suspended in time and space.
Haneen Naamneh is a final year PhD candidate in Sociology at The London School of Economics and Political Science [LSE], where she was also a Research Assistant at LSE’s Middle East Centre (2016-2019). She holds an LLM from SOAS and an LLB from Haifa University. Prior to studying in the UK, she worked as a lawyer with Adalah and the Norwegian Refugee Council in Jerusalem. She contributed to different Arabic media and culture platforms, including Assafir Newspaper and Jadaliyya. Her PhD research examines the social and legal history of Jerusalem from the late Mandate period until the first years of the Israeli occupation in 1967, with a special focus on Arab Jerusalem during the Jordanian rule (1948-1967).