Abstract
This paper focuses on the relation between Judaization policies and Palestinian resistance in the city of Hebron/al-Khalīl, sacred to both the Jewish and Islamic faiths, particularly after 1990’s onwards. The Israelis’ movement to Judaize sacred places has a two-layered structure: one layer is an effort to control the areas on the ground; and the other is the use of propaganda involving representations or discourses to justify their position. The Palestinian resistance is also taking place in two layers, and the conflicting parties are clashing at each layer.
While the two-layered structure is not unique to the conflict over the sacred sites, there are some peculiarities. The religiously inspired narrative used to justify control of sacred areas in Hebron/ al-Khalīl will bring about the exclusion of the other conflicting party, which is particularly apparent in Judaization. As for the Palestinian resistance, their main target is revival of the old city as one unit, including the Islamic religious heritage and social life there. This paper examines the conflict over Hebron/ al-Khalīl in the context of the Hebron Agreement (1997) and concludes that the competition in that city will remain fixed because the spatial partition and separation between peoples, decided in that agreement, decrease the opportunities leading to peaceful coexistence.
