12
Seeing and Unseeing the Dome of
the Rock: Conflict, Memory and
Belonging in Jerusalem
Nina Fischer
Introduction
The summer and autumn of 2014 were Jerusalem’s most conflict- and
violence-ridden period in recent years.
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After the 1 July funeral of Naftali
Fraenkel, Gilad Shaer and Eyal Yifrach, three teenage yeshiva students
who were kidnapped and killed by Palestinian militants in the West
Bank, groups of Jewish Jerusalemites took to the streets looking for
revenge, shouting ‘Death to Arabs’ and attacking those they could find.
Later that night, extremist Israelis abducted 16-year-old Mohammad
Abu-Khdeir from outside his home in Shu’afat, a neighbourhood in East
Jerusalem. The next day, it became known that he had been burned
alive. As a reaction to the murder and the rise in overt racism against
Arabs, violent protests erupted all over Jerusalem’s Palestinian areas.
The clashes with the police did not subside until October and violence
claimed the life of 16-year-old Muhammad Sunuqrut from Wadi Joz,
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while hundreds of East Jerusalemites, including minors, were arrested.
But even when the large-scale protests decreased, attacks and deaths on
both sides continued, as fear, anger, hatred and loss of hope became
pervasive among all inhabitants of the city.
Many Jerusalemites and others who love the city have shared their knowl-
edge and thoughts with me. Especially important were Dareen Ammouri, Hagai
Barnea, Osama Elewat, Daniel Feldman, Ronny Ishaky, Yossi Malca, Wendy
Pullan, Ariela Ross-Jayosi, Natasha Roth, Kate Solomon and Mirella Yandoli. A
special thank you goes to the women of the Ammouri family for introducing me
to the Haram al-Sharif as a site of living Palestinian culture.
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A. Björkdahl et al. (eds.), Spatializing Peace and Conflict
© The Editor(s) 2016