ABSTRACT
Very few cities around the world have captured the imaginations of religious
scholars, artists, politicians, and lay people in the way that Jerusalem has.
Indeed, it is hard to find another city that has been so central to people’s
identity and has been the focus of so much literary and visual artwork. Its
long history, its importance to the three monotheistic religions, and its
image as the ‘‘heavenly city’’ continue to make Jerusalem as important a
pilgrims’ destination in the present as it has been in the past. But Jerusalem
is not just a holy city. It is also a place where regular people reside, where people of the three monotheisms live side by side, not always peacefully, and
where the national struggle between Israelis and Palestinians has been
played out for more than sixty years, reflecting the greater Arab/Muslim-
Israeli conflict. Jerusalem thus embodies both the earthly (what belongs to
this world) and the heavenly (what belongs to the other world).
