ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the efforts by the Hashemite Kingdom to nationalize the Holy City during the nineteen-year period it directly ruled over East Jerusalem, which encompassed the old, walled city, including most of the places holy to the three monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The kingdom’s rulers relied on institutions of the state to hold public ceremonies and to produce state-issued institutional markers that may be considered as historical artifacts: for example, postage stamps and bank notes illustrated with symbols of Jerusalem’s holy sites. The struggle for political control of the Holy City during the twentieth century paralleled efforts in the nineteenth century to “nationalize” Jerusalem with its deep religious and cultural significance. Scholars writing about 1948–1967 period and Jordan’s jurisdiction over the Holy City have been few and their work narrow in scope. Jordan’s geography changed in several ways: in addition to the Holy City, the kingdom annexed additional territory that would become known as the West Bank.
