ABSTRACT
Holy places play an important and oftentimes central role in matters not only of religion, but also of politics. The topic raises significant issues regarding national identity, treatment of minorities and approaches towards coexistence. Indeed, debates surrounding holy places are a metaphor for how we deal with the religious elements of a conflict. They impact and reflect issues of identity and underscore the religious as opposed to the political characteristics of the conflict. Contemporary ethnic and national conflicts often involve the struggle over
holy places1 or the employment of holy sites as a symbol of group identity2
and even as a source of political consolidation versus a rival group. As an indication of a new modern phenomenon, one has only to look at the following examples that have recently occurred: the destruction by radical Sunnis of the Shi’ite Al-Askari Mosque in Samarra during the internecine warfare in Iraq in 2006;3 the destruction of Orthodox churches during the 1999 conflict in Kosovo4 and of mosques in Bosnia, between 1992 and 1996,5
as well as the destruction of religious property in the siege of Dubrovnik, Croatia by the Yugoslav People’s Army (“JNA”) in 19916 during the armed conflicts in former Yugoslavia; the destruction of statues of Buddha by the Taliban Government of Afghanistan in 2001;7 the destruction of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya during the Hindu-Muslim conflict in India and Kashmir in 1992;8 and the torching and destruction of Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus by Palestinians in 2000.9 While existing literature on holy places refers to issues such as their spatial importance in the geography of the sacred10 or their manifestation of the human perception of the divine,11 there is little research on the cultural and political aspects of holy sites.12 This book aims at filling the gap. Surprisingly, in the age of interdisciplinary research, few studies (at least in
the Middle Eastern context) have attempted to consider how both politics and culture affect the status of holy places. Further, discussions regarding the holy places provide an inroad into understanding the importance attached to religious belief and the manner by which the faithful perceive and interpret the
actions of other individuals or groups, thereby paving the way for possible coexistence and further dialogue. Focusing on holy places can demonstrate how a conflict can be transformed from a political and nationalist dispute to a religious Kulturkampf and may hopefully allow us to analyze ways of diffusing that dangerous development.13
