Reading Response 1

To an individual, like myself, with little background in Jerusalem's history, these readings serve as an excellent introduction. It becomes immediately apparent that Jerusalem is, perhaps unfortunately, wrought with immeasurable and incredible complexity. Dumper's article succeeds in establishing the unnatural nature of this complexity. Jerusalem is a city of little tangible positive attributes, from an economic and resource/environment perspective. Villages and towns with rough, mountainous terrain and resource scarcity should not reach "international city" status. However, Dumper and the other authors make known that Jerusalem is truly unique.

As cultures take control of a region, the region is imparted with the dominating culture's various traits; furthermore, the region (in this case - city) becomes a part of the culture's history. In the case of Jerusalem, various religious have placed keep symbolical elements firmly in the city's domain. Specifically, Rubin and Dumper elaborate the chronology of this sustained cultural contribution. These contributes elevate Jerusalem to a crucial symbol for numerous cultures and their respective religions. Each author emphasized that this importance infuses the city with a mysterious and almost mythological aura.

The diverse (and often contradictory) nature of the different cultural claims creates the city's complexity. The symbolical importance of the city ensures that the city becomes a definite actor in the lives of those who revere the city's representations. In recent times, as Dumper and Pressman note, the city has become infused into national and international political dialogue, thus furthering the city's complexity.

The accounts of the city and region's history is certainly interesting; however, this information should not be the primary "benefit" of the articles. One must realize and appreciate that this complexity has created innumerable distinct narratives concerning the city. From these readings alone, one article's title firmly claims ownership of one narrative (...Arab perspective), while Rubin's article primarily focuses on the history of the Jewish narrative. While consensus certainly exists on many aspects of the city and its history, other aspects are defined in dozens of different ways by dozens of different perspectives. Further reading into the subject should be accompanied by an attention to the narrative being represented by the author.