A lot of my friends in Jerusalem think that mayoral candidate Nir Barkat will save the city. There are generally two arguments they offer: First, he’s a former high-tech entrepreneur, and the business world produces better managers than the political arena does.
Second, and much more important, Barkat is secular. Among secular, traditional, and modern-leaning [...]
Sorry, Nir Barkat Will Not Save Jerusalem
October 12th, 2008 · 3 Comments · Politics and Policy
Tags: Jerusalem·Jerusalem mayoral race·Nir Barkat
Mr. Obama, Did You Pack These Bags Yourself?
July 17th, 2008 · 10 Comments · Politics and Policy
Gershom Gorenberg
At the airport, before his takeoff for the Middle East, no one will ask Barack Obama if he packed his bags himself. It would be rude, and besides he has a full-time handler for that. He never has the lurching feeling as the cab leaves his house that he left the tickets on the [...]
Tags: Abbas·Adelson·AIPAC·Fayad·Jerusalem·McCain·Obama·Ramallah·undivided Jerusalem
Barack Obama’s Pilgrimage
July 6th, 2008 · 7 Comments · Politics and Policy
Gershom Gorenberg
Sometime before November, traffic in Jerusalem will be tied up by Barack Obama’s visit. My new article in The American Prospect explains what Obama should do while he’s here to prepare for the presidency, and why he won’t do any of that:
…In Jerusalem, Obama has another task — shoring up support among voters who [...]
Tags: AIPAC·East Talpiot·George W. Bush·Jerusalem·Obama·settlement·Sur Bahir·West Bank
A Cab Driver’s Lament
June 24th, 2008 · No Comments · Politics and Policy
See my new “Necessary Stories” column in The Jerusalem Report, A Cab Driver’s Lament. If you’re in Jerusalem, need a cab, and want to enjoy a particularly pleasant ride, try my favorite driver at 050-260-8698.
Tags: cabs·economy·Israel·Jerusalem
Missing the Point: Mohammed Kacimi’s “Holy Land” at the Khan
June 16th, 2008 · No Comments · Culture and Ideas
Haim Watzman
“On both sides of a war, unity is reflexive, not intentional or premeditated. To disobey is to breach that elemental accord, to claim a moral separateness (or moral superiority), to challenge one’s fellows, perhaps even to intensify the dangers they face,” Michael Walzer writes in his seminal Just and Unjust Wars. Walzer refers in [...]
Tags: drama·Israel·Jerusalem·just war·Khan Theater·Michael Walzer·Mohammed Kacimi·Palestine·theater
Updates: Pipes’ Pinocchios; Obama’s Gender; Undivided Jerusalem
June 15th, 2008 · 1 Comment · Politics and Policy
Gershom Gorenberg
The Washington Post’s campaign factchecker awards three Pinocchios to conservative rottweiler Floyd Brown - and to his pseudo-academic alter ego, Daniel Pipes - for promoting the canard was a Muslim as a child and is hiding the fact: “Both Brown and Pipes base their arguments and conclusions on factoids that have appeared [...]
Tags: AIPAC·Daniel Pipes·Floyd Brown·Jerusalem·Obama·Susan Faludi·Tzipi Livni·undivided Jerusalem
Owning Jerusalem: Identity and Borders in the Holy City
June 4th, 2008 · 6 Comments · Judaism and Religion, Politics and Policy
Haim Watzman
I recall a gathering of journalists once many years ago at which a well-meaning but clueless intern told me that she worked in “Jerusalem, Israel” and then quickly corrected herself: “I meant just Jerusalem. I believe it should be an international city.”
In response to my Jerusalem Day post earlier this week, DanH asks a [...]
Tags: Arab·Culture·identity·Israel·Jerusalem·Jewish·nation·Palestine·Peace and Reconciliation·Religion
Half-Rejoicing with Jerusalem
June 2nd, 2008 · 4 Comments · Judaism and Religion
Haim Watzman
“Rejoice with Jerusalem,” says the prophet Isaiah. Recall its destruction whenever you celebrate, says the Psalmist. In two months time we’ll mourn its destruction with the fast of the Ninth of Av; today is Jerusalem Day, Israel’s celebration of its capital city. Both ancient texts and modern realities force us to conceive of the [...]
Tags: Jerusalem·Jerusalem Day·Ninth of Av·Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi·Talmud
South Jerusalem’s Swimsuit Issue
April 28th, 2008 · 6 Comments · Judaism and Religion, Politics and Policy
Mondays are women’s nights at the Jerusalem Pool, where I swim every day. From the hours of six to nine p.m., this South Jerusalem pool is closed to me simply because I’m a male. On Wednesday nights, women get the same treatment.
Daniel Pipes spends some of his no doubt precious time chronicling swimming pools in [...]
Tags: Jerusalem·Judaism·modesty·Muslims·swimming pools
Southern Exposure: Telling Jerusalem Differently
April 22nd, 2008 · 4 Comments · Judaism and Religion, Politics and Policy, Uncategorized
“Ancient Jerusalem Safari” said the sign on the side of the open-sided bus. It was parked this morning in the lot at the end of the promenade that stretches from UN Hill almost to Hebron Road. The promenade is an arc of stone walkways and stairs, of lawns and landscaping with a [...]
Tags: Al-Aqsa·City of David·Elad·Ir David·Islam·Jerusalem·Judaism·Life in South Jerusalem·Muhammad·Old City·Temple Mount
The Muslims and the Banks
March 12th, 2008 · No Comments · Uncategorized
“This Obama, is it true he’s a Muslim?” Iris, my bank clerk, asked me this morning. My immediate reaction was to dismiss the charge scornfully. It’s an urban myth of a vile kind, I said. But as the conversation proceeded, I realized that Iris had asked the question because the prospect of a Muslim president [...]
Why I Like South Jerusalem
March 5th, 2008 · 5 Comments · Uncategorized
Yesterday, Ilana and I attended a funeral at a moshav near Netanya. And as always happens on our occasional trips to places where there’s lots of space, we momentarily longed to sell our tiny apartment and move out to the country.
The two-hour drive back was enough make me appreciate the city and remind me why [...]
Tags: Jerusalem
