Jerusalem's Temple Mount/al-Haram al-Sharif is the holiest place in the world for Jews, the third holiest place for Muslims and a constant feature in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Yet the gendered dimensions of inter-communal disputes over sacred space in Jerusalem, as well as in other holy places around the world, have been largely neglected, as have women's roles in these site-specific conflicts. An implicit association of women with peaceful politics and syncretic religious practices has obscured the fact that women are often key actors in inter-communal contestation of holy places. This study looks to three contemporary women's movements in and around Jerusalem's Sacred Esplanade: Women for the Temple - a Jewish Orthodox movement for access to Temple Mount; The Murabitat - Muslim women activists devoted to the protection of Al-Aqsa Mosque from Jewish claims; and Women of the Wall - a Jewish feminist mobilization against restrictive gender regulations at the Western Wall. Lihi Ben-Shitrit demonstrates how attention to gender and to women's engagement in conflict over sacred places is essential for understanding what makes contested sacred sites increasingly 'indivisible' for parties in the inter-communal context.

Author: Lihi Ben Shitrit
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 10/22/2020
Pages: 304
Weight: 1.06lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.56d
ISBN: 9781108485470

About the Author
Ben Shitrit, Lihi: - Lihi Ben Shitrit is Assistant Professor in the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Georgia. She was a fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Middle East Initiative (2018-19), the University of Pennsylvania's Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies (2017), and the Women's Studies in Religion Program at Harvard Divinity School (2013-14). She is the author of Righteous Transgressions: Women's Activism on the Israeli and Palestinian Religious Right (2015) and her current book project Women and the Holy City won the American Council of Learned Societies and the Luce Foundation's distinguished Religion, Public Affairs & Journalism Fellowship.