The citizens of Jerusalem live in an increasingly divided physical reality, according to Daniel Seidemann. He is a lawyer and head of the organization Terrestrial Jerusalem, which maps Jerusalem’s changing landscape, where new settlements spread out, displacing the Palestinians.
The division between Israelis and Palestinians is also a cognitive one: there is a fundamental schism in how Palestinians and Israelis view the occupation. The writer Nir Baram, himself born and raised in Jerusalem, has spent the last year travelling around the West Bank, talking to Palestinians and Israelis. The result is the book In a Land Beyond the Mountains, in which this cognitive schism emerges.
Hind Khoury is a former Minister of Jerusalem Affairs for the Palestinian Authorities, and as an economist, she has focused on how the occupation and the wall ruin the economy of Palestinians and make their everyday life increasingly difficult. They will join in a conversation about the situation on the ground in Jerusalem today, both the political reality and everyday life for the various ethnic and religious groups making up the city’s population. The conversation is moderated by Morgenbladet journalist Tove Gravdal.
English With Daniel Seidemann, Hind Khoury and Nir Baram Wergeland Litteraturhuset The Saladin Days 2017