What a project.

It's a shame the Jerusalem Project never made it to the mall. The picture of "Jerusalem, Yerushalyim, and Al-Quds" would have been good for America to see and for Jerusalem to share. Most Americans have heard of Jerusalem and, either through a limited or extensive exposure, have an image in their head of what Jerusalem is. The exhibition would have been a refreshing and informative display of a culture that has never really been able to all-inclusively reveal itself to the American mind. Not that I know of, at least.

On the other hand, I wonder if displaying Jerusalem as it is could have had its setbacks. While its ability to depict a near reality to its current state is important for an accurate image, and while the collaboration between multiple peoples is heroic and exemplary, The Jerusalem Project could have politically and/or culturally reaffirmed and even eternalized an image of the divided city and the conditions therein. I don't claim to know much about the contrasting living conditions of the citizens of West Jerusalem and East Jerusalem but only that perhaps this could have had some negative effects. With caution, I support the project.

Regardless of the theoretical accomplishments and repercussions of such an exhibition, I am honored to now be part of the extension of the Jerusalem Project. It is the the time, energy, and heart put into it through the years that motivates me to do the same. 

It was nice to hear the Israeli, Palestinian, and American perspectives regarding the experiences of displaying the most accurate picture of Jerusalem. One thing in particular stood out to me. In "Researching East Jerusalem," Suad Amiry shares with us an interesting insight relayed to her by one of her Palestinian team members, Albert Aghazarian. Albert says, "Jerusalem is a city where people are carrying mirrors... It is a city of many realities: every individual or community has a mirror of history, of cultural realities." In other words, for all the different peoples in this disputed territory, Jerusalem is a reflection of their world. And each world, to those who live in it, is real. Can there be multiple truths? Can multiple claims to space be valid at the same time? As Albert goes on to say, there are some who "seek to marginalize all the other mirrors except for itself." This raises questions in my head such as: Why is it so hard to accept someone else's truth? And even harder to go beyond that and respect their truth? And in the end why is it that recognition of a superior truth from another people, of all things, is most prized?