City of Stone: The Hidden History of Jerusalem [Paperback]

Meron Benvenisti (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0520207688 | ISBN-13: 978-0520207684 | Publication Date: October 22, 1998

Jerusalem is more than a holy city built of stone. Domain of Muslims, Jews, and Christians, Jerusalem is a perpetual contest, and its shrines, housing projects, and bulldozers compete in a scramble for possession. Now one of Jerusalem's most respected authorities presents a history of the city that does not fall prey to any one version of its past.
Meron Benvenisti begins with a reflection on the 1996 celebration of Jerusalem's 3000-year anniversary as the capital of the Kingdom of Israel. He then juxtaposes eras, dynasties, and rulers in ways that provide grand comparative insights. But unlike recent politically motivated histories written to justify the claims of Jews and Arabs now living in Jerusalem, Benvenisti has no such agenda. His history is a polyphonic story that lacks victors as well as vanquished. He describes the triumphs and defeats of all the city's residents, from those who walk its streets today to the meddlesome ghosts who linger in its shadows.
Benvenisti focuses primarily on the twentieth century, but ancient hatreds are constantly discovered just below the surface. These hostilities have created intense social, cultural, and political interactions that Benvenisti weaves into a compelling human story. For him, any claim to the city means recognizing its historical diversity and multiple populations.
A native son of Jerusalem, Benvenisti knows the city well, and his integrated history makes clear that all of Jerusalem's citizens have enriched the Holy City in the past. It is his belief that they can also do so in the future.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In City of Stone: The Hidden History of Jerusalem, Meron Benvenisti assumes and achieves a seemingly impossible task--telling the political, architectural, social, cultural, and religious history of the holy city of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Benvenisti, a former deputy mayor of Jerusalem, seems to know every rock, every person, and every conflict that has any significant place in the city's history. He describes them all with the objectivity of a scholar and the passion of a lover, qualities that make City of Stone equally useful for armchair historians and curious travelers. For example, Benvenisti's vivid and circumspect histories of the Temple Mount (where the Jews' first temple stood and where Mohammed began his famous Night Journey) and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (built on the purported site of Jesus' crucifixion) expertly convey not only the complicated political and religious battles for national and clerical control of these sites, but also give a solid of sense of what it's actually like to be there. Benvenisti's powers of analysis and observation are best synthesized in his final chapter, which explores, among other topics, the abiding desire of Christians, Jews, and Muslims to be buried in Jerusalem and therefore to become more holy by resting in its holy soil. "They all sought a safe haven, a new land, a new life--they all strove to build the celestial Zion," he writes. "Perhaps this accumulation of hopes and desires buried in the graveyards of Jerusalem may nuture faith that peace and reconciliation can prevail, even in this world." --Michael Joseph Gross

From Publishers Weekly

"The chronicles of Jerusalem are a gigantic quarry from which each side has mined stones for the construction of its myths?and for throwing at each other." Benvenisti, a former deputy mayor of Jerusalem and author of Intimate Enemies: Jews and Arabs in a Shared Land, describes the importance of Jerusalem to Jews, Muslims and Christians and the ancient acrimony that has arisen from their competing interests. Benvenisti outlines the follies of all claimants, while stressing the wrongs of the Jews and the U.S. government as well, which he accuses of using "verbal gymnastics" to appear neutral while in fact siding with the Jewish population. Most readers will already agree with Benvenisti about the importance of finding an answer to "the Jerusalem problem," so he could have done without the overblown pronouncements: "A bomb is waiting to go off in the heart of Jerusalem, its fuse burning with the fire of the religious fanaticism of Jew, Muslim, and Christian." After long analysis of various solutions, he has little to add of his own, save to say that there is no solution. What is needed, he says is a "'process-oriented' approach," one that is "solidly planted in the 'mud' of reality; there is no previously determined final and definitive goal. On the contrary, the assumption is that the two parties have conflicting final goals, and that it is pointless to exert oneself in the pursuit of a common goal, except for the purpose of conducting the dialogue."
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 283 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press (October 22, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520207688
• ISBN-13: 978-0520207684
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,330,501 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Jerusalem Muslim Israel disputes, October 13, 2007

By 

William Garrison Jr. (Bellevue, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: City of Stone: The Hidden History of Jerusalem (Paperback)

Okay, the author is not an absolutist, unapologetic pro-Israeli. I marked up the book as I read it. When I initially finished it I felt somewhat disheartened about the book. I thought the book would be more about the history of almost every significant stone or brick in the city: where Jesus stubbed his toe while walking (and the religious significance of that) or where King David or another prophet found something of religious significance--but not to be. But after re-reading my marginal marks I realized how good this book really is. I thought that I had read a fair number of books about the Arab-Israeli wars and knew it all, but I found many new tidbits of information regarding the demarcation cease-fire lines from the 1948 War of Independence here, and explanations as to why the British and French were so interested in Palestine. (This is not a history of Christian missionaries in Palestine.) The author does cover a lot of Jerusalem history since King David, and reviews the theological importance of Jerusalem to Jews, Christians and Muslims. (This is NOT a bed-and-breakfast travel guide to Jerusalem!). The author does note the Muslim anti-Christian slogans in the Dome of the Rock. (This is not a history of the Muslim massacre of thousands of Jews during the 1920-40s, nor is it history of the Jews trying to defend themselves from Muslim attacks, nor a history of tank battles during the wars.) This is not a deep theological analysis of the religious beliefs in Palestine, but it is a very good review of the history of the theology as to how Jews claim this land, how Muslims demand unquestioned ownership of the Temple Mount, and how Christians are just caught up in this maelstrom. One of the major shortcomings of the author is his failure to note the intensity of the anti-Jewish and anti-Christian tenants in the Quran (as noted in Robert Spencer's: "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam"). Another companion book to read is Gorenberg's "The End of Days."

8 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars But I may be prejudiced. This is not a review--it's info., June 10, 2000

By 

Maxine (Burnaby, BC, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: City of Stone: The Hidden History of Jerusalem (Paperback)

I just want to let you know that Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta, translator of Meron Benvenisti's latest book, Sacred Landscape, and Maxine Kaufman Nunn, translator of his previous book, City of Stone, are one and the same person--me. It would really be great if your link "all books by Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta" would include "and Maxine Kaufman Nunn" so that City of Stone would be included. Thanks.

7 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Certainly Interesting, April 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: City of Stone: The Hidden History of Jerusalem (Hardcover)

This is an interesting perspective of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. I only wish the author hadn't tried to hide an all to apparent bias. It made some of his arguments difficult to swallow. I would have rather disagreed with him rather than wondered what he was trying to say without saying it.