Competing Iconographies in Jerusalem's Old City

Abstract

Jerusalem's Old City is at the heart of an iconographic competition between Israeli and Palestinian narratives, with the touristic audience as its target. Both on a public and private level, this iconography is aimed at strenghtening the national claims on the Old City and at entangling visitors into their narratives, to the point of vitualizing the Old City through images that assert these claims. This situation is to be understood as a phenomenon linked to diasporic tourism and transnational mobilization, creating a form of touristic militancy. On the other hand, this target audience has heavily transformed the visual culture of the Old City by blending local and global references to fit the tastes of international tourists, and to meet their expectations when they come to Jerusalem. In turn, this led to the creation of a new visual identity for the Old City, based on its conflictual situation.