‘A forest of urbanization’: Camp Metropolis in the edge areas

Noura Alkhalili

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This article examines two issues located at the core of the
Palestinian struggle: Jerusalem and the refugee camps. I aim to
trace the forced encounter staged at these two crucial sites of
contestation, while looking at the collisions/interactions that occur
between them, and the types of geographies that are produced
within an experience of abandonment. This is done by exploring
how the colonized re-produce their own spaces after being
systematically displaced either as refugees in 1948 or as
Jerusalemites due to the ongoing ‘Judaization’ of Jerusalem –
particularly following the construction of the Separation Wall – in
places that are forced to become edge areas. The article focuses
on the period following the Oslo Accords and the establishment
of the Palestinian Authority (PA) – a period characterized by the
introduction of neoliberalism and the acceptance of an urban
apartheid. In this article, I will show the central role of the
marginalized refugee camps in how they have contributed to the
frenetic urbanization that is serving the displaced Palestinian
Jerusalemites. In these edge areas, the camp has re-adjusted its
position and shifted from being at the fringes of the city to the
center of the edge areas; it has become what I call a ‘Camp
Metropolis’. This article investigates two case studies: Kufr Aqab/
Qalandia and Shu’faat areas.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)207-226
Number of pages20
JournalSettler Colonial Studies
Volume9
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017 Dec 11

Subject classification (UKÄ)

  • Human Geography

Free keywords

  • Systematic displacement
  • Jerusalem
  • Camp Metropolis
  • Urbanization
  • Colonized
  • Edge areas

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