Spatial Reflections of the Cultural Other of the Jerusalem Olive Mountain

ABSTRACT

Interactions between people and the technology which develops based on

communication and information are progressing. Particularly, in the

countries with multinational structures, it becomes significant for people with

different ethnic, political and cultural identities to live by sharing the same

space. In this respect, the principle of coexistence without destroying the

differences depends on preserving the boundaries of the other existing in

the common space. In Edward Said’s terms (tr. Ülner, 2006), the concept of

the other is defined and examined as a discursive product. According to

Derrida, the other expresses not only the differences in opposition to the

object but to all differences in opposition to the sameness (Özkan, 2018).

Levinas states that the same can exist with a transcendence approaching

the other (Direk & Gökyaran, 2002).

In this study, the concept of the other will be examined through a spatial

example, and the others in the space will be discussed. Jerusalem, which

will be regarded as a place, is defined as "the city of all humanity" by S.

Karakoç (1988). Jerusalem, which is called Yerushalim by the Jews, alKuds by the Arabs, Jerusalem by the Europeans, and which is exalted in

the holy books of Judaism, Christianity and Islam is home to not only these

three Abrahamic religions but also many other religions and cultures. The

existence of the cultural others and their spatial reflections will be analysed

by focusing on the Mount of Olives. The reflections on the space will be

discussed by examining the dichotomy between the olive trees that

symbolize life / hope in the Mount of Olives and the concepts of death /

obstacles that can be regarded as the other of these trees.

Besides, Jerusalem is described as "Corpus separatum"1, a phrase which

is translated as "separate body" in Latin. The depiction here can now be

seen as reflected in the space with walls and limitations (separation of the

body). This wall, which is called the separation wall and divides the city into

two parts as east and west is the handling of the otherness between life and

death with the existence of a physical wall. The existence of a physical wall

here causes East Jerusalem to be separated from the West Bank. This

distinction draws a boundary between the buildings that indicate the spatial

existence of lives and the tombs that indicate the spatial existence of death

in the city. In this study, it is aimed to discuss the otherness of these

distinctions and borders in the city in relation to each other.

Key Words: Jerusalem; Mount of Olives; The Other; The Other Culture;

Spatial Reflection