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

• This article examines two issues located at the core of thePalestinian struggle: Jerusalem and the refugee camps. I aim totrace the forced encounter staged at these two crucial sites ofcontestation, while looking at the collisions/interactions that occurbetween them, and the types of geographies that are producedwithin an experience of abandonment. This is done by exploringhow the colonized re-produce their own spaces after beingsystematically displaced either as refugees in 1948 or asJerusalemites due to the ongoing ‘Judaization’ of Jerusalem –particularly following the construction of the Separation Wall – inplaces that are forced to become edge areas. The article focuseson the period following the Oslo Accords and the establishmentof the Palestinian Authority (PA) – a period characterized by theintroduction of neoliberalism and the acceptance of an urbanapartheid. In this article, I will show the central role of themarginalized refugee camps in how they have contributed to thefrenetic urbanization that is serving the displaced PalestinianJerusalemites. In these edge areas, the camp has re-adjusted itsposition and shifted from being at the fringes of the city to thecenter of the edge areas; it has become what I call a ‘CampMetropolis’. This article investigates two case studies: Kufr Aqab/Qalandia and Shu’faat areas.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Social och ekonomisk geografi -- Kulturgeografi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Social and Economic Geography -- Human Geography (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Systematic displacement

Jerusalem

Camp Metropolis

Urbanization

Colonized

Edge areas

Publication and Content Type

art (subject category)

ref (subject category)