(Re)constructing past and future in the settler colony

While the spatiality of settler colonial domination is well-explored, the temporalities that inform settler colonialism and its various assemblages of power are less so. In this paper, I consider how re-constructions of the past and claims over the future come to figure in assertions of ownership in the unique settler colonial space of Israel. I take as my focus two case-studies from the contested and conflictual space of Jerusalem: the ‘City of David’ archaeological park constructed in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan, and the Temple Institute, an organisation dedicated to the re-building of the Third Temple. Although one is backward-looking and one forward-focused, I argue that both are indicative of a temporality of belonging that invokes past and future as a way to stake claim on the present. This temporality enacts exclusive ownership over space and nullifies alternate presence – namely, that of Palestinians.

As much as both organisations are admittedly on the extreme right of politics, I further contend that such a temporality nevertheless permeates mainstream Israeli society and is, indeed, productive of dominant contemporary variants of Zionism. This exclusive temporality not only precludes the diversities of connection to and in the city-space of Jerusalem, but also inhibits possibilities for future reconciliation. Unearthing and promoting alternate temporalities inside Israeli society, I conclude, is thus critical to the actualising of any imaginary that seeks a more inclusive, plurality-cognisant and hopeful Jerusalem.