Enclaves, borders, and everyday movements: Palestinian marginal mobility in East Jerusalem

Abstract

Jerusalem might be considered an enclave city par excellence: Israeli settlements in the Palestinian east of the city enjoy higher levels of services and are connected through infrastructures that immobilise those in Palestinian neighbourhoods. At the same time, Palestinian neighbourhoods have become exclaves of the city since the construction of the Separation Barrier. Beyond the top-down view of ethnically-based residential segregation, however, attention to quotidian movements reveals the practices through which the borders of enclaves are undermined and reinforced. Palestinians move through and into exclusively Jewish spaces, strategically making use of their amenities, while utilising the spatial autonomy of marginalised Palestinian areas. As borders are reinforced from above and below in times of political tension, they also attempt to disrupt Israeli intrusions into their enclaves. By showing how the quotidian practices of marginalised residents continually undermine and re-make intra-urban borders, the mobility-based perspective adds valuable nuances to the understanding of Jerusalem as an enclave city.