My vision for Jerusalem in the year 2050 is one of a city divided that serves two distinct cultures. Jerusalem, as the capitol of both Israel and Palestine, will serve as a democracy that unites two opposing bodies of the population. The city shall be divided into districts of equal size that are responsible for electing senators to serve in two separate governing halls. The Palestinian delegates will meet in a temple of democracy based on the symbolic structures that have evolved in Islam. The Israeli delegates will meet in another building that honors their cultural symbols, most prominently the star of David.
Each delegation will be responsible for sending delegates form their two most prominent parties to the Capitol Building separated from the two temples by waterways. The waterways provide a physical and spiritual journey of transformation that the delegates take in preparation for their meeting with the opposing country’s parliament. I believe that the travel by water will have a calming effect on the delegates as they make their way slowly to and from the buildings where they meet to govern. At the Capitol Building there are large areas for well-wishers and protesters from the public to gather and watch the water craft as they make their way into the building.
Once inside they are escorted to a main gathering space divided into four sections. Two sections for the opposing parties of each state are given lecterns for a speaker and one prime minister elected from the four bodies and given power to control the dialogue from the floor of the chamber. Television cameras and offices for the delegates to meet in are located at the outer edge of the chamber. Below on the ground level is a commissary divided into four rooms for the four separate parties to dine in, as well as rooms for committee meetings when the delegation breaks up into smaller committees. The structure is located on land south of the old city wall.
Outside the old city wall, just north of the Capitol Building, is a structure that celebrates the historic conflict that once divided the peoples of this Holy City. At a place where the wall is perorated with two openings stand the tomb of Yasser Afafat and Ariel Sharon. Side by side the bodies of these leaders represent a reminder of the division that ruled for much of Jerusalem’s modern history. Below the tombs are separate viewing platforms for Jews and Palestinians to look out over the new Capitol building. Below these platforms carved out of the rocky wall and hillside are rooms for an orphanage where children left without parents from the conflict are raised together by volunteers in an attempt to produce a people reverent to the cultures of both Palestine and Israel.
