Between Muslim and Jewish sanctity: Judaizing Muslim holy places in the State of Israel, 1948-1967

This article addresses the roots of the Judaization of Muslim holy places during the early years of the State of Israel. By using documents from Israeli archives it examines the legal methods and various means that the Ministry of Religions used, in collaboration with other Israeli authorities, to take possession of Muslim holy places and turn them into Jewish sites. Parallel to the state-led institutional process of the Judaization of David's Tomb in Jerusalem and Elijah's Cave in Haifa, a spontaneous process of conversion of sacred sites by Jewish immigrants from Islamic lands took place in the coastal plain and Galilee. The Judaization of these holy places is understood as part of a broader process whereby the State of Israel made every effort to develop a new symbolic landscape.