This paper explores alternative routes to conflict resolution in the divided city of Jerusalem. Some divided cities try to come to terms with ethnic segregation and division lines through policies which are designed to decrease tensions and increase equality among dwellers. In the city of Jerusalem, such policies are scarce. Rather, the city’s policies are often “scripted”, meaning that they are dictated top-down from the state-level, and given to the city politicians with little room for maneuver. In such situations, attempts to conflict resolution might rather be found outside of the political sphere, among different dwellers which try to circumvent the scripted urban policies in their own efforts to increase equality in the city. This paper investigates two organizations which work in the area of housing/urban planning. Through a conceptual framework with a focus on everyday peacemaking, scripted politics and resistance it probes the activities of those actors and describes inhibiting as well as enabling conditions for their work.
