Jerusalem (Arabic: an ل ق د س an ل ش ر ي ف, English: prominent, Hebrew: י ר ledu dialect ש ל י ם, Latin: Yerushalayim, or Yerushalaim, is the shared capital (disputed by both sides) and the political, economic, cultural, and transportation center of Israel and Palestine, the capital of the Jerusalem District and formerly the largest city in Palestine.
Jerusalem is a holy place for Judaism, Christianity (including Catholicism, Protestantism, and Eastern Orthodoxy), and Islam (including Sunni and Shia).
Located in the near Eastern Levant region, Jerusalem is a city with a long history, geographically located in the Judean Mountains, between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea, known as the holy city of the three major religions of the world (Judaism, Christianity and Islam).
Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine, and in 1980, Israeli legislation recognized Jerusalem as the “eternal and undivided capital” of the country. In 1988, the Palestinian Authority declared Jerusalem the capital of the State of Palestine. Jerusalem is under the de facto control of Israel.
Jerusalem is only 126 square kilometers. Famous sites include the Jewish Wailing Wall and Temple Mount, the Muslim Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Christian Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Via Dolorvia.
Jerusalem has been destroyed and rebuilt many times in history by foreigners, and it is both the world’s attention and the fate of the city.
On December 26, 2019, it ranked No. 305 on the 2019 Top 500 Global Cities list.
City profile
Located at the top of the mountains of Judea at 790 meters above sea level, Jerusalem was one of the centers of ancient religious activity. Judaism, Christianity and Islam, each according to their own religious legends, regard the city as a holy place. The area of the city is about 1 square kilometer, divided into 4 districts.
East Jerusalem is a Muslim quarter, including the famous Temple district. Holy sites in the Temple area include the rock top of Mount Mori (Islam) and the rock top temple (Islam), the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Wailing Wall (Judaism). The northwest is a Christian area, with the Christian Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The southwest is the Armenian region. The southern part is a Jewish parish. Mount Zion, to the southwest of the city, is another important holy site for Judaism. The Mount of Olives to the east of the city is home to Christian and Jewish holy sites.
After World War II, Jerusalem was administered by the United Nations. In 1948-49, Israel occupied the western part of Jerusalem and established the new city, while Jordan occupied the old eastern part of the city. After the Third Middle East War in 1967, Israel captured all of Jerusalem and declared it the capital of Israel in 1980.
It was declared the capital of the State of Palestine on 15 November 1988. The urban area is 109 square kilometers, most of which is west of the city circle.
Jerusalem’s main industries are diamond milling, furniture manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, chemical manufacturing, shoemaking, pencils, textiles and clothing (cloaks). Tourism is strong (including pilgrimages and religious activities).
In a United Nations resolution, Jerusalem was divided into Palestine, so Israel made Tel Aviv its capital when it was founded. After the First Middle East War, Israel occupied West Jerusalem. After the Third Middle East War, Israel occupied East Jerusalem.
Jerusalem became an international condominium city in 1948. In the early days of the state of Israel, most government offices were located in Tel Aviv, but since 1950 Jerusalem has been the capital of Israel, and since then the country’s presidential palace, most government offices, Supreme Court and Parliament are located in the city. In 1980, Israel’s parliament established Jerusalem as the country’s “eternal and undivided capital.” The Palestinian Authority has declared that Jerusalem will be the capital of a future Palestinian state. In the 21st century, Jerusalem remains at the center of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Since 1975, Jerusalem has surpassed Tel Aviv as Israel’s largest city. In 2011, Jerusalem had an area of 126 square kilometers and a population of 801,000, ranking first among Israeli and Palestinian cities on both counts. In terms of both the number of Jews and the number of non-Jews, Jerusalem is the largest city in Israel.
Jerusalem is also the holy site of the three Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (or the “Three Apocalyptic religions”).
Since King Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem in the 10th century BC, Jerusalem has been the center of the Jewish faith and the holiest city. The Western Wall, the remains of the former temple, is still the holiest site in Judaism. Christians also attach great importance to Jerusalem because, according to the Bible, it is the site of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, resurrection, and ascension. Islam also ranks Jerusalem as the third holiest place after Mecca and Medina (both in Saudi Arabia), commemorating Muhammad’s night ascent to the sky, and has built two mosques on the Temple Mount, the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, to commemorate this holy event.
The most special place is the Old City of Jerusalem, which covers an area of only 1 square kilometer and is surrounded by a circle of walls. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981.
Origin of name
The exact origin of Jerusalem’s name is uncertain. In Hebrew, the name Yelushalaim can be understood as a combination of yelusha (heritage) and shalom (peace). Another popular interpretation is that it combines the biblical names of two cities: Jebus and Salem (meaning “peace”). The name Salem appears in Genesis 14 as the residence of Melchizedek, the high priest, who blessed Abraham when he came there. Jerusalem means “cornerstone” or “city,” and Salem is peaceful, so Jerusalem is called “City of peace.”
In Arabic, the name of Jerusalem is the Nu ‘i Nu ‘i nu ‘i nu ‘i nu ‘i Nu ‘i Nu ‘i Nu ‘i Nu ‘i Nu ‘i nu ‘i nu ‘i nu ‘i nu ‘i nu ‘i nu ‘i nu ‘i nu ‘i nu ‘i . Qagu means the holy land, and the article “Qagu ” is added before the word to become Qagu Qagu , specifically referring to the holy City of Jerusalem. In the same way, Fu Fu yan means houses, housing, Yan Fu Fu Jiagu means holy (people), holy (people), the two words together to form a Yan Fu Yan Yan Jiagu Jiagu refers to the holy city of Jerusalem, literally also the home of the holy land.
Jerusalem means “City of peace” in Hebrew and “Guz” means “Holy City” in Arabic. The most famous is the 1km square Old City, with 12 meters high walls and 8 gates, including 4 Christian, Arab, Jewish and Armenian districts. The Temple Mount, 0.14 square kilometers southeast of the Old City, is the holy City within the Holy City.
Historical evolution
Archaeological findings show that the development of Jerusalem dates back to the 4th millennium AD. The earliest written records of the city are found in 19th century BC Egyptian curse prayers and 14th century BC clay versions of Amanah.
According to the Bible, many peoples (including the Amorites and Hittites) lived in Jerusalem before the Israelites settled there. When the Israelites entered Canaan, a Canaanite tribe, the Jebusites, lived near Jerusalem (called Jebusites). The tribe of Judah of the Israelites conquered the city of Jerusalem, while the tribe of Benjamin occupied the city and lived peacefully with the Jebusites who lived in the city.
Around 1000 BC, King David led the Israelites to conquer the city, expanding it southwestward, making it the capital and changing its name to Yelushalayim (Jerusalem). He moved the ark to Jerusalem and built the tent of meeting for it, and he wanted to build the temple further, but Nathan, the prophet of the Lord, prevented him from doing so.
The First Crusader War was the only victory over Muslims in the Crusader Eastern War for 200 years, capturing the Holy city of Jerusalem and recapturing the Holy Sepulchre of the Lord, which caused an unprecedented sensation in the Western Christian world at that time, and was also a perfect victory that Urban II had not imagined until his death. Naturally, it has been recited throughout Christendom for generations, and numerous military priests and later church chroniclers have endeavoured to describe it, praising the power of Christ, and reciting it like a miracle. At the same time, the war and the subsequent establishment of the Latin East, but also affected the entire Eastern Mediterranean pattern, such as stone stirred up thousands of waves, by all sides of the strong concern. Byzantines, Armenians, Turks, Arabs, historians of various religious backgrounds and of different status and origins are writing narratives detailing this event for reference and reflection. The First Crusade is undoubtedly one of the most well-documented and well-documented historical events of the Middle Ages.
General history of Jerusalem
Around the 20th century BC, the Semitic Canaanites settled in the coastal and plains of Palestine.
In the 13th century BC the Philistines established a state on the coast.
At the end of the 13th century BC, Hebrew tribes settled in.
In the 11th century BC, Jews established the Hebrew Kingdom, and later Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians and other foreign nations occupied Palestine.
The Roman Republic invaded in the 1st century BC, and the vast majority of the Jews fled to other parts of the world.
It became part of the Arab Empire in the 7th century. Arabs continued to move in and assimilate with the local indigenous population, gradually forming the modern Palestinian Arabs.
In 1099, the Crusaders captured Jerusalem and established a Frankish feudal state established by feudal lords.
In 1174, Baldwin IV, the legendary king of Jerusalem, took the throne and died young of leprosy in 1185 at the age of 24.
On September 2, 1187, the defenders of Jerusalem surrendered under the attack of Saladin, who chose to enter Jerusalem on the day of the Rollercoaster to commemorate the Prophet Muhammad’s rollercoaster ride in Jerusalem.
After the Second World War, Jews moved in from other areas in large numbers, while expelling Palestinians, changing the composition of the local population.
Before 1948, Jerusalem was predominantly Palestinian and the city was under Palestinian control. In the years that followed, the British began to finance Jewish emigration to Palestine, and the Jewish population in Jerusalem began to increase.
1948 Israeli-Palestinian partition, Jerusalem was added to the Palestinian territory. War ensued and Israel invaded and occupied West Jerusalem, leaving East Jerusalem under Jordanian administration. Israel’s capital is Tel Aviv.
In 1967, during the Third Middle East War, Israel captured all of Jerusalem and forced the Palestinian population to leave the city.
In 1980, Israel’s parliament established Jerusalem as the country’s “eternal and undivided capital.” But few countries other than the United States recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, arguing that the city’s final status is yet to be determined in negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. Most countries have their embassies in Tel Aviv. In 1988, the Palestinian Authority announced that Jerusalem would be the capital of a future Palestinian state. As a result, Jerusalem remains at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Temple period
David’s reign ended in 970 BC when his son Solomon succeeded to the throne. In chapters 5 to 6 of 1 Kings, Solomon spent seven years building the first temple in the city, beginning in the fourth year of his reign. The site of Solomon’s Temple, where the Ark of the Covenant was last known, has been important in Jewish history (and to some extent to Christianity) and the focus of Jewish worship. The temple, built of rock and cedar from Tyle, became the most important place of worship and replaced altars elsewhere. By the end of the First Temple Period, the temple was the only place of worship and center of pilgrimage in the country.
The next 400 years (until the destruction of Solomon’s Temple in 586 BC) came to be known as the First Temple Period. This period began with the death of Solomon (930 BC), when the 10 northern tribes split off to form the Kingdom of Israel (with its capital in Samaria). Under the rule of the descendants of David and Solomon, Jerusalem remained the capital of the southern Kingdom of Judah for more than 300 years. In 722 BC, Assyria conquered the northern kingdom of Israel. In 597 BC, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II captured Jerusalem, and the young king Jehoiachin and most of the nobles were taken into captivity in Babylon (known as the Babylonian prisoners). Under Zedekiah’s leadership, Jerusalem rebelled against the Babylonian occupation. In 586 BC, Nebuchadnezzar II captured and destroyed the city, the walls were destroyed, the temple was burned, and a large number of gold and silver vessels from the temple were taken to Babylon.
In 538 BC, 50 years after the Babylonian captivity, Cyrus the Great of Persia destroyed Babylon and allowed the Jews to return to Judea to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem, which was completed in 516 BC (the sixth year of Darius I’s reign), 70 years after the destruction of the First Temple. Nehemiah then rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem and restored the city to prosperity. For the next 600 years, Judea was a Persian, Greek, and Roman province, with Jerusalem as its capital. In the early years of Roman rule, Herod the Great was appointed as an acting king to rule. Herod the Great enlarged the temple during his reign.
In 6 AD, Judea came under direct Roman rule. In 70 AD, after a failed uprising against Rome, the Roman army demolished the temple (only part of the base, the Wailing wall, remained). The Jews revolted again, and finally in 135 the Roman emperor Hadrian sent troops to surround and capture the city; As a punishment, he ordered that Jerusalem be completely bulldozed on the 9th of the Hebrew month of Ebo, the anniversary of the double capture of Jerusalem by Babylonian and Roman armies (which happened to be the same day), and that a new Roman city, Aelia Kapitolina, be built on its site, and a Roman temple be built on the Temple Mount; At the same time, all Jews were expelled from Palestine and Jews were forbidden to live in Jerusalem.
Sacred place
Jerusalem plays an important role in the three Abrahamic religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – as well as many other smaller religious groups, such as the Baha ‘i faith. According to the Jerusalem Statistical Yearbook 2000, there are 1,204 synagogues, 158 churches and 73 mosques in the city. However, Jerusalem, even as a haven of peaceful coexistence between religions, is also a source of much debate, especially regarding the Temple Mount.
Since Solomon’s Temple was built in Jerusalem in the 10th century BC, Jerusalem has been the center of the Jewish faith and the holiest city. Jerusalem’s symbolic value to Judaism has never changed. The Most Holy Place in the Temple of Jerusalem before the destruction contained the Ark of the Covenant, the holiest place in Judaism, and only the high priest was entitled to enter the Most Holy place once a year. All the men of Israel were required to come to Jerusalem three times a year for religious holidays. Synagogues around the world still face Jerusalem when they pray, and buildings are designed, if possible, to face Jerusalem, towards the place where the Holy of Holies is located. The Western Wall, a remnant of the Second Temple, is the holiest site in Judaism other than the Temple Mount.
Christianity reveres Jerusalem not only for the role it played in the Old Testament, but also for its significance in Jesus’ life. According to the Bible, Jesus was taken to Jerusalem shortly after his birth, and later he cleansed the Second Temple. The site of Jesus’ Last Supper is on Mount Zion, next to the tomb of David. Another important Christian site in Jerusalem is Golgotha, the place where Jesus was crucified. The Gospel of John only states that the site was located outside Jerusalem, but recent archaeological evidence shows that Golgotha was located not far from the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem, within the city limits. Occupied by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Golgotha has been a preferred Christian pilgrimage site for the past 2,000 years, and the streets of the Old City are frequented by pilgrims retracing the “Via Dolorana” (14 stops) that Jesus took before his crucifixion.
Jerusalem is also commonly considered the third holiest site in Islam. Before Mecca, Jerusalem was the place where Muslims prayed. After Muhammad’s night ascent in 620 (Muslims believe that Muhammad miraculously traveled from Mecca to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in one night, ascended to heaven, and met the earlier prophets), Jerusalem was long under Muslim control. The Quran 17:1 records Muhammad’s journey to Jerusalem at night. Two mosques on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount commemorate the event – the Al-Aqsa Mosque is mentioned in the Qur ‘an, and the Dome of the Rock is where Muslims believe Muhammad ascended to the sky at night.
The city of Jerusalem is located on Mount Judea in central Palestine, near the Dead Sea in the east and the Mediterranean coastal plain in the west, with an area of 109 square kilometers (in 1967) and an elevation of 720-790 meters, with a population of 567,100 (at the end of 1993). The city consists of two parts: the old city and the new city. Before 1860, the Old City was surrounded by an equilateral quadrilateral wall, divided into four neighborhoods of Jews, Muslims, Armenians and Christians.
In 1028 BC, King Saul and his successor King David united the tribes into one nation. In 1004 BC, King David built the capital here and moved the Ark of the Covenant here, thus establishing the special position of the city in history. King Solomon, the son of King David, built here the first temple of the Jews.
In the long years of nearly 3,000 years since then, under foreign occupation and rule, the city has experienced hardships and vicissitudes, and has risen and fallen several times. Some rulers built here, others plundered and destroyed. The Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, Mamluks, Turks, British, etc. have exercised the power of rulers here as conquerors, at least for decades, at most for centuries.
They actively establish their own national sphere of influence and strive to spread their cultural and religious influence. However, the advancing wheel of history crushed the aggressor’s dream, and Ye city gradually grew and expanded in the disaster, becoming a world-famous historic city.
Jerusalem is the birthplace of Judaism and the most holy place in the minds of believers, a witness to the history of the nation and a symbol of national revival.
The Western Wall on Mount Zion in the Old City is the remains of the Second Temple, which was destroyed by the Roman Empire in 70 AD. The western wall of the original Second Temple courtyard was a pilgrimage site for Jews. According to legend, when the Romans occupied the city, the Jews came to the Western Wall every day to weep and mourn, in order to express their sorrow for the country. Since then, Jews from all over the world have often come here to howl and cry, so it is also called “Wailing Wall”. The wall has become part of the western compound of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. In addition, there are the famous Tower of David, St. Anne’s Church, St. James’s Church and other buildings with strong Oriental colors and numerous ancient synagogues.
Jerusalem is a holy place for Christianity. According to legend, after being betrayed by Judas, one of his 12 disciples, Jesus, the founder of Christianity, was captured by the Jewish priest, the temple keeper and the elders, and Pilate, the governor of Judea in the Roman Empire, had Jesus crucified on a cross outside the city of Jerusalem under the pressure of the Jewish people and religious figures after being convicted of not being guilty of death. The Bible says that Jesus went to Jerusalem only to do God’s will and die to redeem the SINS of the world. But he rose from the dead, went to heaven 40 days later, and returned to the side of God. Jerusalem is where Jesus spent the most critical moments of his life.
For Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God, the savior God has given to mankind. The place where Jesus was crucified, the dining room of the last supper, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built on the tomb of Jesus when the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine I visited the city of Jesus in 335 AD, are all holy places in the eyes of Christians around the world.
Since the 7th century, Jerusalem has become the third holiest place in Islam after Mecca and Medina. According to legend, when Muhammad, the founder of Islam, was 52 years old, he was awakened from a dream by an angel one night, rode a silver-gray mare with a head, followed the angel from Mecca to Jerusalem, climbed on a rock, and ascended to the “Seven heavens.” After receiving the “Apocalypse”, he returned to Mecca at dawn. The mosque, named after the sacred stone Sahlai (Arabic for rock), is located in a 260,000-square-meter sanctuary area on the terrace of Mount Zion in the eastern part of the Old City. The temple was built in 668-691 AD, the structure is tight, colorful, beautiful shape. At the southern end of the Holy Land lies the magnificent Al-Aqsa Mosque, built in 709 AD. “Al-aqsa” means “far away” in Arabic, and is derived from the legendary mind trip of the Prophet Muhammad. The architectural style of the temple is relatively unique, and there is no minaret, which is necessary in the general mosque. Among Islamic temples, the temple is the third largest after the Holy Temple of Mecca and the Prophet Temple of Medina.
In 1965, Israel established the National Museum of Israel in Jerusalem. The museum consists of arts and crafts exhibition hall, Jewish human history exhibition hall and art exhibition hall. Here are preserved the famous “Dead Sea Scrolls” (also known as “Dead Sea Scrolls”, “Dead Sea Scrolls”), including extremely valuable manuscripts of the Bible. The Tower of David Museum of Jerusalem History, established in 1988, houses artifacts from the period of the First Temple and represents more than 4,000 years of the city’s history since the beginning of the Canaanites.
Jerusalem means “City of peace” in Hebrew. It is the largest metropolis in the Palestinian region, the political and economic center of the country, and the gathering place of many cultures and nationalities. The buildings here are the essence of Eastern and Western architectural art, with architectural styles spanning several historical eras. A large number of historical relics, religious sites and various monuments, experienced the rendering of scholars and writers, to the city covered with a strong magical religious color, it seems that a stone, a brick, a wall and a column here are telling the story of the long time that has passed away to the visitors.
Today, the city of Jerusalem has developed industry, advanced medical and scientific research institutions. The largest institution of higher learning in the country, the library with the most books, and the new museum are also in the city. In addition, the city has a number of exotic birds and zoos, nature conservation areas and an area of 800 hectares of forest. In stark contrast to the solemn holy land is the bustling business district, where a wide range of goods are displayed in the shop Windows on both sides of the street, attracting tourists and tourists from all over the world. This ancient and modern city is a city where Eastern and Western civilizations blend, a city full of mystery and repeated thoughts, and I hope that with the pace of the Middle East peace process, it will overcome disputes and become a true city of peace.
In 1981, the Old City of Jerusalem and its walls were added to the World Heritage List.
Transfer of control
During the 4th century, when the Roman Emperor Constantine I controlled the city, Jerusalem became a Christian center with the construction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Although Jews were still forbidden to live in Jerusalem, they had begun to come and weep at the Western Wall on the 9th of Ebo every year. Under the Byzantine Empire after the division of the Roman Empire, the city was well protected from Christian forces. There was relative religious tolerance at the time, and from the 5th century Jews were allowed to live in Jerusalem again.
In 638, the Arab Empire’s first conquest target was Jerusalem. Although Jerusalem is never mentioned in the Quran, Islamic tradition holds that the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven to receive the Quran in Jerusalem. Thus, in 691, the Arab caliph Abdul Malik built the Dome of the Rock (Sahra Mosque) on the site of the Temple Mount. Legend has it that at this place Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son as a sacrifice, which Jews believe to be his younger son Isaak (also translated as Ishag) and Muslims believe to be his older son Isimael (also translated as Ishmael or Ismael). Three centuries later they built the Al-Aqsa Mosque here. In the early days of Muslim rule, when there was more religious tolerance, Christians and Jews living in Jerusalem were granted autonomy after paying a poll tax. But in the early 11th century, the caliph of Egypt ordered the destruction of all Christian churches and synagogues in Jerusalem.
In 1099, the first Crusade laid siege to Jerusalem, which was captured by the Crusaders a little over a month later on July 15. When the Crusaders entered the city, they massacred most of the city’s Muslims and Jews. From then until 1291, the Crusaders established the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and Muslims were not allowed to enter the city.
In 1173, a man who came to Jerusalem wrote that it was a small city, full of Orthodox Christians, Armenians, Greeks, and Georgians, with only 200 Jews living in one corner of the city. In 1187, the Egyptian Muslim king Saladin recaptured Jerusalem.
In 1219, the Sultan of Damascus ordered the walls to be destroyed, and in 1228-1229, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II organized the Sixth Crusade, which secured Jerusalem through a treaty with Egypt.
In 1239 he began to rebuild the walls, but they were soon demolished again. In 1243, the Christians captured Jerusalem again and rebuilt the walls. In 1244, Khwarazm, who had been conquered by the Mongols, captured Jerusalem on his way to exile, and Pope Innocent IV launched the Seventh Crusade, but was unable to recapture Jerusalem. In 1247, Khwarazm was expelled by the Egyptians, and in 1260, the Mamluk, an Egyptian slave cavalry, captured the city, forcing the Jews of Jerusalem to flee to the surrounding villages for refuge.
In 1482, a visiting Dominican priest said that Jerusalem was a city where “several different peoples live, and it is a collection of all evils.” As SINS he listed the Saracens, Greeks, Syrians, Orthodox Christians, Kings, Armenians, Georgians, Maronians, Bedouins, assassins, Muslims, and the “most hateful” Jews. Only Roman Catholics “look forward in their hearts to the coming of the Prince of Christ to bring all the nations under the rule of the Church of Rome.”
In 1517, the Ottoman Empire captured Jerusalem, and they controlled the city until the 20th century. At this time, Jerusalem began to prosper again, the walls and the Old City were rebuilt, and any religion could exist in the city, but the subsequent inept ruling institutions of the Ottoman Empire sent Jerusalem’s economy into slow decline.
By the early 19th century, Jerusalem had a population of less than 8,000, but it remained a city of great importance to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The city’s residents are divided into four segments: Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Armenians, with Muslims living mainly near the Temple Mount (northeast), Christians living mainly near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (northwest), Jews living mainly on the slopes above the Wailing Wall (southeast), and Armenians living mainly in the southwest. Although this division was not absolute, it later served as the basis for the division of the city into four districts during the period of British administration (1917-1948). The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, for example, is used by the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Armenian, Egyptian, and Ethiopian churches, and they conflict with each other so much that the key to the altar is given to a “neutral” Muslim family.
In the 19th century, a number of changes took place in Jerusalem that had a long-term impact on the city, and their effects have been extended and are at the root of the dispute between Palestinians and Israel over Jerusalem. The first was the increasing migration of Jews from Tsarist Russia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East to escape religious persecution, which changed the distribution of people within the city. The first immigrants were ultra-Orthodox Jews, some of them elderly, who returned to be buried on the Mount of Olives. Others are young students who have come here with their families to await the coming of the Savior. At the same time, taking advantage of the decline of the Ottoman Empire, European colonial powers began to extend their influence to Jerusalem. It was also a time of Christian revival, and many Christian denominations sent missionaries to Jerusalem to convert Muslims and Jews, believing that this would hasten the second coming of Jesus. Finally, European colonialism and religious fervour also led archaeologists to take an interest in the areas described in the Bible, especially Jerusalem. Some of the archaeological teams have made some remarkable discoveries, which have only increased the interest in Jerusalem.
By the 1760s, Jerusalem was only 1 square kilometer in size, but it was already overcrowded. Residents began to build new towns outside the walls. The Russian Orthodox Church built a building outside the city gate. The first locals to start building outside the city were Jews. Others followed their example and began building new settlements west and north of the city. Finally, these residential areas continue to expand and connect together to become new cities.
By the time the British captured Jerusalem on December 11, 1917, the New City had formed a complex cluster of neighborhoods, each with a different ethnic makeup. Under British rule, this development continued, and eventually the old town evolved into a poor old residential area. The British mandated that the exterior of Jerusalem must be made of sandstone to preserve the city’s original appearance.
At the end of World War I, in 1917, General Edmund Allenby, the British commander in the Middle East, launched a general offensive against Turkey, winning the Battle of Jerusalem and capturing the city. The League of Nations ratified the Balfour Declaration in 1922, entrusting Britain with the mandate of Palestine and helping to establish a Jewish state in the region. During the mandate period, new garden suburbs were built to the west and north of the city and institutions of higher education were established, such as the Hebrew University, founded in 1925.
Israeli-palestinian conflict
Jewish immigration increased, and the conflict between Israel and the Arabs escalated.
On the eve of World War II in 1939, the British White Paper on the Question of Palestine stopped Jewish immigration, restricted Jewish purchases of Arab land, and prepared to gradually transfer Palestine to an Arab-majority local government under which Jews could have a high degree of autonomy. After the war, hundreds of thousands of Jewish prisoners liberated from German concentration camps were smuggled into Palestine, increasing pressure on Britain to deal with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to refuse to accept Holocaust survivors. The move was unanimously condemned by international public opinion and led to a rapid escalation of Jewish violence against the British.
On February 15, 1947, the United Kingdom announced that the question of Palestine would be dealt with by the United Nations. Following the inquiry, the United Nations General Assembly debated the question of Palestine on 29 November, voting 33 to 13 in favor of a separate statehood plan, with a plan to establish a special international authority under the administration of the United Nations for Jerusalem, which would not be part of the Jewish or Arab state. However, the plan did not materialize.
On 29 November 1947, the second session of the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 181 on the Partition of Palestine, establishing the city of Jerusalem as an international city under the jurisdiction of the United Nations, to be determined.
The first Middle East War broke out on May 14, 1948, when the state of Israel was proclaimed. At the end of the war, West Jerusalem was occupied by the newly formed State of Israel, and East Jerusalem (including the Old City and the West Bank) was occupied by TransJordan (present-day Jordan). With the exception of Britain and Palestine, no other country has recognized Jordan’s occupation of East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
In 1949, Israel and Jordan signed an armistice that drew an armistice line through the heart of Jerusalem. Until 1967, East and West Jerusalem belonged to Jordan and Israel respectively. In 1950, Israel made West Jerusalem its capital.
In the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel annexed the eastern part of Jerusalem and immediately began bringing the entire city under Israeli control. It occupied 6.4 square kilometers of former Jordanian Jerusalem and 64 square kilometers of the West Bank and renamed the area “East Jerusalem”. Residents of the occupied areas were offered Israeli citizenship if they voluntarily renounced their Jordanian citizenship, which most did not accept.
UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, adopted in 1967 and 1973, respectively, demanded that Israel withdraw from the occupied territories, including Jerusalem, but Israel ignored them.
In 1980, the Knesset enacted the Basic Law: Jerusalem, the Capital of Israel, establishing Jerusalem as the “eternal and undivided capital” of Israel, which is not recognized by the state. The Palestinian Authority also announced that Jerusalem would be the undivided capital of a future Palestinian state, drawing condemnation from Arab countries.
In 1984, a special session of the Jerusalem Committee of the Islamic Conference decided that May 18 would be Jerusalem Day to protest the Israeli occupation. In November 1988, the 19th special session of the Palestinian National Council, held in Algiers, proclaimed the establishment of the State of Palestine, with its capital in Jerusalem, and was recognized by most countries in the world.
In 1988, the State of Palestine was proclaimed and recognized by nearly 100 countries, including China. In front of a portrait of Yasser Arafat in Jerusalem, he wrote in Arabic and Hebrew: “Jerusalem, my dream will not be complete without you!” .
The question of Jerusalem is one of the most complex and sensitive issues in the Middle East peace process. According to the Declaration of principles reached by Palestinians and Israelis in Oslo, Norway, in 1993, the two sides will negotiate on the status of Jerusalem in the final phase of peace talks, after May 1996. Until then, neither side can take measures such as demographic changes to change the status quo in the Holy City. However, since Israel unilaterally declared Jerusalem as its permanent capital in May 1980, it has repeatedly expropriated the land of the Holy City to build Jewish settlements, in an attempt to create a fait accompli of Judaization of Jerusalem before settling the Jerusalem question through land expropriation plans.
On 28 April 1995, the Israeli Government decided to expropriate 53 hectares of Palestinian land, the largest land acquisition in East Jerusalem in 15 years. The move was strongly opposed by Arab countries.
Israeli leaders have also repeatedly declared Jerusalem’s status as its capital unalterable. On January 30, 1995, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres declared that “Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Israel, and there has never been a Palestinian state before the establishment of Israel.” In response to Israel’s tough stance that Jerusalem is Israel’s “united, sole and permanent capital,” the Palestinian side also reaffirmed Palestinian sovereignty over the city.
On December 6, 2017, Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States, publicly recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, causing strong controversy and dissatisfaction in countries around the world, leading to an increase in the level of conflict between Palestine and Israel. [4]
The final status of Jerusalem has always been one of the key issues affecting whether the Arab-Israeli peace process can continue to move forward, and its final settlement still needs to go through a difficult process.
On October 18, 2022, AFP news agency reported that Australia announced that it would no longer recognize Jerusalem as the “capital” of Israel.
Status struggle
Because of the special importance of Jerusalem for Jews, Muslims and Christians, the question of its status remains open.
In the 10th century BC, King David established his capital in Jerusalem, and Solomon built a temple in the city. Since then, Jerusalem has been the spiritual center of the Jewish nation and a symbol of national identity. Wherever the Jews live in the diaspora, they always face Jerusalem when they worship. Jerusalem is mentioned more than 700 times in the Old Testament. The centrality of Jerusalem to the Jewish people, and the degree of Jewish fascination with the city, has long been so strong that it is impossible to imagine a state of Israel without Jerusalem.
From the 7th century until 1917, the Islamic Arab Empire and the Ottoman Empire dominated Jerusalem for more than 1,000 years. As the site of Muhammad’s night ascent, Jerusalem is considered the third holiest place by hundreds of millions of Sunni Muslims. the most prominent buildings in Jerusalem are the two mosques on the Temple Mount – the Dome of the Lock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Muslim countries have long regarded Jerusalem as a city of special religious and historical significance that they are not willing to give up. Arafat even told U.S. President Bill Clinton that he feared he would be assassinated if he compromised with Israel over East Jerusalem.
Before the establishment of the State of Israel, Jerusalem was the capital of the British Mandate of Palestine, which included Israel and Jordan. The British mandate government caused so much controversy over its handling of Jewish immigration that it was forced to hand over the Palestinian issue to the United Nations. After the First Israeli-Arab War in 1948, Jerusalem was divided between Israel and Jordan, with West Jerusalem becoming the capital of Israel and East Jerusalem being occupied by Jordan. Since 1967, all of Jerusalem has been under Israeli control.
The status of Palestinians in East Jerusalem is uncertain. Under Israeli law, Palestinians living in East Jerusalem are automatically granted Israeli citizenship if they renounce their Jordanian citizenship. But most Palestinians refuse to accept Israeli citizenship (because they see it as recognition of Israeli occupation) and therefore have only permanent residency. They can move freely in Israel, but if they move out of Israel (such as to the Palestinian territories), they will lose this right and cannot move back. As a result, they are unable to visit relatives and friends living in Palestinian areas, even if they live only a few kilometres away in the West Bank.
Another matter at issue is the status of family members who were not recorded in the census prior to Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem. If they want to return to East Jerusalem to reunite with their families, they must get permission from the Israeli Interior Ministry. Palestinians complain that Israeli authorities arbitrarily reject applications because they want to limit the Palestinian population in East Jerusalem. Israeli authorities say they treat Palestinians fairly. These disputes are also a frequent point of criticism by Palestinian and Israeli human rights groups.
In 1980, Israeli legislation established Jerusalem as its eternal and undivided capital. While the Palestinian Authority also claims that the capital of a future Palestinian state will be in East Jerusalem, the most prominent official Palestinian presence in the city is Orient House, the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the late 20th century.
The proposal to make Jerusalem an international city was made by Christians, who are the least numerous in Jerusalem, but for whom it is also a holy city. The suggestion was also endorsed by the Pope.
The most supported is a partition of Jerusalem, with Israel getting the Jewish quarter of the city as well as the Western Wall, the rest of the Old City and the Temple Mount in a newly created Palestinian state. Some Israelis oppose any division based on cultural, historical or religious boundaries. Other Israelis believe that the Old City, which is important to Jews, Christians and Muslims, could become an international city under multilateral control. Palestinians support Jerusalem as a free city, but the reliability of this support is in doubt, and many Jewish buildings in Arab-controlled areas have been destroyed, such as the tomb of Joseph in Nablus recently. International organizations such as the United Nations cannot guarantee the Arabs from destroying these places and provide the pilgrims with personal security and freedom.
Under the Oslo Accords, Jerusalem’s final status was to be determined by peace negotiations.
Status
In 1950, Israel declared Jerusalem its capital, and since then all branches of the Israeli government – the legislature, the judiciary, and the executive, including the presidential palace and the Prime Minister’s office – have been located in the city. At that time, Jerusalem was divided into two parts, one under the administration of Israel and the other under the administration of Jordan, with only West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Immediately after the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel annexed East Jerusalem, which was in fact taken by Israel through armed means.
On July 30, 1980, the Knesset passed a bill (Basic Law: Jerusalem, the Capital of Israel) declaring Jerusalem (including West Jerusalem and East Jerusalem) to be the “eternal and undivided capital” of Israel.
UN Security Council Resolution 478 (14 votes in favor, none against, with one abstention by the United States) declared the law null and void and demanded that its member states must withdraw their diplomatic representatives from the city as a punitive measure. Prior to Resolution 478, most embassies were already located in Tel Aviv. Most of the few countries with embassies in Jerusalem moved their embassies to Tel Aviv in accordance with the resolution. On 16 and 26 August 2006, Costa Rica and El Salvador, the last two United Nations member States to have embassies in Jerusalem, announced that they would move their embassies to Tel Aviv. However, in Mevaselet Zion, outside Jerusalem, there are embassies of Paraguay and Bolivia. Jerusalem is home to consulates general of the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy and Greece.
In 1988, Palestinian statehood was declared in Algiers, with Jerusalem as its capital, and recognized by nearly 100 countries.
In 1995, the US Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act, which moved the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
It has long been Washington’s policy that the status of Jerusalem should be resolved by Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. No US President since 1995 has moved the US embassy to Jerusalem. Although Trump promised to move the embassy during the campaign, he signed a document in June 2017 to delay the move in line with efforts to resume peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. However, the construction of the new embassy has been repeatedly delayed for various reasons. In order to woo pro-Israel American voters, Trump promised during his presidential campaign that he would move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem after taking office. [5] On December 6, 2017, US President Donald Trump announced that he recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and would begin the process of moving the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
On December 13, 2017, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation issued a communique after its extraordinary summit in Istanbul, Turkey, announcing the recognition of East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine.
Population
The population of Jerusalem in 2011 was 801,000, of which 65% were Jewish, 32% Muslim, and 2% Christian. In 2005, Jerusalem received 2,450 immigrants, three-quarters of whom were from the United States, France and former Soviet states. Within Israel, the number of people moving into Jerusalem is much lower than the number moving out. In 2005, more than 10,000 Israeli citizens moved to Jerusalem, while 16,000 left during the same period. Basically, Jerusalem’s population continues to rise due to high birth rates, especially from Arab and ultra-Orthodox groups (higher than the national average birth rate). Jerusalem’s birth rate reached 4.02, far higher than any other city in the region and more than twice that of Tel Aviv (1.98), compared to the national average of 2.90. The average size of Jerusalem’s 180,000 households is 3.8 people.
In 2005, the total number of Jerusalem residents grew by 13,000 (1.8%), also higher than the national average. The city continues to grow, and its religious and ethnic makeup is changing. Although Jews still make up the majority of the population, only 31% of children under the age of 15 are Jewish. This data proves that the percentage of Jews in Jerusalem and all of Israel has declined over the past 40 years. In 1967, when the Six-Day War broke out, Jews made up 74 percent of the population, nine percentage points higher than in 2006. One possible reason is a surge in conservatism in the city. Many of those leaving the city are young or belong to less conservative sects of Judaism; They settled in coastal cities such as Tel Aviv and Haifa.
Demographics and the Jewish-Arab ethnic rift remain major topics of debate in Jerusalem. In 1998, the chairman of the Jerusalem Authority for Development Rights even suggested that the city boundaries be expanded westward to include more Jewish-majority areas.
Geography
The geographical coordinates of Jerusalem are 31 degrees 47 ‘north latitude and 35 degrees 13’ east longitude; A plateau in the southern Judea Mountains that includes the Mount of Olives and Mount Lookout. The Old City of Jerusalem is about 760 meters above sea level. The whole of Jerusalem is surrounded by valleys and dry riverbeds, except in the north where it is not very visible.
There are three distinct valleys in Jerusalem: the Kidron Valley, the Hinnom Valley, and the Tirop Valley, which intersect south of the city. The Kidron Valley passes east of the old City, separating the Mount of Olives from the city. The Valley of the Son of Hinnom, west of Jerusalem, is a symbol of hell in Biblical eschatology. The Telop Valley is located in the northwest, near the Damascus Gate, and empties south-southeast into the Siloam Pool. The Telop Valley is largely hidden by debris that has accumulated in the valley over the past thousands of years.
Tel Aviv and the Mediterranean Sea are 60 kilometers to the west of Jerusalem, and the Dead Sea is the lowest buoyant point on the Earth’s surface 35 kilometers to the east. Jerusalem is bordered by Bethlehem and Beit Jala to the south, ABU Dis and Ma’ale Adummim to the east, Mevaselet Zion (home to the Paraguayan and Bolivian embassies) to the west, and Giv’at Ze’ev to the north.
Climate
Jerusalem’s latitudes are north of the Tropic of Cancer, close to the Mediterranean Sea and, like most of Israel, have a Mediterranean climate. Located in the subtropical zone, the city is also warm in the winter, but snow is not uncommon and usually falls at least once a year. January is the coldest month of the year, with an average temperature of 12 ° C (53 ° F), while the hottest months of the year are July and August, with an average temperature of 29 ° C (84 ° F). The average annual precipitation is close to 590 mm (23 in), with little precipitation during the summer months from May to September.
Jerusalem’s air pollution comes mainly from traffic pollution, especially in East Jerusalem. Many of Jerusalem’s main streets were unable to accommodate the increase in traffic, meaning drivers were forced to spend more time on the road, releasing more carbon monoxide into the air. Industrial pollution in the city is minimal, but pollutants from factories on Israel’s Mediterranean coast can travel east to the city.
Since the time of British Mandate Palestine, new building codes have been constructed entirely of Jerusalem stone. Although these numbers add to the cost of the building, the Jerusalem stones give the city a unique, antique look.
Political
The Jerusalem Municipal Council has 31 elected members, including a mayor (currently Mayor Yuri Luplinsky) and six deputy mayors. The remaining members of the city Council are pro bono publiko (unpaid volunteers). Most of the debates and consultations are held in private, but the Jerusalem City Council meets in public once a month. Within, religious parties formed a special power center, holding the majority of seats.
On 8 May 2018, Ahmed Majdalani, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said that the Palestinian leadership had decided to reactivate the East Jerusalem municipality, which was dissolved by Israel in 1967.
Economy
Historically, Jerusalem’s economy relied almost entirely on religious pilgrimages due to its distance from the major ports of Jaffa and Gaza, and Jerusalem’s religious holy sites remain a major destination for foreign tourists, most of whom visit the Western Wall and the Old City of Jerusalem. However, Jerusalem has come a long way in economic terms since 1967 and has become much more than just a religious site.
Many statistics show the growth of Jerusalem’s economy. But development in Palestinian-dominated East Jerusalem has lagged far behind that of West Jerusalem. However, the percentage of Arab households with one employed person (76.1%) was higher than that of Jewish households (66.8%). Jerusalem’s unemployment rate (8.3%) is slightly lower than the national average (9.0%), and less than half of the population over the age of 15 is working, lower than Tel Aviv (58.0%) and Haifa (52.4%). Poverty in Jerusalem has soared, with the number of people below the poverty line increasing by 40 percent from 2001 to 2007. In 2006, the average monthly income of a worker in Jerusalem was 5,940 shekels (US $1,410), 1,350 shekels lower than that of a worker in Tel Aviv.
In order to protect the city’s unique religious sites, heavy industry was not permitted in Jerusalem; And only about 2.2 percent of Jerusalem’s land is used for industry and infrastructure. In contrast, Tel Aviv’s share of land devoted to industry and infrastructure is more than twice that of Jerusalem, and Haifa’s is more than seven times that. While Tel Aviv remains Israel’s financial center, the number of global high-tech businesses based in Jerusalem is increasing. Large companies of all types are located in the Har Hotzvim area of North Jerusalem, including Intel, Teva Pharmaceuticals and ECI Telecom. When completed, the industrial park will include more than 100 businesses, a fire station, a school and cover 53 hectares.
Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the central government has played a significant role in Jerusalem’s economy. The central government, concentrated in Jerusalem, not only provides a large number of jobs in the area, but also provides subsidies and incentives to promising companies.
culture
Although Jerusalem is primarily known for its religious sites, the city is also home to many cultural and artistic sites.
The Israel Museum is the most important art museum in Jerusalem, attracting nearly one million visitors a year, one-third of whom come from outside Israel.
The 80,000-square-meter museum includes several art institutions, with major collections of archaeology, sculpture and traditional art from all over the world.
The Israel Museum’s most famous human collection is the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were discovered not far from Jerusalem in the mid-20th century. The Dead Sea Scrolls are housed in the museum’s “Shrine of the Holy Book.”
The museum also plays an important role in the education of children in the region, with 100,000 children visiting the museum’s youth department every year.
The Israel Museum has three affiliated art museums in Jerusalem – the Rockefeller Museum (formerly the Museum of Palestinian Archaeology), the Tyshau Museum and the Perry Art Center. Opened in 1938, the Rockefeller Museum is located in East Jerusalem and houses artifacts discovered in the first half of the 20th century. The Tyshawn Museum is located in the heart of Jerusalem and houses the works of Israeli artist Anna Tyshawn.
Another prominent cultural institution in the city is the Jewish Martyrdom Museum (Yad Vashem), which covers an area of 4,200 square meters and houses the world’s largest library of information on the Holocaust, estimated at more than 100,000 books or papers. The museum tells the Holocaust from a Jewish point of view. Other museums collect survivors’ art. There are also memorials to the victims of the Holocaust; Every year, Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Ha Shoah) is commemorated in these places. The Museum of Jewish Martyrdom is a research and educational institution where visitors can reflect on the Holocaust.
The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra is the city’s leading orchestra, founded in the 1940s. The band has performed not only in Jerusalem, but also in cities around the world, including Vienna, Frankfurt and New York City. Within walking distance from Jerusalem’s Old City, there is a cultural district that includes the Khan Theatre, the city’s only repertory theatre, and the Jerusalem Center for the Performing Arts, which hosts more than 150 concerts each year. Excellent facilities such as the Jerusalem Music Centre and the Palestinian National Theatre. Founded in 1984, the Palestinian National Theatre was originally the only arts and cultural institution in East Jerusalem, and still only stages works from a Palestinian perspective.
Since 1961, a national “Israel Festival” has been held every summer, featuring many international artists and street performers. Jerusalem hosts most of these festivals. In addition, after 2000, the gay community held pride parades in the area, which aroused the dissatisfaction of Muslims, Jews and Christians, fearing “desecration of the holy land”; There was so much bloodshed that the police, tasked with protecting the march, asked the authorities to cancel it.
Jerusalem has long been a city of both Palestinians and Israelis. After David’s son Solomon inherited the throne in the 10th century BC (about 965 BC), he built the first Jewish temple, Solomon’s Temple, commonly known as the “First Temple”, on the capital Mount Zion, where pilgrims and sacrifices flocked, thus forming the center of ancient Jewish religious and political activities.
In 586 BC, the First Temple was unfortunately destroyed by the invading Babylonians. The “First Temple” built by King Solomon, the son of King David, was burned to the ground, and more than 40,000 Jews were taken prisoner, known as the “prisoners of Babylon.”
After half a century of exile, the Jews returned to their homes and later built a second Temple on the site of the First Temple.
In 70 AD, when the Roman Empire suppressed the Jewish uprising, General Titus burned down the Second Temple, but retained part of the pedestal and the parapet built by King Herod on the ruins of the Second Temple to show the strength of the Roman army. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed, most of the Jews were expelled from the Palestinian territories, and Jerusalem and the Temple were almost razed to the ground.
In 135 AD, the Roman emperor Hadrian put down the Second Jewish uprising, and the Jews were forced to flee and dispersed among the nations. It was not until the Byzantine Empire that Jews could get the opportunity to return to their homeland once a year on the Sabbath, and countless Jews came here to weep against the wall, hence the name “Wailing Wall”.
The Old City of Jerusalem has been rebuilt and restored 18 times since its construction. In 1049 BC, it was the old city of the ancient Kingdom of Israel under the rule of King David. In 586 BC, King Nebuchadnezzar II of Neo-Babylonia (present-day Iraq) captured the city and razed it to the ground.
In 532 BC, Jerusalem was conquered by King Darius of Persia.
After the 4th century BC, Jerusalem was annexed to the kingdoms of Macedonia, Ptolemy, and Seleucid.
In 63 BC, the Romans captured Jerusalem, and they expelled the Jews from the city. The Roman tyranny against the Jews in Palestine led to four major uprisings. The Romans carried out a bloody crackdown, killing more than a million Jews and sending large numbers of Jews to Europe as slaves. The remaining Jews fled in succession, mainly to present-day Britain, France, Italy, Germany and other regions, and later to Russia, Eastern Europe, North America and so on, which began the tragic Jewish diaspora history.
In 636 AD, the Arabs defeated the Romans. Since then, Jerusalem has long been under Muslim rule.
At the end of the 11th century, the Pope of Rome and European monarchs launched several Crusades in the name of “reclaiming the Holy City.” In 1099, the Crusaders captured Jerusalem and established the Kingdom of Jerusalem, which lasted for nearly a century.
In 1187, the Arab sultan Saladin defeated the Crusaders at the Battle of Hedian in northern Palestine and regained Jerusalem. From 1517 until World War I, Jerusalem was under Ottoman rule.
Near the town of Bethlehem, 17 kilometers south of Jerusalem, there is a cave called Mahd, where Jesus is said to have been born, and where the church of Mahd is built. Jesus studied in Jerusalem as a young man, preached here, proclaimed himself Christ (i.e., Savior), and was crucified outside the city by the Jewish authorities and buried there. It is said that Jesus rose from the tomb three days after his death and ascended to heaven 40 days later.
In 335 AD, the mother of the Roman emperor Constantine I, the Empress Dowager Helana, traveled to Jerusalem and built a church of the resurrection on the tomb of Jesus, also known as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, so Christians regard Jerusalem as a holy land.
In the early 7th century, the Prophet Muhammad was preaching in the Arabian Peninsula and was opposed by local nobles in the city of Mecca. One night, awakened from a dream, he rode a silver-gray mare with a woman’s head sent by an angel from Mecca to Jerusalem, where he stepped on a sacred stone, flew into the nine heavens, and, having received direct revelation from heaven, returned to Mecca that same night. This is the famous “night walking and night visiting” in Islam, which is one of the important teachings of Muslims. As a result of this mantra, Jerusalem has become the third holiest place in Islam after Mecca and Medina.
It is precisely because Jerusalem is the holy land of the three religions, in order to compete for the holy Land, I do not know how many brutal battles have taken place here since ancient times. Jerusalem has been razed to the ground 18 times, but every time it has been restored, the fundamental reason is that this is a world recognized religious holy place. Some people say that Jerusalem is one of the few beautiful cities in the world that has been damaged and revered. Before 1860, Jerusalem was walled and divided into four neighborhoods: Jewish, Muslim, Armenian, and Christian. At that time, Jews, already the majority of the city’s population, began to establish new neighborhoods outside the city walls, forming the core of modern Jerusalem. The transformation from a small town into a thriving metropolis resulted in the formation of many new residential areas, each reflecting the character of the particular community there.
1917 Allied Forces captured Jerusalem. In 1922 it was placed under British “trusteeship”. In November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 181 on the partition of Palestine, placing Jerusalem under the administration of the United Nations. After the outbreak of the First Middle East War in May 1948, Israel occupied the West End of Jerusalem and declared Jerusalem as its capital in 1950, and the east End of Jerusalem came under Jordanian control. Israel went on to capture the city in 1967 during the Third Middle East War. In July 1980, the Knesset passed a bill designating Jerusalem as Israel’s “eternal and indivisible” capital. The move provoked a strong reaction from the Arab world and international public opinion. In November 1988, the 19th special session of the Palestinian National Council adopted the Declaration of Independence, declaring Jerusalem the capital of the newly established State of Palestine.
The new city of Jerusalem, located in the west, was gradually built up after the 19th century and is twice as large as the old city, mainly housing scientific and cultural institutions. On both sides of the street are modern buildings, with beautiful parks dotted between rows of tall buildings, comfortable and elegant hotel villas, and crowded shopping malls.
The Old city is located in the east, surrounded by a high wall, and some famous religious sites are in the old city, such as the Sahlai Mosque, which enjoys the same status as the daytime house of Mecca, where Muhammad stepped on the holy stone when he ascended the night sky, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third largest mosque in the world after the Holy Temple of Mecca and the Prophet’s Temple in Medina. All the names, events and related places mentioned in the Old and New Testaments have corresponding churches and temples built in the city.
Jerusalem is also one of the most important tourist cities in the world.
At once ancient and modern, Jerusalem is a diverse city whose residents represent a mix of cultures and nationalities, with both a observant and secular lifestyle. The city is both preserving the past and building for the future, with carefully restored historic sites, carefully landscaped green Spaces, modern business districts, industrial parks and expanding suburbs, demonstrating its continuity and vitality.
Education
Jerusalem is home to several prestigious universities, all of which teach in the three most commonly spoken languages of Israel: Hebrew, Arabic and English. Founded in 1925, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem remains the most comprehensive university in Jerusalem and Israel. The school’s original board of trustees was composed of a number of prominent Jewish intellectuals, including some world-renowned scientists – Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud. The university has produced many Nobel Prize winners, the most recent Nobel laureates associated with the school are Avlam Hershko (Avlam Hershko), David Gross and Daniel Kahneman (Daniel Kahneman). One of the university’s greatest assets is the Jewish National and University Library, which has more than 5 million volumes. Its library, which began operation more than 30 years ago in 1892, is one of the largest resources of Jewish literature in the world, the National Library of Israel, and the central library of the university.
The University of Jerusalem is another important institution of higher education near Jerusalem, it was founded relatively late (1984) This university is the highest Arab and Palestinian institution of learning in the region, claiming to be the only Arab university in Jerusalem. The University of Jerusalem is located in the southeast of the city and has a campus area of 190,000 square meters. Other universities in Jerusalem include 2 art schools associated with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem: the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance and the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design.
Founded in 1969, the Jerusalem Institute of Technology offers engineering and other high-tech industries as well as Jewish education. Many schools in Jerusalem – from universities to elementary schools – teach religion. yeshiva and other Yeshiva schools are located throughout the city, and Mir yeshiva, which originated in Belarus, is the largest school in Israel. In the 2003-2004 school year, there were nearly 8,000 Grade 12 students in the Hebrew school. However, due to the large population attending Orthodox schools, only 55 per cent of students pass the Baglut and only 37 per cent graduate from university. Unlike public schools, most orthodox schools do not give students standardized tests.
Palestinian schools in Jerusalem and much of Israel have been criticized for being of lower quality than Jewish schools. In East Jerusalem, where Arabs gather, many schools are overcrowded with more than four or five thousand students, making it impossible to provide proper education. Since Palestinian students in public schools are required to pass the Bagrut exam, many of their courses are on the same track as those in Israeli schools. Therefore, the emphasis is placed on Judaism, even though most Palestinian students do not accept this religion.
Physical education
The two most popular sports in Jerusalem are football and basketball. Bitar Jerusalem is one of the most popular football teams in Israel, and many former and current political celebrities, such as Benjamin Netanyahu, are fans of the team. Jerusalem Sharpur Football Club, another major soccer team in Jerusalem, is one of Bitar’s main rivals. Bitar has won the Israel State Cup five times (1976, 1979, 1985, 1986 and 1989) while Sharper has won it only once (1973). Similarly, Bitar plays in the more prestigious Israeli Premier League, while Sharpur plays in the lesser Israeli First Division. In basketball, Jerusalem Sharpur Basketball Club has an advantage. Although it has never won a tournament in a league controlled by Maccabi Tel Aviv, Shapur Jerusalem has won the Israel Cup three times (1996, 1997 and 2007) and the UEFA Cup once (2004). Opened in 1989, the Teddy Kolek Stadium is the main football stadium in Jerusalem, with a capacity of 21,000.
Traffic
The nearest airport to Jerusalem is Atalot Airport. Closed in 2001 as a result of clashes in Ramallah and the West Bank, it has been placed under the control of the Israel Defense Forces, and air traffic in the area relies on David Ben Gurion International Airport, which serves the population of both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. There are only two international airports in Israel, of which David Ben Gurion International Airport is the busiest airport in Israel, carrying 9 million passengers per year.
Transportation between the country’s cities is mainly by rail, and by 2010 the Israeli rail system will carry 40 million passengers a year. Jerusalem Railway Station serves most of Jerusalem’s intercity trains and is a railway terminus. Although Jerusalem Main Train Station also serves intercity Bus routes, Jerusalem Central Bus Station is the main bus departure station, operated by Egged Bus, the second largest bus company in the world. Scheduled for completion in 2011, the high-speed rail line from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem will also end at the Jerusalem Central Bus Terminal.
The Begin Highway is one of Jerusalem’s main north-south arteries; It passes through the western part of the city and then merges into Israeli Route 443 leading to Tel Aviv. Israeli Route 60 runs through the city center near the Green Line, separating East Jerusalem from West Jerusalem. Israel is building a 35-kilometer ring road that it hopes will enrich the area by connecting the suburbs with the central business district. The eastern half of the project has been planned for a decade, but reactions to the proposal have been mixed. In addition to private cars, taxi and bus routes are the only options within the city. However, things will soon change: a new rail rapid transit system is being built. The system was first proposed in 1995, after which light rail was chosen for rapid transit because of its low cost, low disruption, and the need to preserve the aesthetic value of the city center. The first of the eight lines, the Jerusalem Light Rail, is estimated to carry 200,000 people a day and has 24 stations.
