History Of Jerusalem

Jerusalem

For other uses, see Jerusalem (disambiguation).
"Al-Quds" and "Bayt al-Maqdis" redirect here. For further information, see Names of Jerusalem. For other uses, see Al-Quds (disambiguation) and Bayt al-Maqdis (disambiguation).
Jerusalem

    ירושלים (Hebrew)
    القُدس (Arabic)

City
From upper left: Jerusalem skyline looking north from St. Elijah Monastery, a souq in the Old City, Mamilla Mall, the Knesset, the Dome of the Rock, the citadel (known as the Tower of David) and the Old City walls, and the Western Wall.
From upper left: Jerusalem skyline looking north from St. Elijah Monastery, a souq in the Old City, Mamilla Mall, the Knesset, the Dome of the Rock, the citadel (known as the Tower of David) and the Old City walls, and the Western Wall.
Flag of Jerusalem
Flag     Emblem of Jerusalem
Coat of arms
Nickname(s): Ir ha-Kodesh (The Holy City),
Bayt al-Maqdis (House of the Holiness)
Location of Jerusalem
Location of Jerusalem
Jerusalem
Coordinates: 31°47′N 35°13′ECoordinates: 31°47′N 35°13′E
Administered by      Israel
Claimed by     Israel and Palestine[note 1]
Israeli district      Jerusalem
Palestinian governorate     Jerusalem
Gihon Spring settlement     4500 BCE
City of David     1010 BCE
Present Old City walls built     1541
East-West Jerusalem division     1948
Reunification     1967
Jerusalem Law     1980
Government
 • Type     Mayor–council
 • Body     Jerusalem Municipality
 • Israeli mayor     Nir Barkat (Likud)
 • Palestinian mayor (East)     Zaki al-Ghul (titular)
Area
 • City     125,156 dunams (125.156 km2 or 48.323 sq mi)
 • Metro     652,000 dunams (652 km2 or 252 sq mi)
Elevation     754 m (2,474 ft)
Population (2016)[4]
 • City     882,652
 • Density     7,100/km2 (18,000/sq mi)
 • Metro[5]     1,253,900
Demonym(s)     Jerusalemite (Yerushalmi)
Qudsi/Maqdisi
Demographics (2016)[6]
 • Jewish     64%
 • Arab     35%
 • others     1%
Time zone     IST, PST (UTC+02:00)
 • Summer (DST)     IDT, PDT (UTC+03:00)
Postal code     9XXXXXX
Area code     +972-2
Website     jerusalem.muni.il (Israeli)
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name     Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls
Type     Cultural
Criteria     ii, iii, vi
Designated     1981
Reference no.     148
Region     Jerusalem District
Endangered     1982–present
Part of a series on
Jerusalem
Temple Mount

    History
        Timeline

    City of David Second Temple Period Aelia Capitolina Middle Ages Kingdom of Jerusalem Mutasarrifate British Mandate Jordanian annexation Reunification

Sieges

    701 BCE 587 BCE 70 614 637 1099 1244 1917 1948

Places

    East West Old City Temple Mount Temple Western Wall Dome of the Rock Synagogues Mosques
        Al-Aqsa Church of the Holy Sepulchre Hebrew University Knesset Biblical Zoo

    People
        Demographic history

    Mayor Chief Rabbi Grand Mufti Greek Orthodox Patriarch Crusader kings

Positions

    Religious significance
        Judaism Christianity Islam Jerusalem Law Jerusalem Day Quds Day Judaization Islamization U.S. recognition

Other topics

    Names Flag Emblem Municipality Greater Jerusalem City Line Transport Holyland Model Songs

Jerusalem emblem.png Jerusalem portal

    v t e

Part of a series on
Jews and Judaism
Star of David

    Etymology Who is a Jew?

    Jewish peoplehood Jewish identity

Religion
[show]
Texts
[show]
Communities
[show]
Population
[show]
Denominations
[show]
Culture
[show]
Languages
[show]
History
[show]
Politics
[show]

    Category: Jews and Judaism
    Portal: Judaism

    v t e

Jerusalem (/dʒəˈruːsələm/; Hebrew: יְרוּשָׁלַיִם‬ About this sound Yerushalayim [jeruʃaˈlajim]; Arabic: القُدس‎ About this sound al-Quds [alˈqʊds])[note 2] is a city in the Middle East, located on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea.

One of the oldest cities in the world, Jerusalem was named as "Urusalima" on ancient Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets, probably meaning "City of Shalem" after a Canaanite deity, during the early Canaanite period (approximately 2400 BCE). During the Israelite period, significant construction activity in Jerusalem began in the 9th century BCE (Iron Age II), and in the 8th century the city developed into the religious and administrative center of the Kingdom of Judah.[7] During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times.[8] The part of Jerusalem called the City of David was settled in the 4th millennium BCE.[9] In 1538, walls were built around Jerusalem under Suleiman the Magnificent. Today those walls define the Old City, which has been traditionally divided into four quarters—known since the early 19th century as the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters.[10] The Old City became a World Heritage Site in 1981, and is on the List of World Heritage in Danger.[11] Modern Jerusalem has grown far beyond the Old City's boundaries.

Jerusalem is considered a holy city in the three major Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. According to the Bible, King David conquered the city from the Jebusites and established it as the capital of the united kingdom of Israel, and his son, King Solomon, commissioned the building of the First Temple.[note 3] These foundational events, straddling the dawn of the 1st millennium BCE, assumed central symbolic importance for the Jewish people.[13] The sobriquet of holy city (עיר הקודש, transliterated ‘ir haqodesh) was probably attached to Jerusalem in post-exilic times.[14][15][16] The holiness of Jerusalem in Christianity, conserved in the Septuagint[17] which Christians adopted as their own authority,[18] was reinforced by the New Testament account of Jesus's crucifixion there. In Sunni Islam, Jerusalem is the third-holiest city, after Mecca and Medina.[19][20] In Islamic tradition in 610 CE it became the first qibla, the focal point for Muslim prayer (salat),[21] and Muhammad made his Night Journey there ten years later, ascending to heaven where he speaks to God, according to the Quran.[22][23] As a result, despite having an area of only 0.9 square kilometres (0.35 sq mi),[24] the Old City is home to many sites of seminal religious importance, among them the Temple Mount with its Western Wall, Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Outside the Old City stands the Garden Tomb.

Today, the status of Jerusalem remains one of the core issues in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, West Jerusalem was among the areas captured and later annexed by Israel while East Jerusalem, including the Old City, was captured and later annexed by Jordan. Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War and subsequently annexed it into Jerusalem, together with additional surrounding territory.[note 4] One of Israel's Basic Laws, the 1980 Jerusalem Law, refers to Jerusalem as the country's undivided capital. All branches of the Israeli government are located in Jerusalem, including the Knesset (Israel's parliament), the residences of the Prime Minister and President, and the Supreme Court. Whilst the international community rejected the annexation as illegal and treats East Jerusalem as Palestinian territory occupied by Israel,[28][29][30][31] Israel has a stronger claim to sovereignty over West Jerusalem.[32][33]

Israelis and Palestinians both claim Jerusalem as their capital. However, neither claim is widely recognized internationally. The State of Israel maintains its primary governmental institutions there. The State of Palestine ultimately foresees the city as its seat of power, while the city of Ramallah is serving as the provisional de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).[note 5]

Jerusalem is also home to some non-governmental Israeli institutions of national importance, such as the Hebrew University and the Israel Museum with its Shrine of the Book. Since the 1980s, the city has hosted no foreign embassies, although a Presidential order has been issued in the United States in early December 2017 to move its embassy to Jerusalem.[34] In a non-binding resolution[35] voted at the United Nations General Assembly on 21 December 2017, eight countries supported the US resolution to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, 128 disagreed, 35 abstained and 21 did not participate.[36]

In 2015, Jerusalem had a population of some 850,000 residents, comprising approximately 200,000 secular Jewish Israelis, 350,000 Haredi Jews and 300,000 Palestinians.[37][note 6] In 2011, the population numbered 801,000, of which Jews comprised 497,000 (62%), Muslims 281,000 (35%), Christians 14,000 (around 2%) and 9,000 (1%) were not classified by religion.[39]