Jerusalem seen from Spot Satellite
Jerusalem (Hebrew: יְרוּשָׁלַיִם (audio) (help·info), Yerushaláyim; Arabic: القُدس (audio) (help·info), al-Quds)[ii] is the capital[iii] of Israel.
Including both Israeli citizens and Arab non-citizens, Jerusalem is the largest city in Israel[2] in both population and area,[3] with 732,100 residents in an area of 125.1 square kilometers (49 sq mi).[1][4] Located in the Judean Mountains, between the Mediterranean Sea and the northern tip of the Dead Sea, modern Jerusalem has grown up around the Old City. Its Jewish neighborhoods, circled around its civic and cultural hub, extend westward toward Israel's urban core in Gush Dan (Tel Aviv region). The Arab population stretches from the Old City to the East, towards Ramallah in the North, and towards Bethlehem in the South.
The city has a history that goes back as far as the 4th millennium BCE, making it one of the oldest cities in the world.[5] Jerusalem has been the holiest city in Judaism and the spiritual center of the Jewish people since the 10th century BCE,[6] contains a number of significant ancient Christian sites, and is widely considered the third-holiest city in Islam.[7] Despite having an area of only 0.9 square kilometer (0.35 square mile),[8] the Old City is home to several sites of key religious importance: the Temple Mount and its Western Wall for Jews, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Christians, and the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque for Muslims. The walled area of Jerusalem, which constituted the entire city until the 1860s, is now called the Old City, and was added to the List of World Heritage Sites in danger in 1982.[9] The Old City has been traditionally divided into four quarters, although the names used today—the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters—were only introduced in the early 19th century.[10]
Today, Jerusalem remains a bone of contention in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem (captured in the 1967 Six-Day War) has been particularly controversial. Jerusalem has not been internationally recognized as Israel's capital, and no embassies are located in Jerusalem-proper. Palestinians view the eastern part of the city in which the Arab population resides as Occupied and consider East Jerusalem the capital of a potential Palestinian state.[11][12]
Etymology
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- Further information: Names of Jerusalem
Although the precise origin of the Hebrew name for Jerusalem, Yerushalayim remains uncertain, scholars have come up with a variety of interpretations. Some say it means "legacy of peace" — a combination of yerusha (legacy) and shalom (peace). "Shalom" is a cognate of the Hebrew name "Shlomo," i.e., King Solomon," the builder of the First Temple.[13][14] Alternatively, the second part of the word could be Salem (Shalem literally "whole" or "in harmony"), an early name for Jerusalem[15] that appears in the Book of Genesis.[16] Others cite the Amarna letters, where the Akkadian name of the city appears as Urušalim, a cognate of the Hebrew Ir Shalem. Some believe there is a connection to Shalim, the beneficent deity known from Ugaritic myths as the personification of dusk.[17]
A Midrashic interpretation in Genesis Rabba explains that Abraham came to the city that was then called Shalem after rescuing Lot.[18] Upon arrival, he asked the king and high priest Melchizedek to bless him, and Melchizedek did so in the name of God (indicating that he, like Abraham, was a monotheist). This encounter between Melchizedek and Abraham was commemorated by renaming the city in their honor: the name Yeru (derived from Yireh, the name Abraham gave to the Temple Mount) was combined with Shalem,[18] producing Yeru-Shalem, meaning the "city of Shalem," or "founded by Shalem." If shalem means "complete," or "without defect, " Yerushalayim would mean the "perfect city," or "the city of he who is perfect".[19] The ending -im indicates the plural in Hebrew grammar and -ayim the dual, leading to an interpretation of the name as representing two facets of the city, such as two hills.[20][21] The pronunciation of the last syllable as -ayim appears to be a late development, which had not yet appeared at the time of the Septuagint.
A city appears in ancient Egyptian records called Rushalimum, which many scholars believe to be the first reference to the modern day city of Jerusalem.
History
-
- See also: History of ancient Israel and Judah, History of Palestine, and Timeline of Jerusalem
Ceramic evidence indicates the occupation of Ophel, within present-day Jerusalem, as far back as the Copper Age, c. 4th millennium BCE,[22][5] with evidence of a permanent settlement during the early centuries of the Early Bronze Age, c. 3000-2800 BCE.[22] Ann Killebrew has shown how Jerusalem was a large and important walled city in the MB IIB and IA IIC (ca. 1800-1550 and 720-586 BCE), during the intervening Late Bronze (LB) and IA I and IIA/B Ages Jerusalem was a small and relatively insignificant and unfortified town.[23] The earliest written references to the city are probably in the Berlin and Brussels groups of Execration Texts (c. 19th century BCE) (which refer to a city called Roshlamem or Rosh-ramen)[22] and the Amarna letters (c. 14th century BCE).[24][25] Some archaeologists, including Kathleen Kenyon, believe Jerusalem as a city was founded by West Semitic people with organized settlements from around 2600 BCE. According to Jewish tradition the city was founded by Shem and Eber, ancestors of Abraham. The Biblical account portrays the Jebusites as having control of the city, inhabiting the area around the present-day city until the late 11th century BCE when David is said to have invaded and conquered their city, Jebus, and established it as the capital of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah (c. 1000s BCE).[26][27][iv] Recent excavations of a large stone structure are interpreted by some archaeologists as lending credence to the biblical narrative.
Temple periods: ~ 900-100 BCE
Artist's depiction of the First Temple, according to Biblical descriptions
According to the Hebrew Bible, David reigned until 970 BCE, when his son Solomon became king of Israel.[28] Within a decade, Solomon began to build the Holy Temple on Mount Moriah inside the city. Solomon's Temple (later known as the First Temple), went on to play a pivotal role in Jewish history as the repository of the Ark of the Covenant.[29] The next four centuries, up until the destruction of Solomon's Temple (c. 586 BCE), are known in history as the First Temple Period.[30] Upon Solomon's death (c. 930 BCE), the ten northern tribes split off to form the Kingdom of Israel. Under the leadership of the House of David and Solomon, Jerusalem remained the capital of the Kingdom of Judah.[31] When the Assyrians conquered the Kingdom of Israel in 722 BCE, Jerusalem was strengthened by a great influx of refugees from the northern kingdom. The First Temple period ended around 586 BCE, as the Babylonians conquered Judah and Jerusalem, and laid waste to Solomon's Temple.[31] However, many claims of the Fall of Jerusalem are gathered from the Ptolemaic records, in which some dates have been found to be erroneous. Some religions claim that Jerusalem fell in 606-607 BCE; however, no historical evidence supports that the 18th or 19th year of Nebuchadrezzar was in the year 607 BCE, and Zecharias 7:1-5 establishes the year 587 BCE for the complete and final attack on Jerusalem by the Babylonians.
In 538 BCE, after fifty years of Babylonian captivity, Persian King Cyrus the Great permitted the Jews to return to Judah to rebuild Jerusalem and their holy temple. Construction of the Second Temple, was completed in 516 BCE, during the reign of Darius the Great, seventy years after the destruction of the First Temple.[32][33] Jerusalem resumed its role as capital of Judah and center of Jewish worship. When Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire, Jerusalem and Judea fell under Macedonian control, eventually falling to the Ptolemaic dynasty under Ptolemy I. In 198 BCE, Ptolemy V lost Jerusalem and Judea to the Seleucids under Antiochus III. The Seleucid attempt to recast Jerusalem as a Hellenized polis came to a head in 168 BCE with the successful Maccabean revolt of Mattathias the High Priest and his five sons against Antiochus Epiphanes, and their establishment of the Hasmonean Kingdom in 152 BCE with Jerusalem again as its capital.[34]
The Jewish-Roman wars and the Jewish diaspora: ~100 BCE-500 CE
As Rome became stronger it installed Herod as a Jewish client king. Herod the Great, as he was known, devoted himself to developing and beautifying the city. He built walls, towers and palaces, and expanded the Temple Mount, buttressing the courtyard with blocks of stone weighing up to 100 tons. Under Herod, the area of the Temple Mount doubled in size.[35][36][28] In 6 CE, the city, as well as much of the surrounding area, came under direct Roman rule as the Iudaea Province[37] and Herod's descendants through Agrippa II remained client kings of Judea until 96 CE. Roman rule over Jerusalem and the region began to be challenged with the first Jewish-Roman war, the Great Jewish Revolt, which resulted in the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. In 130 CE Hadrian Romanized the city, and renamed it Aelia Capitolina.[38] Jerusalem once again served as the capital of Judea during the three-year rebellion known as the Bar Kochba revolt. The Romans succeeded in recapturing the city in 135 CE and as a punitive measure Hadrian banned the Jews from entering it. As a result the city became entirely pagan (non-Jewish). Hadrian proceeded to rename the entire Iudaea Province to Syria Palaestina after the Biblical Philistines in an attempt to thwart future rebellion and to de-Judaize Judea.[39][40] Enforcement of the ban on Jews entering Aelia Capitolina continued until the 4th century CE.
In the five centuries following the Bar Kokhba revolt, the city remained under Roman then Byzantine rule. During the 4th century, the Roman Emperor Constantine I constructed Christian sites in Jerusalem such as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Jerusalem reached a peak in size and population at the end of the Second Temple Period: The city covered two square kilometers (0.8 sq mi.) and had a population of 200,000[41][39] From the days of Constantine until the Seventh Century, Jews were banned from Jerusalem.[42]
Within the span of just a few decades, Jerusalem shifted from Roman to Persian rule and returned to Roman dominion once more. Following Sassanid Khosrau II's early seventh century push into Byzantine and advancing through Syria, Sassanid Generals Shahrbaraz and Shahin decided to attack the famous Byzantine-controlled city of Jerusalem (Persian: Dej Houdkh).[43]
Providing access to the Mediterranean Sea, the city would provide a strategic location for the Sassanids to begin constructing a naval fleet and its capture would undoubtedly weaken the Byzantine-Empire's overseas strength. In the Siege of Jerusalem (614), after 21 days of relentless siege warfare, Jerusalem was captured and the Persian victory resulted in the territorial annexation of Jerusalem. After the Sassanid army entered Jerusalem, the holy "True Cross" was stolen and sent back to the Sassanian capital as a battle-captured holy relic, and the Jewish rebels joined the Persians. General Shahrbaraz ordered a swift razing and looting of Jerusalem. Having recognized the assistance of the Jews in the significant capture, he even gave them the opportunity to personally massacre their Christian enemies. The conquered city and the Holy Cross would remain in Sassanid hands for some fifteen years until the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius recovered them in 629.[43]
Muslim rule: ~638-1917
Following the Arab conquest, Jews were allowed back into the city by Muslim rulers.[44] By the end of the 7th century, an Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik had commissioned and completed the construction of the Dome of the Rock over the Foundation Stone.[45] In the four hundred years that followed, Jerusalem's prominence diminished as Arab powers in the region jockeyed for control.[46]
Medieval illustration of capture of Jerusalem during the First Crusade, 1099
Shifts in control: The Crusades, Salahadin, and the Mamluks, 1099-1517
In 1099, Jerusalem was besieged by the First Crusaders, who killed most of its Muslim and Jewish inhabitants, apart from many Christians.[47] That would be the first of several conquests to take place over the next four hundred years. In 1187, the city was taken from the Crusaders by Saladin.[48] Between 1228 and 1244, it was given by Saladin's descendant al-Kamil to the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. Jerusalem fell again in 1244 to the Khawarizmi Turks, who were later, in 1260, replaced by the Mamelukes.
17th century drawing by a German traveler
Ottoman rule: 1517-1917
In 1517, Jerusalem and its environs fell to the Ottoman Turks, who would maintain control of the city until the 20th century.[48] In the 16th and 17th centuries, the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt and nomadic marauders were staved off. Regional trade flourished and Jerusalem's economy and population expanded until the 18th and 19th centuries, as the power of the Ottoman Empire receded and Turkish investment in the city declined.
The mid-19th century saw radical shifts in the political climate in the city, along with a new international presence in the city. After the Egyptian General Ibrahim Pasha's occupation of Syria in 1832, foreign missions and consulates were established throughout the province that the Ottomans were unable to dislodge following re-occupation. This era saw the first expansion outside the Old City walls, as new neighborhoods were established to relieve overcrowding, starting with the construction of new buildings inside and outside the town by the English and German Protestants in the 1840's. Wealthy Muslim families built Ottoman-style villas on the edge of the burgeoning German Colony, establishing a new center for leading Arab families. The period saw the first waves of Jewish immigration from Europe, and the first of the new Jewish neighborhoods outside the city walls included the Russian Compound, the Jewish Mishkenot Sha'ananim, both founded in 1860[49]. Later, Bukhari Jews formed the Bukhari Compound, and poor Middle Eastern Jews moved out of the Old City to form the neighborhood of Nakhlaot. The era saw a building boom and cultural efflorescence that continued without interruption until World War One.
British Mandate transition period:1917-1948
In 1917 after the Battle of Jerusalem, the British Army, led by General Edmund Allenby, captured the city.[50] The League of Nations, through its 1922 ratification of the Balfour Declaration, entrusted the United Kingdom to administer the Mandate for Palestine and help establish a "Jewish National Home" in the region.[51] The period of the Mandate saw the construction of new garden suburbs in the western and northern parts of the city[52][53] and the establishment of institutions of higher learning such as the Hebrew University, founded in 1925.[54]
Eric H. Cline, author of Jerusalem Besieged, notes that Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, attacked an additional 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times.[55]
As the British Mandate for Palestine was expiring, the 1947 UN Partition Plan (Part III) recommended "the creation of a special international regime in the City of Jerusalem, constituting it as a corpus separatum under the administration of the United Nations."[56] The international regime was to remain in force for a period of ten years, whereupon a referendum was to be held in which the residents of Jerusalem were to decide the future regime of the city. (Jerusalem had a Jewish majority both in 1948 and in 1958.)[57] However, this plan was not implemented as the Haganah and the Jordanian Arab Legion fought for control of the city. On May 28, the Arab Legion gained control over the Old City; all of its Jewish inhabitants were either taken prisoner or handed over to the Red Cross to be permanently transferred to Israeli-controlled areas.[58]
The 1948 War occasioned massive displacement of Arab and Jewish populations shifting space in conjunction with shifts in control. Due to mob and militia violence on both sides, 1,500 of the 3,500 (mostly ultra-Orthodox) Jews in the Old City moved to west Jerusalem as a unit. The ancient village of Lifta (today within the bounds of Jerusalem) was captured by the nascent Israeli troops in 1948, and its residents were loaded on trucks and taken to East Jerusalem.[59] [60] [61] In addition to the depopulation of thousands of Arabs from Jerusalem's surrounding villages of Lifta, Deir Yasin, Ein Karem, and Al-Maliha, all predominantly Arab urban centers ringing the western side of Jerusalem's old city were transferred to Israeli control (i.e. Talbiya, Al-Qatamon, upper and lower Baqa'a, Mamila, and Abu-Tour-Musrara). [62] [63]
After 1948: Establishment of the State of Israel
View of Mishkenot Sha'ananim, one of the first Jewish neighborhoods built outside the Old City, today
- See also: UN General Assembly Resolution 194
At the end of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Jerusalem found itself divided between Israel and Jordan (then known as Transjordan). The ceasefire line established through the Armistice Agreement of 1949 between Israel and Jordan, cut through the center of the city from 1949 until 1967, during which time West Jerusalem was part of Israel and East Jerusalem was part of Jordan. In 1949, Israel designated West Jerusalem as its capital. Contrary to the terms of the Armistice Agreement of 1949 between Jordan and Israel, Israelis were denied access to Jewish holy sites, many of which were desecrated, and only allowed extremely limited access to Christian holy sites.[64][65]
Following the 1967 Six-Day War Israel captured East Jerusalem, asserted sovereignty over the entire city, and later in 1980 declared Jerusalem, "complete and united", to be the capital of Israel.[66] This action, however, was criticised in the non-binding UNSC resolution 478, which declared the assertion of sovereignty to be "null and void." Further, East Jerusalem has been seen by the Palestinian Arabs as a possible capital of a proposed Palestinian state.[67][68] They also refer to Security Council resolution 252, which considers invalid expropriation of land and other actions that tend to change the legal status of Jerusalem.[69] The status of the city and of its holy places remains disputed to this day.
Geography
View of Jerusalem Forest from Yad Vashem
Jerusalem is situated around 31°47′N, 35°13′E on the southern spur of a plateau in the Judean Mountains, which include the Mount of Olives (East) and Mount Scopus (North East). The elevation of the Old City is approximately 760 m.[70] The whole of Jerusalem is surrounded by valleys and dry riverbeds (wadis), although those to the north are less pronounced than those on the other sides.
Three of the most prominent valleys in the region, the Kidron, Hinnom, and Tyropoeon Valleys, intersect in an area just south of the Old City of Jerusalem.[71] The Kidron Valley runs just to the east of the Old City and separates the Mount of Olives from the city proper. Along the southern side of old Jerusalem is the Valley of Hinnom, a steep ravine associated in Biblical eschatology with the concept of Gehenna or hell.[72] A third valley commenced in the northwest near the present-day location of Damascus Gate, ran south-southeasterly through the center of the Old City down to the Pool of Siloam, and divided the lower part into two hills, the Temple Mount to the east, and the rest of the city to the west (the lower and the upper cities described by Josephus). Today, this valley, the Tyropoeon Valley, is mostly hidden from view due to the amount of debris that has accumulated within the ravine over the past few millennia.[71]
Jerusalem is 60 kilometers (37 mi)[73] east of Tel Aviv and the Mediterranean Sea. On the opposite side of the city, approximately 35 kilometers (22 mi)[74] away, is the Dead Sea, the lowest body of water on Earth. Neighboring cities and towns include Bethlehem and Beit Jala to the south, Abu Dis and Ma'ale Adumim to the east, Mevaseret Zion to the west, and Ramallah and Giv'at Ze'ev to the north.[75][76][77]
Climate
The city is characterized by a Mediterranean climate, with hot, dry summers, warm spring and autumn, and mild, wet winters. Significant snowfall occurs every couple of winters, with trace snow in 4 out of 5 winters on average. January is the coldest month of the year, with an average monthly temperature of 8 °C (46 °F). July and August are the hottest months, with an average monthly temperature of 23 °C (73 °F).[78] Temperatures vary widely from day to night, and Jerusalem evenings are typically cool even in summer. The average annual precipitation is close to 590 millimetres (23 in) with rain occurring mostly between October and May.[78]
| Weather averages for Jerusalem |
| Month |
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
| Average high °C (°F) |
12 (53) |
13 (56) |
16 (61) |
21 (70) |
25 (77) |
28 (82) |
29 (84) |
29 (84) |
28 (82) |
25 (77) |
19 (66) |
14 (57) |
| Average low °C (°F) |
4 (39) |
4 (40) |
6 (43) |
9 (49) |
12 (54) |
15 (59) |
17 (63) |
17 (63) |
16 (61) |
14 (57) |
9 (49) |
6 (42) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) |
142.2 (5.6) |
114.3 (4.5) |
99.1 (3.9) |
30.5 (1.2) |
2.5 (0.1) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
22.9 (0.9) |
68.8 (2.7) |
109.2 (4.3) |
| Source: The Weather Channel[79] |
Most of the air pollution in Jerusalem comes from vehicular traffic, especially in East Jerusalem.[80] Many main streets in Jerusalem were not built to accommodate such a large volume of traffic, leading to traffic congestion and more carbon monoxide released into the air. Industrial pollution inside the city is sparse, but emissions from factories on the Israeli Mediterranean coast can travel eastward and settle over the city.[80][81]
Demographics
Population of Jerusalem
| Year |
Total |
| 1844 |
15,510 |
| 1876 |
25,030 |
| 1896 |
45,420 |
| 1922 |
62,578 |
| 1931 |
90,053 |
| 1944 |
157,000 |
| 1948 |
165,000 |
| 1967 |
263,307 |
| 1980 |
407,100 |
| 1985 |
457,700 |
| 1990 |
524,400 |
| 1995 |
617,000 |
| 2000 |
657,500 |
| 2005 |
706,400 |
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In May 2007, Jerusalem had a population of 743,000, of whom 68% were Jewish, 30% were Muslim, and 2% were Christian, and a population density of 5,750.4 inhabitants per square kilometer (14,893.5/sq mi).[3][82] In 2005, Jerusalem received 2,850 immigrants, with nearly three quarters of them arriving from the United States, France, and former members of the Soviet Union. Within Israel, emigrants from Jerusalem outnumber immigrants to the city. In 2005, over ten thousand Israelis migrated to Jerusalem while over sixteen thousand left the city.[3] The population of Jerusalem, however, continues to rise due to high birth rates, especially among the Arab and Haredi Jewish communities (whose birth rates are higher than the Israeli national average). Consequently, the total fertility rate in Jerusalem (4.02) is far higher than those of comparable cities in the region such as Tel Aviv (1.98) and well above the national average of 2.90. Similarly, the average size of Jerusalem's 180,000 households is 3.8 people.[3]
In 2005, the total number of residents in Jerusalem grew by approximately 13,000 (1.8%) — similar to Israeli national average. However, as the city has continued to grow, the religious and ethnic composition of Jerusalem has proceeded to shift. Although Jews account for the majority of people in Jerusalem, they only account for 31 percent of the children under age fifteen.[3] These recent data corroborate the observation that the percentage of Jews in Jerusalem has been declining over the past four decades. In 1967, the year of the Six-Day War, Jews accounted for 74 percent of the population, which is nine percent more than 2006.[83] Explanations for this decline are the soaring cost of housing in Jerusalem, the smaller job market and the growing religious character of the city. Many young people are moving to the suburbs and coastal cities in search of cheaper housing and the more secular lifestyle offered by other cities.[84]
Demographics and the Jewish-Arab population divide continue to play a major role in the dispute over Jerusalem. In 1998, the Jerusalem Development Authority proposed expanding city limits to the west to include more areas heavily populated with Jews.[85]
Local government
The Jerusalem City Council has thirty-one elected members, one of whom is the mayor. The mayor serves a five-year term and appoints six deputies. The current mayor of Jerusalem, Uri Lupolianski was elected in 2003.[86] Apart from the mayor and his deputies, City Council members receive no salaries and work on a voluntary basis. The longest-serving Jerusalem mayor was Teddy Kollek, who spent twenty-eight years — six consecutive terms — in office. Most of the meetings of the Jerusalem City Council are private, but each month, it holds a session that is open to the public.[86] Within the city council, religious political parties form an especially powerful faction, accounting for the majority of its seats.[87] The headquarters of the Jerusalem Municipality and the mayor's office are at Safra Square (Kikar Safra) on Jaffa Road. The new municipal complex, comprising two modern buildings and ten renovated historic buildings surrounding a large plaza, opened in 1993.[88] The city falls under the Jerusalem District, with Jerusalem as the district's capital.
Capital of Israel
- Further information: Positions on Jerusalem
- See also: Politics of Israel
By Israeli law, Jerusalem is the de-jure capital of Israel, and de-facto contains the parliament, government offices, Supreme Court, President's quarters, and Prime Ministers's quarters. However Jerusalem has not been recognized internationally as the capital of Israel. Many countries see Jerusalem as equally the capital of the future Palestinian state, or view the city as a shared international heritage site that should be governed by a range of stakeholders locally and worldwide.
On December 5, 1949, the State of Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, proclaimed Jerusalem as Israel's capital[89] and since then all branches of the Israeli government — legislative, judicial, and executive — have resided there.[90] At the time of the proclamation, Jerusalem was divided between Israel and Jordan and thus only West Jerusalem was considered Israel's capital. Immediately after the 1967 Six-Day War, however, Israel annexed East Jerusalem, making it a de facto part of the Israeli capital. Israel enshrined the status of the "complete and united" Jerusalem — west and east — as its capital, in the 1980 Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel.[66]
The status of a "united Jerusalem" as Israel's "eternal capital"[91][89] has been a matter of immense controversy within the international community. Although some countries maintain consulates in Jerusalem, and two maintain embassies in Jerusalem suburbs, all embassies are located outside of the city proper, mostly in Tel Aviv.[92][93]
The non-binding United Nations Security Council Resolution 478, passed on August 20, 1980, declared that the Basic Law was "null and void and must be rescinded forthwith." Member states were advised to withdraw their diplomatic representation from the city as a punitive measure. Most of the remaining countries with embassies in Jerusalem complied with the resolution by relocating them to Tel Aviv, where many embassies already resided prior to Resolution 478. Currently there are no embassies located within the city limits of Jerusalem, although there are embassies in Mevaseret Zion, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, and four consulates in the city itself.[92] In 1995, the United States Congress had planned to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem with the passage of the Jerusalem Embassy Act.[94] However, U.S. presidents, including President Bush and President Clinton, have argued that Congressional resolutions regarding the status of Jerusalem are merely advisory. The Constitution reserves foreign relations as an executive power, and as such, the US embassy is still in Tel Aviv.[95] Israel's most prominent governmental institutions, including the Knesset,[96] the Supreme Court,[97] and the official residences of the President and Prime Minister, are located in Jerusalem.
Palestinian claims
- Further information: Positions on Jerusalem (Palestinian)
Prior to the creation of the State of Israel, Jerusalem served as the administrative capital of the British Mandate of Palestine, which included present-day Israel and Jordan.[98] From 1949 until 1967, West Jerusalem served as Israel's capital but was not recognized internationally as Israel's capital, because UN General Assembly Resolution 194 ruled Jerusalem an international city. As a result of the Six-Day War in 1967, the whole of Jerusalem came under Israeli control. According to the Oslo Accords, the final status of Jerusalem should be determined by peaceful negotiations, as the Palestinian National Authority sees East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.[11] Orient House was the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the 1980s and 1990s, but is currently closed.[99]
Culture
Although Jerusalem is known around the world for its religious significance, the city is also home to many artistic and cultural venues. The Israel Museum, Jerusalem's premier art museum, annually attracts nearly one million visitors, approximately one-third of them international tourists.[100] The twenty-acre museum complex comprises several buildings featuring special exhibits and extensive collections of Judaica, archaeological findings, and Israeli and European art. The Dead Sea scrolls, discovered in the mid-twentieth century in the Qumran caves near the Dead Sea, are housed in the Museum's Shrine of the Book.[101] The Youth Wing, which mounts changing exhibits and runs an extensive art education program, is visited by 100,000 children a year. The museum has a large outdoor sculpture garden, and a scale-model of the Second Temple was recently moved from the Holyland Hotel to a new location on the museum grounds.[100] Other museums affiliated with the Israel Museum are the Rockefeller Archaeological Museum, Ticho House, and the Paley Center of Art. The Rockefeller Museum, located in East Jerusalem, was the first archaeological museum in the Middle East. It was built in 1938 during the British Mandate.[102][103] Ticho House, in downtown Jerusalem, houses the paintings of Anna Ticho and the Judaica collections of her husband, an ophthalmologist who opened Jerusalem's first eye clinic in this building in 1912.[104]
Another prominent cultural institution in Jerusalem is Yad Vashem, Israel's national memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. Yad Vashem houses the world's largest[105] library of Holocaust-related information, with an estimated 100,000 books and articles.[106] The complex contains a state-of-the-art museum that explores the genocide of the Jews through exhibits that focus on the personal stories of individuals and families whose lives were torn asunder, and a gallery displaying permanent and changing exhibits of work by artists who died in the Holocaust.[106] Another memorial at Yad Vashem commemorates the 1.5 million Jewish children who perished at the hands of the Nazis. Yad Vashem operates as both a research and educational institution.
The Jerusalem Theater at night
One of the city's foremost orchestras is the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, which has been operating since the 1940s.[107] The Orchestra has held performances in cities around the world, including Vienna, Frankfurt, and New York City.[107] Within walking distance of the Old City is a cultural district which includes the Khan Theatre, the only repertoire theater in the city,[108] and the Jerusalem Cinematheque. The Jerusalem Theater, located in the Talbiya neighborhood, hosts over 150 concerts a year, as well as theater and dance companies and performing artists from overseas.[109] Other prominent facilities for the performing arts include the International Convention Center (Binyanei HaUma) near the entrance to city, where the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra plays, the Gerard Behar Center in downtown Jerusalem, the Jerusalem Music Center in Yemin Moshe,[110] and the Targ Music Center in Ein Kerem. The Palestinian National Theatre, founded in 1984 and once the only center for art and culture in East Jerusalem,[111] today presents art from the Palestinian perspective.[112] The Israel Festival,[113] featuring local and international vocal artists, concerts, plays and street theater, has been held annually since 1961. For the past 25 years, Jerusalem has been the major organizer of this event, which takes place in May-June, and most of the performances take place at venues around the city.[114]
Religious significance
-
Jerusalem plays an important role in the three monotheistic religions — Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The 2000 Statistical Yearbook of Jerusalem lists 1204 synagogues, 158 churches, and 73 mosques within the city.[115] Despite efforts to maintain peaceful religious coexistence, some sites, such as the Temple Mount, have been a continuous source of friction and controversy.
Jerusalem has been sacred to the Jews since the 10th century BCE,[6] as the site of Solomon's Temple and the Second Temple. It is mentioned in the Bible 632 times. Today, the Western Wall, a remnant of the Second Temple, is a holy site for Jews, second only to the Temple Mount itself.[116] Synagogues around the world are traditionally built with the Holy Ark facing Jerusalem,[117] and Arks within Jerusalem face the "Holy of Holies".[118] As prescribed in the Mishna and codified in the Shulchan Aruch, daily prayers are recited while facing towards Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. Many Jews have "Mizrach" plaques hung on a wall of their homes to indicate the direction of prayer.[118][119]
Christianity reveres Jerusalem not only for its role in the Old Testament but also for its significance in the life of Jesus. According to Biblical accounts, Jesus was brought to the city of Jerusalem not long after his birth[120] and later in his life cleansed the Second Temple.[121] The Cenacle, believed to be the site of Jesus' Last Supper, is located on Mount Zion in the same building that houses the Tomb of King David.[122][123] Another prominent Christian site in Jerusalem is Golgotha, the site of the crucifixion. The Gospel of John describes it as being located outside Jerusalem,[124] but recent archaeological evidence suggests Golgotha is a short distance from the Old City walls, within the present-day confines of the city.[125] The land currently occupied by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is considered one of the top candidates for Golgotha and thus has been a Christian pilgrimage site for the past two thousand years.[125][126][127]
Dome of the Rock viewed through the Temple Mount's Cotton Gate ( Bab al-Qattanin)
According to tradition, Jerusalem is widely considered the third-holiest city in Islam.[7] For approximately a year, before it was permanently switched to the Kabaa in Mecca, the qibla (direction of prayer) for Muslims was Jerusalem.[128] The city's lasting place in Islam, however, is primarily due to Muhammad's Night of Ascension (c. 620 CE). Muslims believe Muhammad was miraculously transported one night from Mecca to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, whereupon he ascended to Heaven to meet previous prophets of Islam.[129][130] The first verse in the Qur'an's Surat al-Isra notes the destination of Muhammad's journey as al-Aqsa (the farthest) mosque,[131] in reference to the location in Jerusalem. Today, the Temple Mount is topped by two Islamic landmarks intended to commemorate the event — al-Aqsa Mosque, derived from the name mentioned in the Qur'an, and the Dome of the Rock, which stands over the Foundation Stone, from which Muslims believe Muhammad ascended to Heaven.[132]
Sports
The two most popular sports in Jerusalem, and Israel as a whole, are football (soccer) and basketball.[133] Beitar Jerusalem Football Club is one of the most popular teams in Israel. Fans include several former and current political figures who make a point of attending its games.[134] Jerusalem's other major football team, and one of Beitar's top rivals, is Hapoel Jerusalem Football Club. Whereas Beitar has been Israel State Cup champion five times,[135] Hapoel has only won the Cup once. Also, Beitar plays in the more prestigious premier league, while Hapoel is in the third division national league.
In basketball, Hapoel Jerusalem is higher up on the scale. In a league dominated by Maccabi Tel Aviv it has yet to win a championship, but it has won the Israeli Cup three times, and it took the European ULEB Cup in 2004.[136] Since its opening in 1992, Teddy Kollek Stadium has been Jerusalem's primary football stadium, with a capacity of 21,000.[137]
Economy
Kanyon Hadar shopping mall in Talpiot
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