Jerusalem

City in Jerusalem Jerusalem ( (audio) , Yerushaláyim (for the meaning, see below ); Arabic : القُدس (audio) , al-Quds , lit. "The Holy"; Yiddish : [ירושלים] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized language tag: he-n ( help ) Yərusholáyəm ) is the capital of Israel and, if including the area and population of East Jerusalem , its largest city in both population and area, with a population of 763,800 residents over an area of 125.1 km (48.3 sq mi ). Located in the Judean Mountains , between the Mediterranean Sea and the northern edge of the Dead Sea , modern Jerusalem has grown far beyond the boundaries of the Old City . The oldest part of the city, the City of David , was settled in the 4th millennium BCE , making Jerusalem one of the oldest cities in the world . Jerusalem is the holiest city in Judaism and has been the spiritual center of the Jewish people since c. 1000 BCE , when David the King of Israel first established it as the capital of the united Kingdom of Israel ( Psalms 122), and his son Solomon commissioned the building of the First Temple in the city. Jerusalem is also considered a holy city in Christianity and contains a number of significant Christian sites, and, due to the mentioning of 'The Farthest Mosque' in the Qur'an (Sura al-Isra ) and the subsequent building of a mosque called 'the Farthest Mosque' on the Temple Mount , Islam regards Jerusalem as its third-holiest city. Despite having an area of only 0.9 square kilometer (0.35 square mile), the Old City is home to sites of key religious importance, among them the Temple Mount , the Western Wall , the Church of the Holy Sepulchre , the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque . The old walled city, a World Heritage site, has been traditionally divided into four quarters, although the names used today—the Armenian , Christian , Jewish , and Muslim Quarters—were introduced in the early 19th century. The Old City was nominated for inclusion on the List of World Heritage Sites in danger by Jordan in 1982. During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times. Today, the status of Jerusalem remains one of the core issues in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict . Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem has been repeatedly criticized by the United Nations and related bodies. Placing most foreign embassies in Tel Aviv and none in Jerusalem, the international community does not recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of a future Palestinian state . All branches of the Israeli government are located in Jerusalem, including Israel's parliament, the Knesset , and the Supreme Court . Jerusalem is home to the Hebrew University and to the Israel Museum with its Shrine of the Book . The Jerusalem Biblical Zoo has ranked consistently as Israel's top tourist attraction for Israelis. The popular Teddy Stadium is considered one of the leading football stadiums in the country. Largest city: "... modern Jerusalem, Israel's largest city ..." (Erlanger, Steven. It has the largest population, the most Jews and the most non-Jews of all Israeli cities." (Klein, Menachem. By 1987, more Jews lived in Jerusalem than the total population of Tel Aviv. Jerusalem had become Israel's premier city." (Friedland, Roger and Hecht, Richard. Israel Central Bureau of Statistics . Since the 10th century BCE: "Israel was first forged into a unified nation from Jerusalem some 3,000 years ago, when King David seized the crown and united the twelve tribes from this city ... In exile, the Jewish nation came to be identified with the city that had been the site of its ancient capital. Jews, wherever they were, prayed for its restoration." Roger Friedland, Richard D. Though Jerusalem's sacred character goes back three millennia ...". No other city has played such a dominant role in the history, politics, culture, religion, national life and consciousness of a people as has Jerusalem in the life of Jewry and Judaism. Since King David established the city as the capital of the Jewish state circa 1000 BCE, it has served as the symbol and most profound expression of the Jewish people's identity as a nation." Basic Facts you should know: Jerusalem , Anti-Defamation League , 2007. Third-holiest city in Islam: Esposito, John L. What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam . The Night Journey made Jerusalem the third holiest city in Islam : |access-date= requires |url= ( help ) Brown, Leon Carl (15 September 2000). Religion and State: The Muslim Approach to Politics . The third holiest city of Islam—Jerusalem—is also very much in the center ... : |access-date= requires |url= ( help ) Hoppe, Leslie J. Jerusalem has always enjoyed a prominent place in Islam. Jerusalem is often referred to as the third holiest city in Islam ... : |access-date= requires |url= ( help ) ; Unknown parameter |month= ignored ( help ) Kollek, Teddy (1977). In John Phillips (ed.). A Will to Survive – Israel: the Faces of the Terror 1948-the Faces of Hope Today . Dial Press/James Wade. about 225 acres (0.91 km ) Ben-Arieh, Yehoshua (1984). Jerusalem in the 19th Century, The Old City . Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls "Do We Divide the Holiest Holy City?" . Cline’s tally in Jerusalem Besieged. Jewish Virtual Library . 21 May 1968 . Resolution 298 of 25 September 1971: "Recalling its resolutions ... concerning measures and actions by Israel designed to change the status of the Israeli-occupied section of Jerusalem,..." "No major foreign government has recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital" (New York Times) Haberman, Clyde (11 May 1995). Embassy in Jerusalem – The" . The University of Maryland School of Public Policy . Centre for European Policy Studies .

It is considered holy to the three major Abrahamic religions — Judaism , Christianity and Islam . Israelis and Palestinians both claim Jerusalem as their capital, as Israel maintains its primary governmental institutions there and the State of Palestine ultimately foresees it as its seat of power; however, neither claim is widely recognized internationally. During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times. The oldest part of the city was settled in the 4th millennium BCE . 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. The Old City became a World Heritage Site in 1981, and is on the List of World Heritage in Danger . Modern Jerusalem has grown far beyond the Old City's boundaries. According to the Biblical tradition , 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 . These foundational events, straddling the dawn of the 1st millennium BCE, assumed central symbolic importance for the Jewish people. The sobriquet of holy city ( עיר הקודש , transliterated ‘ir haqodesh ) was probably attached to Jerusalem in post- exilic times . The holiness of Jerusalem in Christianity , conserved in the Septuagint which Christians adopted as their own authority, 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 . In Islamic tradition in 610 CE it became the first Qibla , the focal point for Muslim prayer ( salat ), and Muhammad made his Night Journey there ten years later, ascending to heaven where he speaks to God , according to the Quran . As a result, despite having an area of only 0.9 square kilometres (0.35 sq mi), the Old City is home to many sites of seminal religious importance, among them the Temple Mount and its Western Wall , the Church of the Holy Sepulchre , the Dome of the Rock , the Garden Tomb and al-Aqsa Mosque . In 2011, Jerusalem had a population of 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. 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 . Jerusalem is home to the Hebrew University and to the Israel Museum with its Shrine of the Book . 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. Israel's 1980 Basic Law the Jerusalem Law refers to Jerusalem as the country's undivided capital. The international community rejected the annexation as illegal and treats East Jerusalem as Palestinian territory occupied by Israel. Cline’s tally in Jerusalem Besieged. Jerusalem in the 19th Century, The Old City . Since the 10th century BCE: "Israel was first forged into a unified nation from Jerusalem some 3,000 years ago, when King David seized the crown and united the twelve tribes from this city... In exile, the Jewish nation came to be identified with the city that had been the site of its ancient capital. Jews, wherever they were, prayed for its restoration." Roger Friedland, Richard D. Though Jerusalem's sacred character goes back three millennia...". No other city has played such a dominant role in the history, politics, culture, religion, national life and consciousness of a people as has Jerusalem in the life of Jewry and Judaism. Since King David established the city as the capital of the Jewish state circa 1000 BCE, it has served as the symbol and most profound expression of the Jewish people's identity as a nation." Basic Facts you should know: Jerusalem , Anti-Defamation League , 2007. The Isaiah section where they occur belong to deutero-Isaiah. The ‘holiness’ ( qodesh ) arises from the temple in its midst, the root q-d-š referring to a sanctuary. The concept is attested in Mesopotamian literature, and the epithet may serve to distinguish Babylon, the city of exiles, from the city of the Temple, to where they are enjoined to return. The Bible and Interpretation . The available texts of antiquity indicate that the concept was created by one or more personalities among the Jewish spiritual leadership, and that this occurred no later than the 6th century B.C. But at the end of the first century C.E. many Jews ceased to use the Septuagint because the early Chritians had adopted it as their own translation, and it began to be considered a Christian translation.' Third-holiest city in Islam: Esposito, John L. What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam . The Night Journey made Jerusalem the third holiest city in Islam Brown, Leon Carl (15 September 2000). Religion and State: The Muslim Approach to Politics . The third holiest city of Islam—Jerusalem—is also very much in the center... Jerusalem has always enjoyed a prominent place in Islam. Jerusalem is often referred to as the third holiest city in Islam... Middle East peace plans by Willard A. Beling: "The Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount is the third holiest site in Sunni Islam after Mecca and Medina". Cambridge History of Islam . In John Phillips (ed.). A Will to Survive – Israel: the Faces of the Terror 1948-the Faces of Hope Today . East Jerusalem is regarded as occupied Palestinian territory by the international community, but Israel says it is part of its territory. The Question of Palestine & the United Nations . East Jerusalem has been considered, by both the General Assembly and the Security Council, as part of the occupied Palestinian territory. Resolution 298 September 25, 1971: "Recalling its resolutions... concerning measures and actions by Israel designed to change the status of the Israeli-occupied section of Jerusalem,..."

Holy city of the Abrahamic religions "Ir Hakodesh", "Al-Quds", and "Bayt al-Maqdis" redirect here. It is one of the oldest cities in the world , and is considered holy to the three major Abrahamic religions — Judaism , Christianity , and Islam . Both Israel and the Palestinian Authority claim Jerusalem as their capital , as Israel maintains its primary governmental institutions there and the State of Palestine ultimately foresees it as its seat of power; however, neither claim is widely recognized internationally. During its long history , Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times , captured and recaptured 44 times, and attacked 52 times. The part of Jerusalem called the City of David shows first signs of settlement in the 4th millennium BCE , in the shape of encampments of nomadic shepherds. Jerusalem was named as Urusalim on ancient Egyptian tablets, probably meaning "City of Shalem " after a Canaanite deity, during the Canaanite period (14th century 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 . In 1538, the city walls were rebuilt for a last time 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. The Old City became a World Heritage Site in 1981, and is on the List of World Heritage in Danger . Since 1860 Jerusalem has grown far beyond the Old City's boundaries. 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 . In 2016, the population was 882,700, of which Jews comprised 536,600 (60.8%), Muslims 319,800 (36.2%), Christians 15,800 (1.8%), and 10,300 unclassified (1.2%). 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 . Modern scholars argue that Jews branched out of the Canaanite peoples and culture through the development of a distinct monolatrous — and later monotheistic — religion centered on El/Yahweh, one of the Ancient Canaanite deities. These foundational events, straddling the dawn of the 1st millennium BCE, assumed central symbolic importance for the Jewish people . The sobriquet of holy city ( עיר הקודש , transliterated ' ir haqodesh ) was probably attached to Jerusalem in post-exilic times. The holiness of Jerusalem in Christianity , conserved in the Septuagint which Christians adopted as their own authority, 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 . In Islamic tradition , in 610 CE it became the first qibla , the focal point for Muslim prayer ( salat ), and Muhammad made his Night Journey there ten years later, ascending to heaven where he speaks to God , according to the Quran . As a result, despite having an area of only 0.9 square kilometres (0.35 sq mi), 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. 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 ( Beit Aghion ) and President ( Beit HaNassi ), and the Supreme Court . While the international community rejected the annexation as illegal and treats East Jerusalem as Palestinian territory occupied by Israel , Israel has a stronger claim to sovereignty over West Jerusalem. 2003 Amended Basic Law . This paper is for discussion purposes only . Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. Palestinian vision for Jerusalem ... Pursuant to our vision , East Jerusalem , as defined by its pre-1967 occupation municipal borders, shall be the capital of Palestine, and West Jerusalem shall be the capital of Israel , with each state enjoying full sovereignty over its respective part of the city. The Palestinian acceptance of the 1967 border, which includes East Jerusalem, is a painful compromise: ... Jerusalem has always been and remains the political, administrative and spiritual heart of Palestine. Occupied East Jerusalem is the natural socio-economic and political center for the future Palestinian state. Israel Central Bureau of Statistics . Km., by Metropolitan Area and Selected Localities" . Of these, 849,559 were Jews and others (62.1%) - 341,453 Arabs (37.9%). : Missing or empty |title= ( help ) Sub-national HDI. Cline's tally in Jerusalem Besieged. Jerusalem in the 19th Century, The Old City . Jerusalem: Nir Hasson of Haaretz's 'The Jerusalem Blog' " . Return to Sodom & Gomorrah (Second revised ed.). Mark Smith in "The Early History of God: Yahweh and Other Deities of Ancient Israel" states "Despite the long regnant model that the Canaanites and Israelites were people of fundamentally different culture, archaeological data now casts doubt on this view. The material culture of the region exhibits numerous common points between Israelites and Canaanites in the Iron I period (c. 1200 – 1000 BC). The record would suggest that the Israelite culture largely overlapped with and derived from Canaanite culture... In short, Israelite culture was largely Canaanite in nature. In exile, the Jewish nation came to be identified with the city that had been the site of its ancient capital. Jews, wherever they were, prayed for its restoration." Roger Friedland, Richard D. Though Jerusalem's sacred character goes back three millennia...". The Jewish people are inextricably bound to the city of Jerusalem. No other city has played such a dominant role in the history, politics, culture, religion, national life and consciousness of a people as has Jerusalem in the life of Jewry and Judaism. The Isaiah section where they occur belong to deutero-Isaiah. The 'holiness' ( qodesh ) arises from the temple in its midst, the root q-d-š referring to a sanctuary. The concept is attested in Mesopotamian literature, and the epithet may serve to distinguish Babylon, the city of exiles, from the city of the Temple, to where they are enjoined to return. The Bible and Interpretation . The available texts of antiquity indicate that the concept was created by one or more personalities among the Jewish spiritual leadership, and that this occurred no later than the 6th century B.C. But at the end of the first century C.E. many Jews ceased to use the Septuagint because the early Christians had adopted it as their own translation, and it began to be considered a Christian translation.' Third-holiest city in Islam: Esposito, John L. What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam . The Night Journey made Jerusalem the third holiest city in Islam Brown, Leon Carl (2000). Religion and State: The Muslim Approach to Politics . The third holiest city of Islam—Jerusalem—is also very much in the center... Jerusalem has always enjoyed a prominent place in Islam. Jerusalem is often referred to as the third holiest city in Islam... Middle East peace plans by Willard A. Beling: "The Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount is the third holiest site in Sunni Islam after Mecca and Medina". Cambridge History of Islam . In John Phillips (ed.). A Will to Survive – Israel: the Faces of the Terror 1948-the Faces of Hope Today . Dial Press/James Wade. about 225 acres (0.91 km ) Walid Khalidi (1996) Islam, the West and Jerusalem. Center for Contemporary Arab Studies & Center for Muslim–Christian Understanding, Georgetown University, quotes the breakdown as follows: West Jerusalem in 1948: 16,261 dunums (14%); West Jerusalem added in 1967: 23,000 dunums (20%); East Jerusalem under Jordanian rule: 6,000 dunums (5%); West Bank area annexed and incorporated into East Jerusalem by Israel: 67,000 dunums (61%) Aronson, Geoffrey (1995). Journal of Palestine Studies . 25 (1). Jerusalem, the Torn City . East Jerusalem under Jordanian rule: 6,000 dunums; West Bank area annexed and incorporated into East Jerusalem by Israel: 67,000 "Israel plans 1,300 East Jerusalem Jewish settler homes" . East Jerusalem is regarded as occupied Palestinian territory by the international community, but Israel says it is part of its territory. The Question of Palestine & the United Nations . East Jerusalem has been considered, by both the General Assembly and the Security Council, as part of the occupied Palestinian territory. Recalling its resolutions... concerning measures and actions by Israel designed to change the status of the Israeli-occupied section of Jerusalem,... As we have noted previously the international legal status of Jerusalem is contested and Israel's designation of it as its capital has not been recognized by the international community. However its claims of sovereign rights to the city are stronger with respect to West Jerusalem than with respect to East Jerusalem. What, then, is Israel's status in west Jerusalem? Two main answers have been adduced: (a) Israel has sovereignty in this area; and (b) sovereignty lies with the Palestinian people or is suspended. There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a template (see the help page ).

City in the southern Levant "Bayt al-Maqdis" and "Al-Quds" redirect here. It is one of the oldest cities in the world , and is considered holy to the three major Abrahamic religions — Judaism , Christianity , and Islam . Both Israelis and Palestinians claim Jerusalem as their capital ; Israel maintains its primary governmental institutions there, and the State of Palestine ultimately foresees it as its seat of power. Neither claim, however, is widely recognized internationally. Throughout its long history , Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times , captured and recaptured 44 times, and attacked 52 times. The part of Jerusalem called the City of David shows first signs of settlement in the 4th millennium BCE, in the shape of encampments of nomadic shepherds. During the Canaanite period (14th century BCE), Jerusalem was named as Urusalim on ancient Egyptian tablets, probably meaning "City of Shalem " after a Canaanite deity . During the Israelite period, significant construction activity in Jerusalem began in the 9th century BCE (Iron Age II), and by the 8th century BCE, the city had developed into the religious and administrative centre of the Kingdom of Judah . In 1538, the city walls were rebuilt for a last time around Jerusalem under Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire . Today those walls define the Old City , which since the 19th century has been divided into four quarters – the Armenian , Christian , Jewish , and Muslim quarters. The Old City became a World Heritage Site in 1981, and is on the List of World Heritage in Danger . Since 1860, Jerusalem has grown far beyond the Old City's boundaries. In 2022, Jerusalem had a population of some 971,800 residents, of which almost 60% were Jews and almost 40% Palestinians. In 2020, the population was 951,100, of which Jews comprised 570,100 (59.9%), Muslims 353,800 (37.2%), Christians 16,300 (1.7%), and 10,800 unclassified (1.1%). According to the Hebrew 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 . Modern scholars argue that Jews branched out of the Canaanite peoples and culture through the development of a distinct monolatrous —and later monotheistic —religion centred on El / Yahweh . These foundational events, straddling the dawn of the 1st millennium BCE, assumed central symbolic importance for the Jewish people . The sobriquet of holy city ( ) was probably attached to Jerusalem in post-exilic times. The holiness of Jerusalem in Christianity , conserved in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible , which Christians adopted as their own " Old Testament ", was reinforced by the New Testament account of Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection there. In Sunni Islam , Jerusalem is the third-holiest city, after Mecca and Medina . The city was the first qibla , the standard direction for Muslim prayers ( salah ), and in Islamic tradition , Muhammad made his Night Journey there in 621, ascending to heaven where he speaks to God , according to the Quran . As a result, despite having an area of only 0.9 km ( 3 ⁄ 8 sq mi), 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 . 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 effectively annexed it into Jerusalem, together with additional surrounding territory. 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 ( Beit Aghion ) and President ( Beit HaNassi ), and the Supreme Court . The international community rejects the annexation as illegal and regards East Jerusalem as Palestinian territory occupied by Israel . 2003 Amended Basic Law . This paper is for discussion purposes only . Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. Palestinian vision for Jerusalem...Pursuant to our vision , East Jerusalem , as defined by its pre-1967 occupation municipal borders, shall be the capital of Palestine, and West Jerusalem shall be the capital of Israel , with each state enjoying full sovereignty over its respective part of the city. A-Z Guide to the Qur'an: A Must-have Reference to Understanding the Contents of the Islamic Holy Book by Mokhtar Stork (1999): "JERUSALEM: Referred to in Arabic as Baitul Muqaddas (The Holy House) or Baitul Maqdis (The House of the Sanctuary)". Cline's tally in Jerusalem Besieged. Jerusalem in the 19th Century, The Old City . Return to Sodom & Gomorrah (Second revised ed.). Mark Smith in "The Early History of God: Yahweh and Other Deities of Ancient Israel" states "Despite the long regnant model that the Canaanites and Israelites were people of fundamentally different culture, archaeological data now casts doubt on this view. The material culture of the region exhibits numerous common points between Israelites and Canaanites in the Iron I period (c. 1200–1000 BCE ). The record would suggest that the Israelite culture largely overlapped with and derived from Canaanite culture... In short, Israelite culture was largely Canaanite in nature. In exile, the Jewish nation came to be identified with the city that had been the site of its ancient capital. Jews, wherever they were, prayed for its restoration." Roger Friedland, Richard D. Though Jerusalem's sacred character goes back three millennia...". The Jewish people are inextricably bound to the city of Jerusalem. No other city has played such a dominant role in the history, politics, culture, religion, national life and consciousness of a people as has Jerusalem in the life of Jewry and Judaism. The Isaiah section where they occur belong to deutero-Isaiah. The concept is attested in Mesopotamian literature, and the epithet may serve to distinguish Babylon, the city of exiles, from the city of the Temple, to where they are enjoined to return. The available texts of antiquity indicate that the concept was created by one or more personalities among the Jewish spiritual leadership, and that this occurred no later than the 6th century B.C. But at the end of the first century C.E. many Jews ceased to use the Septuagint because the early Christians had adopted it as their own translation, and it began to be considered a Christian translation.' Third-holiest city in Islam: Esposito, John L. What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam . The Night Journey made Jerusalem the third holiest city in Islam Brown, Leon Carl (2000). Religion and State: The Muslim Approach to Politics . The third holiest city of Islam—Jerusalem—is also very much in the center... Jerusalem has always enjoyed a prominent place in Islam. Jerusalem is often referred to as the third holiest city in Islam... Middle East peace plans by Willard A. Beling: "The Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount is the third holiest site in Sunni Islam after Mecca and Medina". Cambridge History of Islam . In John Phillips (ed.). A Will to Survive – Israel: the Faces of the Terror 1948-the Faces of Hope Today . Dial Press/James Wade. about 91 hectares (225 acres) Walid Khalidi (1996) Islam, the West and Jerusalem. Center for Contemporary Arab Studies & Center for Muslim–Christian Understanding, Georgetown University, quotes the breakdown as follows: West Jerusalem in 1948: 16,261 dunums (14%); West Jerusalem added in 1967: 23,000 dunums (20%); East Jerusalem under Jordanian rule: 6,000 dunums (5%); West Bank area annexed and incorporated into East Jerusalem by Israel: 67,000 dunums (61%) Aronson, Geoffrey (1995). Journal of Palestine Studies . 25 (1). Jerusalem, the Torn City . East Jerusalem under Jordanian rule: 6,000 dunums; West Bank area annexed and incorporated into East Jerusalem by Israel: 67,000 "Resolution 298 September 25, 1971" . Recalling its resolutions... concerning measures and actions by Israel designed to change the status of the Israeli-occupied section of Jerusalem,... The Question of Palestine & the United Nations . East Jerusalem has been considered, by both the General Assembly and the Security Council, as part of the occupied Palestinian territory. East Jerusalem is regarded as occupied Palestinian territory by the international community, but Israel says it is part of its territory. There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a template (see the help page ).

City in the Southern Levant "Al-Quds" and "Bayt al-Maqdis" redirect here. It is one of the oldest cities in the world , and is considered holy to the three major Abrahamic religions — Judaism , Christianity and Islam . Both Israel and Palestine claim Jerusalem as their capital city ; Israel maintains its primary governmental institutions there, while Palestine ultimately foresees it as its seat of power. Neither claim is widely recognised internationally . Throughout its long history , Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times , captured and recaptured 44 times, and attacked 52 times. The part of Jerusalem called the City of David shows first signs of settlement in the 4th millennium BCE, in the shape of encampments of nomadic shepherds. During the Canaanite period (14th century BCE) Jerusalem was named as Urusalim on ancient Egyptian tablets, probably meaning "City of Shalem " after a Canaanite deity . During the Israelite period, significant construction activity in Jerusalem began in the 10th century BCE (Iron Age II), and by the 9th century BCE the city had developed into the religious and administrative centre of the Kingdom of Judah . In 1538 the city walls were rebuilt for a last time around Jerusalem under Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire . Today those walls define the Old City , which since the 19th century has been divided into four quarters—the Armenian , Christian , Jewish and Muslim quarters . The Old City became a World Heritage Site in 1981, and is on the List of World Heritage in Danger . Since 1860 Jerusalem has grown far beyond the Old City's boundaries. In 2022 Jerusalem had a population of about 971,800, of which almost 60% were Jews and almost 40% were Palestinians. In 2020 the population was 951,100, of which Jews comprised 570,100 (59.9%), Muslims 353,800 (37.2%), Christians 16,300 (1.7%) and 10,800 unclassified (1.1%). According to the Hebrew 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 . Modern scholars argue that Israelites branched out of the Canaanite peoples and culture through the development of a distinct monolatrous —and later monotheistic —religion centred on El / Yahweh . These foundational events, straddling the dawn of the 1st millennium BCE, assumed central symbolic importance for the Jewish people. The sobriquet of holy city (Hebrew: עיר הקודש , romanized: 'Ir ha-Qodesh ) was probably attached to Jerusalem in post-exilic times. The holiness of Jerusalem in Christianity , conserved in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible , which Christians adopted as the Old Testament , was reinforced by the New Testament account of Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection there. Meanwhile, in Islam , Jerusalem is the third-holiest city, after Mecca and Medina . The city was the first standard direction for Muslim prayers , and in Islamic tradition , Muhammad made his Night Journey there in 621, ascending to heaven where he spoke to God , per the Quran . As a result, despite having an area of only 0.9 km ( 3 ⁄ 8 sq mi), 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 . At present, the status of Jerusalem remains one of the core issues in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict . Under the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine , Jerusalem was to be "established as a corpus separatum under a special international regime" administered by the United Nations. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War , West Jerusalem was among the areas incorporated into Israel, while East Jerusalem , including the Old City, was occupied and annexed by Jordan . Israel occupied East Jerusalem from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War and subsequently annexed it into the city's municipality, together with additional surrounding territory. 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 . This paper is for discussion purposes only. Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. [...] Pursuant to our vision, East Jerusalem, as defined by its pre-1967 occupation municipal borders, shall be the capital of Palestine, and West Jerusalem shall be the capital of Israel, with each state enjoying full sovereignty over its respective part of the city. A-Z Guide to the Qur'an: A Must-have Reference to Understanding the Contents of the Islamic Holy Book by Mokhtar Stork (1999): "JERUSALEM: Referred to in Arabic as Baitul Muqaddas (The Holy House) or Baitul Maqdis (The House of the Sanctuary)". Cline's tally in Jerusalem Besieged. Jerusalem in the 19th Century, The Old City . Return to Sodom & Gomorrah (Second revised ed.). Mark Smith in "The Early History of God: Yahweh and Other Deities of Ancient Israel" states "Despite the long regnant model that the Canaanites and Israelites were people of fundamentally different culture, archaeological data now casts doubt on this view. The material culture of the region exhibits numerous common points between Israelites and Canaanites in the Iron I period (c. 1200–1000 BCE). The record would suggest that the Israelite culture largely overlapped with and derived from Canaanite culture... In short, Israelite culture was largely Canaanite in nature. In exile, the Jewish nation came to be identified with the city that had been the site of its ancient capital. Jews, wherever they were, prayed for its restoration." Roger Friedland, Richard D. Though Jerusalem's sacred character goes back three millennia...". The Jewish people are inextricably bound to the city of Jerusalem. No other city has played such a dominant role in the history, politics, culture, religion, national life and consciousness of a people as has Jerusalem in the life of Jewry and Judaism. The Isaiah section where they occur belong to deutero-Isaiah. The concept is attested in Mesopotamian literature, and the epithet may serve to distinguish Babylon, the city of exiles, from the city of the Temple, to where they are enjoined to return. The available texts of antiquity indicate that the concept was created by one or more personalities among the Jewish spiritual leadership, and that this occurred no later than the 6th century B.C. But at the end of the first century C.E. many Jews ceased to use the Septuagint because the early Christians had adopted it as their own translation, and it began to be considered a Christian translation.' Third-holiest city in Islam: Esposito, John L. What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam . The Night Journey made Jerusalem the third holiest city in Islam Brown, Leon Carl (2000). Religion and State: The Muslim Approach to Politics . The third holiest city of Islam—Jerusalem—is also very much in the center... Jerusalem has always enjoyed a prominent place in Islam. Jerusalem is often referred to as the third holiest city in Islam... Middle East peace plans by Willard A. Beling: "The Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount is the third holiest site in Sunni Islam after Mecca and Medina". Cambridge History of Islam . In John Phillips (ed.). Dial Press/James Wade. about 91 hectares (225 acres) "A/RES/181(II) of 29 November 1947" . Walid Khalidi (1996) Islam, the West and Jerusalem. Center for Contemporary Arab Studies & Center for Muslim–Christian Understanding, Georgetown University, quotes the breakdown as follows: West Jerusalem in 1948: 16,261 dunums (14%); West Jerusalem added in 1967: 23,000 dunums (20%); East Jerusalem under Jordanian rule: 6,000 dunums (5%); West Bank area annexed and incorporated into East Jerusalem by Israel: 67,000 dunums (61%) Aronson, Geoffrey (1995). Journal of Palestine Studies . 25 (1). Jerusalem, the Torn City . East Jerusalem under Jordanian rule: 6,000 dunums; West Bank area annexed and incorporated into East Jerusalem by Israel: 67,000 "Resolution 298 September 25, 1971" . Recalling its resolutions... concerning measures and actions by Israel designed to change the status of the Israeli-occupied section of Jerusalem,... The Question of Palestine & the United Nations . East Jerusalem has been considered, by both the General Assembly and the Security Council, as part of the occupied Palestinian territory. East Jerusalem is regarded as occupied Palestinian territory by the international community, but Israel says it is part of its territory. There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a template (see the help page ).