History of
JerusalemThe largest city in occupied historical Palestine in terms of area and population, and the most important religiously and economically. It is known by other names in the Arabic language, such as: Bait Al-Maqdis, Al-Quds Al-Sharif, the first of the two Qiblas, and in the Bible as Jerusalem, and Israel officially calls it: Jerusalem Al-Quds.
Arabs, Palestinians, and a wide range of supporters of the Palestinian cause consider it the capital of the future state of Palestine after liberation, as stated in the document of the Palestinian Declaration of Independence that took place in Algeria on November 15, 1988 A.D. BC). While Israel considers it its unified capital, after annexing the eastern part of the city in 1980 AD, which it occupied after the 1967 war (the Jews consider it their religious and national capital for more than 3000 years). As for the United Nations and the international community, it does not recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, considers East Jerusalem part of the Palestinian territories, and does not recognize its annexation to the Hebrew state, with some exceptions. Jerusalem is located within the Hebron mountain range and mediates the area between the Mediterranean Sea and the northern end of the Dead Sea. This city has grown and expanded its borders much more than it was in previous eras.
Jerusalem is considered a holy city by the followers of the three major Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. For the Jews, the city became the holiest site after the Prophet and King David conquered it and made it the capital of the unified kingdom of Israel around the year 1000 BC. Then his son Solomon built the first temple there, as the Torah states. For Christians, the city became a holy site, after Jesus Christ was crucified on one of its hills called “Golgotha” around the year 30 AD, and after Saint Helena found the cross that was hung on it inside the city about 300 years later, according to what came in the New Testament. As for Muslims, Al-Quds is the third holiest city after Mecca and Medina, and it is the first of the two qiblahs, where Muslims used to turn to it in their prayers after it was imposed on them around the year 610 AD, and it also represents the site from which the Prophet of Islam Muhammad bin Abdullah ascended to heaven according to of the Islamic belief. As a result of this great religious importance, the old city contains a number of religious monuments of great importance, such as: the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Al-Buraq Wall and Al-Aqsa Mosque – which is made up of several sacred landmarks, the most important of which are the Dome of the Rock and Al-Qibli Mosque, although its area reaches 0.9 square kilometers ( 0.35 square miles).
