Jerusalem

Jerusalem (Arabic: القُدس, al-Quds; Hebrew: יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, Yerushalayim; Armenian: Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm) is a holy city to Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Located on the Southern Levant, it serves as the de facto capital to the State of Palestine. Since the illegal occupation of the city by Israel, first the western halve in 1948 and later the eastern part in 1967, it has also been used as the capital of the Zionist state.

History

The city has a long history, having faces various sieges and attacks along millennia.

It was first mentioned in Ancient Egyptian records as Urushalim, home to Canaanite populations, before starting to flourish starting in the 10th and 9th centuries BC, developing into the administrative capital of the Kingdom of Judah. According to the Tanakh, it also became the capital of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah, during which the First Temple was built.

It was captured and destroyed by the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 586 BC. It would later be put under Achaemenid control after its conquest of Babylon, with Cyrus the Great allowing for the construction of the Second Temple.

Alexander the Great conquered the city in 332 BC, leading to social intermixing with Hellenic culture, resulting, in 164 BC, in the Hasmonean revolt and later kingdom, which maintained sovereignty over the region until the Romans captured it in 63 BC, turning them into a client state and later annexing it.

Tensions between the Jewish population and the Roman state resulted in the various Jewish-Roman Wars, of which the first ended with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple in 70 CE. The Romans rebuilt the city as Aelia Capitolina and later banned Jews from it in the 2nd century CE. With the rise of Christianity in Rome, the city would become a major pilgrimage site, with Constantine the Great sponsoring the construction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Jerusalem was conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate in 638 CE, with the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque being built in the following decades. Gradually, the city's inhabitants adopted the muslim faith and arab language and culture.

Christian crusades attempted to conquer the city during the 11th to 13th centuries, but ultimately failed and the city was remained under Islamic control under the Ayyubids and later the Mamluks, being conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1517.

Starting in the 19th century, the territory of the Old City was divided into Muslim, Jewish, Christian and Armenian quarters.

The city was kept under Ottoman control until the 20th century, during which it, alongside the broader region, evolved its Palestinian ethnical identity into a national one, with calls for independence joining the Pan-Arab ones across other Ottoman-controlled Arab territories.

Zionist settlement of the city began in the late 19th century, intensifying after it was put under British hands in the aftermath of World War I, though it kept its Arab and Muslim majority until the Nakba, which officially began in 1947.

Zionists occupied only the Western half of the city until 1967, after which it they conquered the Jordanian-held eastern half. Since then, Israel has been occupying the entire city, using it as its capital, a claim which is not recognised by the vast majority of countries.

Religious Significance

According to the Tanakh, Jerusalem is the holiest city in Judaism, referenced in several passages.

Christianity kept the holiness of Jerusalem through its use of the Old Testment, which was intensified by the Bible's account of Jesus' death and resurrection on the city.

In Islam, the city served as the first direction for prayers before Mecca, and the place to which Muhammed made his Night Journey, where the Quran affirms he spoke to God.

As such, despite the small size of historical Jerusalem, the city is considered among the holiest to the three major Abrahamic faiths, and home to several sites of religious importance, such as the Dome of the Rock, Western Wall and Church of the Holy Sepulchre.