About Jerusalem  Map is showing Jerusalem, seat of the Israeli government and largest city of  Israel. The holy city of the Jews is sacred to Christians and Muslims as well. The city is located in the Judaean hills about 32 km (20 mi) from the Jordan River and about 30 km west of the northern tip of the Dead Sea. The city was settled in the 4th millennium BCE. According to traditional faith, David, the shepherd who killed Goliath, became the second king of the United Kingdom of Israel, he conquered the city from the Jebusites (a Canaanite tribe) and established it as the capital of the United Kingdom of Israel, his son, King Solomon, commissioned the building of the First Temple on the Temple Mount. Since biblical times the promised land is heavily contested by adherents of the three main religions which all originated in the region, and the city is since then the focus of warfare and pilgrimage likewise.  Gethsemane garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives, according to belief, the garden is most famous as the place where Jesus prayed and his disciples slept the night before Jesus' crucifixion. Image: Daniel Case The city was divided between the states of Israel and Jordan until the Israelis occupied the whole city in June 1967 and proclaimed it the capital of Israel although it is not accepted as such by the United Nations. In December 2017, sitting US President Donald Trump, with his 'unpresidented' global ignorance (Belgium is a beautiful city) and a disapproval rating of more than 60% of the US citizens [1], recognized unilaterally Jerusalem as the capital of Israel - and set off an avalanche of international criticism and protests. Only Israel welcomed the announcement on 6 December as "courageous and just," while U.S. allies from around the world disapproved it. Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Palestinians must "get to grips with" the reality that Jerusalem is Israel's capital in order to move towards peace. [2] Eight month earlier, in April 2017, Russia recognized West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. "We reaffirm our commitment to the UN-approved principles for a Palestinian-Israeli settlement, which include the status of East Jerusalem as the capital of the future Palestinian state. At the same time, we must state that in this context we view West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel." [2] [3] Jerusalem is home to the Knesset, the legislative branch of the Israeli government, the seat of the Israeli Supreme Court and the High Court of Justice and other government institutions. West Jerusalem  The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also known as the Church of the Resurrection, is located in the Christian Quarter of Old Jerusalem. Image: Jorge Láscar Western Jerusalem is the sector of Jerusalem that remained under Israeli control after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. 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. East Jerusalem Eastern Jerusalem was the sector of Jerusalem that was not part of Israeli-held West Jerusalem at the end of the 1948–1949 Arab–Israeli War. East Jerusalem includes neighborhoods to the north, east and south of the Old City. Old City The Old City is a 1 km² walled area within the modern city of Jerusalem. Until 1860 this area constituted the entire city of Jerusalem. The current walls around Jerusalem's Old City were built between 1537 and 1541 CE by the Ottoman Empire under the direct supervision of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. Quarters  Map of the Jewish Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem. The Old City is divided into four quarters, largest and most populous is the Muslim Quarter in the eastern half of the area. The first seven Stations of the Cross on Via Dolorosa (Way of the Cross) are located within the quarter. The Christian Quarter in the north western part contains the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, just steps away from the Muristan, a complex of streets and shops and the location of the first hospital of the Knights Hospitaller. To the south of the Christian Quarter is the Armenian Quarter, in its center is the 12th-century Cathedral of Saint James, the principal church of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem. The Jewish Quarter (HaRova) is in the south of the Old City, it is home to several synagogues and yeshivas (Orthodox Jewish seminaries), the Western Wall Plaza, the town square beside the Western Wall. Today the city of Jerusalem has a population of about 900,000 inhabitants (in 2017). Spoken languages are Hebrew (official), English, and Arabic. Jerusalem Points of Interest  Western Wall Plaza, the Western Wall (Wailing Wall) and the Dome of the Rock in background. The Western Wall Plaza was the location of the Mughrabi Quarter (Moroccan Quarter) for more than 700 years, the quarter was razed by Israeli forces three days after the Six-Day War in order to broaden the narrow alley leading to the Western Wall. Image: Sustructu The Temple Mount in Old Jerusalem. Old Jerusalem is complete in the Eastern part of the city. The Western Wall or Wailing Wall is sacred to Judaism, The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a Christian pilgrimage site which represents and the two holiest sites in Christianity, the location where Jesus of Nazareth was crucified ("Calvary" or "Golgotha"), and Jesus' empty tomb, where he is said to have been buried and resurrected. Dome of the Rock (Haram esh-Sharif), a 7th-century Islamic shrine with a golden dome, considered to be the third holiest site in Islam. Mount of Olives, a Jewish cemetery for over 3,000 years and the site of several key events in the life of Jesus. According to the Acts of the Apostles (1:9–12), this is the place from which Jesus ascended to heaven. Israel Museum, Israel's national museum is the largest cultural institution in the State of Israel, it features the most extensive holdings of biblical and Holy Land archaeology in the world. The Holyland Model of Jerusalem, a 1:50 scale-model of the city of Jerusalem in the late Second Temple Period, is on display in the museum. Just zoom in (+) to see the Temple Mount, also known as the Noble Sanctuary, one of the holiest sites for Judaism, Islam and Christianity. It is revered by Christians as the place of Christ's death and resurrection and by Muslims as the site of the Dome of the Rock. There is no airport in Jerusalem. Atarot Airport (IATA code: JRS), also known as Kalandia Airport, and Jerusalem Airport, was a small airport located between Jerusalem and Ramallah. It has been closed since the Second Intifada, a period of intensified Palestinian–Israeli violence between 2000 and 2005. |
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Panorama view of Jerusalem, the walled Old City with the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock in foreground, seen from the Mount of Olives. Image by: Bienchido
