📰 Jerusalem · page 2

The city's importance grew during the Israelite period, which began around 1000 BCE when King David captured Jerusalem and made it the capital of the United Kingdom of Israel.74 David's son King Solomon built the First Temple, establishing the city as a major religious centre.75 Following the kingdom's split, Jerusalem became the capital of the Kingdom of Judah until it was captured by the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 586 BCE.76 The Babylonians destroyed the First Temple, leading to the Babylonian exile of the Jewish population.77 After the Persian conquest of Babylon in 539 BCE, Cyrus the Great allowed the Jews to return from exile and rebuild the city and its temple, whose construction began c. 516 BCE, marking the start of the Second Temple period.[104]78 Jerusalem fell under Hellenistic rule after the conquests of Alexander the Great in 332 BCE, leading to increasing cultural and political influence from Greece corpus.79 The Hasmonean revolt in 164 BCE briefly restored Jewish sovereignty, with Jerusalem as the capital of an independent state.80

In 63 BCE, Jerusalem was captured by Pompey and brought under the rule of the Roman Republic.81 The city was embellished by Herod the Great, who erected a series of supporting walls that allowed for the enlargement of the Temple Mount and the expansion of the Second Temple,[105] making it one of the largest sanctuaries in the ancient world.82 Tensions between the Jews and the Roman Empire eventually escalated into the First Jewish Revolt, resulting in the siege and destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple in 70 CE.83 A few decades later, the city was rebuilt as the Roman colony Aelia Capitolina, dedicated to Jupiter, provoking the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132–136 CE).84 After the revolt's suppression, Jews were banned from the city.85 During the Byzantine period, Jerusalem gained prominence as a centre of Christian pilgrimage, especially after Constantine the Great supported the construction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.86 In 638 CE, Jerusalem was conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate, and under early Islamic rule, the Dome of the Rock and Qibli (al-Aqsa) Mosque were built, solidifying its religious importance in Islam.87

During the Crusades Jerusalem changed hands multiple times, being captured by the Crusaders in 1099 and recaptured by Saladin in 1187.88 It remained under Islamic control through the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods, until it became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1517.89 In the modern period Jerusalem was divided between Israel and Jordan after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.90 Israel captured East Jerusalem during the Six-Day War in 1967, uniting the city under Israeli control.91 The status of Jerusalem remains a highly contentious issue, with both Israelis and Palestinians claiming it as their capital.92 Historiographically, the city's history is often interpreted through the lens of competing national narratives.93 Israeli scholars emphasise the ancient Jewish connection to the city, while Palestinian narratives highlight the city's broader historical and multicultural significance.94 Both perspectives influence contemporary discussions of Jerusalem's status and future.95

Political status

Main article: Positions on Jerusalem

From 1923 until 1948 Jerusalem served as the administrative capital of Mandatory Palestine.[106]96

In December 1949, Israeli prime minister David Ben-Gurion declared the area of West Jerusalem that it controlled as "Israel's eternal capital,"[107] a policy that was affirmed by the Knesset in January 1950.[108]97 This policy was not recognised as such internationally because UN General Assembly Resolution 194 envisaged Jerusalem as an international city; the American government opposed the move and insisted that Israel's capital remain in Tel Aviv.[109]98 As a result of the Six-Day War in 1967, the whole of Jerusalem came under Israeli control.99 On 27 June 1967, the government of Levi Eshkol extended Israeli law and jurisdiction to East Jerusalem, but agreed that administration of the Temple Mount compound would be maintained by the Jordanian waqf, under the Jordanian Ministry of Religious Endowments.[110]100

In 1988, the Israeli government ordered the closure of Orient House, home of the Arab Studies Society and headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization, for security reasons.101 The building reopened in 1992 as a Palestinian guesthouse.[111][112]102 The Oslo Accords stated that the final status of Jerusalem would be determined by negotiations with the Palestinian Authority.103 The accords banned any official Palestinian presence in the city until a final peace agreement, but provided for the opening of a Palestinian trade office in East Jerusalem.104 The Palestinian Authority regards East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.[113][114]105

President Mahmoud Abbas has said that any agreement that did not include East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine would be unacceptable.[115]106 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has similarly stated that Jerusalem would remain the undivided capital of Israel.107 Due to its proximity to the city, especially the Temple Mount, Abu Dis, a Palestinian suburb of Jerusalem, has been proposed as the future capital of a Palestinian state by Israel.108 Israel has not incorporated Abu Dis within its security wall around Jerusalem.109 The Palestinian Authority has built a possible future parliament building for the Palestinian Legislative Council in the town, and its Jerusalem Affairs Offices are all located in Abu Dis.[116]110

International status

Most of the international community regards East Jerusalem, including the entire Old City, as part of the occupied Palestinian territories.111 The United States recognized Israeli control over all of Jerusalem in 2017.[117]112 Until then neither part, West or East Jerusalem, was recognized as part of the territory of the State of Israel corpus or the State of Palestine.[118][119][120][121]113 The move was followed by additional states to recognizing West Jerusalem as part of Israel or East Jerusalem as part of a future State of Palestine.[122][123][124][125]114 Under the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1947, Jerusalem was envisaged to become a corpus separatum administered by the United Nations for ten years, following which city residents would be able to "express by means of a referendum their wishes."[11]115 In the war of 1948 the western part of the city was occupied by forces of the nascent state of Israel, while the eastern part was occupied by Jordan.116 The international community largely considers the legal status of Jerusalem to derive from the partition plan, and correspondingly most refuse to recognise Israeli sovereignty over the city.[126]117

Status under Israeli rule

Following the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel extended its jurisdiction and administration over East Jerusalem, establishing new municipal borders.118

In 2010 Israel approved legislation giving Jerusalem the highest national priority status in Israel.119 The law prioritised construction throughout the city, and offered grants and tax benefits to residents to make housing, infrastructure, education, employment, business, tourism and cultural events more affordable.120 Communications Minister Moshe Kahlon said that the bill sent "a clear, unequivocal political message that Jerusalem will not be divided", and that "all those within the Palestinian and international community who expect the current Israeli government to accept any demands regarding Israel's sovereignty over its capital are mistaken and misleading".[127]121

The status of the city, and especially its holy places, remains a core issue in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.122 The Israeli government has approved building plans in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City[128] in order to expand the Jewish presence in East Jerusalem, while some Islamic leaders have made claims that Jews have no historical connection to Jerusalem, alleging that the 2,500-year-old Western Wall was constructed as part of a mosque.[129][130]123 Palestinians regard Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine,[131] and the city's borders have been the subject of bilateral talks.124 A team of experts assembled by the then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in 2000 concluded that the city must be divided, since Israel had failed to achieve any of its national aims there.[132]125

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in 2014 that "Jerusalem will never be divided".[133]126 A poll conducted in June 2013 found that 74% of Israeli Jews reject the idea of a Palestinian capital in any portion of Jerusalem, though 72% of the public regarded it as a divided city.[134]127 A poll conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Public Opinion and American Pechter Middle East Polls for the Council on Foreign Relations among East Jerusalem Arab residents in 2011 revealed that 39% of East Jerusalem Arab residents would prefer Israeli citizenship, while 31% opted for Palestinian citizenship.128 According to the poll 40% of Palestinian residents would prefer to leave their neighbourhoods if they would be placed under Palestinian rule.[135]129

Jerusalem as capital of Israel

Main article: Status of Jerusalem

On 5 December 1949 Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, proclaimed Jerusalem as Israel's "eternal" and "sacred" capital, and eight days later specified that only the war had "compelled" the Israeli leadership "to establish the seat of Government in Tel Aviv", while "for the State of Israel there has always been and always will be one capital only—Jerusalem the Eternal", and that after the war, efforts had been ongoing for creating the conditions for "the Knesset... returning to Jerusalem."[136]130 This indeed took place, and since the beginning of 1950 all branches of the Israeli government—legislative, judicial and executive—have resided there, except for the Ministry of Defense, which is located at HaKirya in Tel Aviv.[137][138]131 At the time of Ben Gurion's proclamations and the ensuing Knesset vote of 24 January 1950,[138] Jerusalem was divided between Israel and Jordan, and thus the proclamation only applied to West Jerusalem.132

In July 1980 Israel passed the Jerusalem Law as Basic Law.133 The law declared Jerusalem the "complete and united" capital of Israel.[139]134 The Jerusalem Law was condemned by the international community, which did not recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.135 The United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 478 on 20 August 1980, which declared that the Jerusalem Law is "a violation of international law", is "null and void and must be rescinded forthwith".136 Member states were called upon to withdraw their diplomatic representation from Jerusalem.[140]137

Following the resolution, 22 of the 24 countries that previously had their embassy in (West) Jerusalem relocated them in Tel Aviv, where many embassies already resided prior to Resolution 478.138 Costa Rica corpus and El Salvador corpus followed in 2006.[141]139 There are five embassies—United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Papua New Guinea and Kosovo—and two consulates located within the city limits of Jerusalem.140 Paraguay maintains an embassy in the Jerusalem District town of Mevaseret Zion,[142][143][144][145] in addition to Bolivia whose embassy is now closed.[146]141 There are a number of consulates-general located in Jerusalem, which work primarily either with Israel, or the Palestinian authorities.142

In 1995 the United States Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act, which required, subject to conditions, that its embassy be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.[147]143 On 6 December 2017 the US president, Donald Trump, officially recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital and announced his intention to move the American embassy to Jerusalem, reversing decades of United States policy on the issue.[148][149]144 The move was criticised by many nations.[150]145 A resolution condemning the US decision was supported by all the 14 other members of the UN Security Council, but was vetoed by the US on 18 December 2017.[151]146 A subsequent resolution condemning the US decision was passed in the United Nations General Assembly.[152][153][154][155]147 On 14 May 2018 the United States officially opened its embassy in Jerusalem, transforming its Tel Aviv location into a consulate.148 Due to the general lack of international recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, some non-Israeli media outlets use Tel Aviv as a metonym for Israel.[156][157][158][159]149

In December 2017, US President Donald Trump made the decision to acknowledge Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and relocate the US embassy from Tel Aviv to that city.[160]150 This decision faced significant opposition, particularly from leaders within the Arab and Muslim communities.151 The Palestinians assert that East Jerusalem should serve as the capital of their future state, and its status ought to be resolved through peace negotiations as outlined in the 1993 Israeli-Palestinian peace accords.152 Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas remarked that Trump's action effectively negated the United States' position as a mediator in the peace process.153 Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Islamist Hamas movement, urged for a new "intifada," or uprising.154 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticised the decision, stating it would "place the region in a ring of fire."155 Saudi Arabia's King Salman described it as "a clear provocation to Muslims globally."156 Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi indicated that this decision would exacerbate the situation in the region.157 Iran corpus warned that the decision would incite a "new intifada," labelling it a blatant infringement of international resolutions.[161]158

In April 2017 the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced it viewed Western Jerusalem as Israel's capital in the context of UN-approved principles which include the status of East Jerusalem as the capital of the future Palestinian state.[162][163][164]159 On 15 December 2018 the Australian government officially recognised West Jerusalem as Israel's capital, but said their embassy in Tel Aviv would stay until a two-state resolution was settled.[165]160 The decision was reversed in October 2022.[166]161