Jerusalem

Jerusalem has held religious, historical, cultural, political, and strategic significance for approximately 4,000 years. It is Judaism's holiest city, a foundational site of Christian faith, and Islam's third-holiest city after Mecca and Medina.[3][2]

For Jews, Jerusalem is woven into religious and national life. It is mentioned hundreds of times in the Hebrew Bible, served as the capital of ancient Jewish kingdoms, and was the site of the Beit HaMikdash, the Temple at the center of Jewish worship.[6] Jewish pilgrimage to the Temple occurred three times a year, while daily prayers, grace after meals, weddings, Yom Kippur services, and the Passover Seder preserve references to Jerusalem. The Seder's closing declaration, "Next year in Jerusalem!", expresses the enduring Jewish bond with the city.[6][7]

Christian tradition associates Jerusalem with the trial, crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, commemorated at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and other pilgrimage sites.[2] Islamic tradition links the city to Muhammad's night journey and ascent to heaven and identifies the Temple Mount with the Quran's "Distant Sanctuary."[2][1]

Jerusalem served as a national capital during the Biblical kingdoms of Israel and Judah and again in the modern State of Israel; in many intervening periods it was a provincial town or administrative center.[3] Israel's Basic Law states, "The complete and united Jerusalem is the capital of Israel," and identifies the city as the seat of the President, Knesset, Government, and Supreme Court.[8]

Jerusalem is situated in the Judean Hills, where deep valleys historically shaped the city's defense and growth. Ancient Jerusalem was bounded by the Kidron Valley on the east, the Middle Wadi or Tyropoeon Valley on the west, and their convergence to the south; the northern boundary near Mount Moriah lacked a comparable topographical barrier.[9] The original city occupied the eastern hill, including the City of David and Mount Moriah, before expanding westward toward the areas of today's Jewish Quarter, Armenian Quarter, and Mount Zion.[9]

Accumulated dirt and sand have filled the Middle Wadi to approximately 15 meters above its original level, substantially altering the ancient topography.[9] The Old City's present walls date from the sixteenth century and enclose the Muslim, Armenian, Christian, and Jewish quarters.[7] Modern Jerusalem covers approximately 49 square miles, or 31,500 acres. Before 1967, Israeli Jerusalem encompassed 9,500 acres; Israel subsequently incorporated 1,500 acres held by Jordan and about 16,000 acres from 28 surrounding villages.[10]

Population growth drove expansion beyond the Old City walls after 1865 as Jews and Arabs built new neighborhoods.[10] During the British Mandate, authorities expanded the city northward, southward, and westward and adopted a municipal ordinance requiring new buildings to be faced with stone. The requirement remains in effect and has helped define modern Jerusalem's architectural character.[11]

Archaeological evidence from Jerusalem and its vicinity reaches back to prehistoric periods, while the city emerged as a Canaanite settlement during the Bronze Age.[12] King David selected the Jebusite city as his capital around 1000 BCE, and Solomon built the First Temple on Mount Moriah.[1] The Babylonians destroyed the Temple in 587/586 BCE and exiled many Jews. After 538 BCE, Persian rulers permitted exiles to return; Nehemiah rebuilt the city, Ezra re-promulgated the Mosaic Law, and Zerubbabel oversaw construction of a smaller Temple on the same site.[1]

After Antiochus IV Epiphanes promoted Hellenization and introduced foreign cults into the Temple precinct, the Hasmonean revolt culminated in the Temple's rededication in 164 BCE. Herod I began rebuilding the Temple complex around 20 BCE, doubling the size of Solomon's installation. Roman forces destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 CE. Following the revolt of 132–135 CE, Emperor Hadrian established Aelia Capitolina and barred Jews from the city and its vicinity.[1]

Jerusalem became a Christian holy city under Constantine and his successors beginning in the fourth century. Muslims captured it in 638 CE and built a mosque on the Temple Mount; the Dome of the Rock was constructed under Caliph Abd al-Malik in 688–691, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque was completed in 715.[1][13] Arab, Crusader, Mamluk, Ottoman, and British administrations followed, each leaving physical and institutional traces.[12]

During the British Mandate, Jerusalem developed from an Ottoman provincial town into an administrative, political, religious, and cultural center.[11] Its population grew from 62,700, including 34,100 Jews, in 1922 to an estimated 164,400, including 99,300 Jews, in 1946.[14] Jews constituted a majority from the second half of the nineteenth century onward and maintained a continuous presence in Jerusalem for nearly two millennia.[14][10]

The 1947 United Nations partition plan proposed a corpus separatum administered by the UN Trusteeship Council. It would have included Jerusalem and surrounding communities extending to Abu Dis, Bethlehem, Ein Karim, Motza, and Shu'fat.[15] The proposal did not take effect, and war followed.[6]

During the War of Independence, Israeli forces relieved the siege of Jewish Jerusalem, but the armistice divided the city. Jordan held East Jerusalem, including the Old City and Mount of Olives, while Israel held West Jerusalem.[14][12] Fortifications, minefields, concrete barriers, and barbed wire separated the two parts. Under Jordanian administration, Jews were denied access to the Western Wall, Jewish cemeteries, and other holy sites; the Jewish Quarter was destroyed, and synagogues and cemetery monuments were damaged or demolished.[3][6]

A detailed legal history records that the Supreme Court moved to Jerusalem on September 14, 1948, the Knesset voted on December 13, 1949 to move from Tel Aviv, and it began meeting permanently in Jerusalem on December 26. On January 23, 1950, the Knesset declared that "with the establishment of the State of Israel, Jerusalem has returned to be its capital."[16]

Israeli forces entered the Old City on June 7, 1967. On June 27–28, Israel extended its law, jurisdiction, and administration to the newly designated area and expanded the municipality to include Jordanian Jerusalem and land from 28 surrounding communities.[12][16] A September 1967 census of the former Jordanian areas counted 68,600 people; the enlarged city had an estimated 267,800 residents, including 196,800 Jews.[14]

Defense Minister Moshe Dayan transferred internal administration of the Temple Mount to the Muslim Waqf while Israel retained security control. Israel also enacted the Protection of Holy Places Law, which protects religious sites and freedom of access.[13] The Knesset enacted Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel in 1980, and the United States recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital in 2017 without taking a position on the specific boundaries of Israeli sovereignty.[17][18]

Jerusalem's population rose from 15,510 in 1844 to 165,000 in 1948, 263,309 in 1967, 733,300 in 2006, and 981,700 in 2022.[5] At the end of 2024, it stood at 1,050,200, including 997,900 Israeli residents and 52,300 foreign residents.[4]

By 1985, Jerusalem had become Israel's largest city in both total and Jewish population. Between September 1967 and December 1985, its Jewish population rose from 196,800 to 327,700, its Muslim population from 58,100 to 115,700, and its Christian population from 12,900 to 14,200.[14]

At the end of 2023, 60.5 percent of residents were classified as Jews and Others and 39.5 percent as Arabs; approximately 29.2 percent of all residents were ultra-Orthodox Jews.[19] The 2022 religious breakdown recorded 581,200 Jews, 371,400 Muslims, and 16,500 Christians, alongside Druze residents and people not classified by religion.[5] Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics estimates cited by the U.S. Department of State gave a broadly consistent 2021 total of approximately 951,000.[20]

Jerusalem's 2023 fertility rate was 3.68 children per woman, compared with 2.89 nationally. The rate was 4.30 among Jewish and Other women and 2.81 among Arab women.[19] Natural increase added approximately 20,500 residents in 2023 and international migration added about 4,000, while internal migration produced a negative balance of roughly 11,100.[19] An earlier 2018 analysis found that 44 percent of those leaving were young people and 36 percent moved to Tel Aviv suburbs.[21]

As of February 2023, Jerusalem had 243,150 residential dwellings, with 4.0 persons per dwelling compared with 3.3 nationally. Construction began on 5,780 dwellings during 2023, and permits were issued for approximately 7,800.[19]

Jerusalem's economy is shaped by its roles as Israel's capital, a public-services center, a holy city, and an international tourist destination. An academic demographic study noted a comparative weakness in other economic branches, while the British Mandate era established the city as a modern administrative and cultural center.[14][11] Residential construction remains prominent: Jerusalem accounted for about 9.3 percent of Israeli housing starts in 2023.[19]

The Old City and its environs contain sites sacred to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Within the sixteenth-century walls stand the Temple Mount/al-Haram al-Sharif, the Western Wall, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Nearby sites include Gethsemane, Mount Zion, the City of David, and the Mount of Olives, where Jews have buried their dead for approximately 2,500 years.[22][10]

The Temple Mount is Judaism's holiest site and is identified in Jewish tradition with the First and Second Temples, the Holy of Holies, and the Ark of the Covenant.[13] The Western Wall is part of the retaining wall built during Herod's expansion of the Second Temple platform. Its best-known prayer-plaza section is 187 feet long and 62 feet high, while the surviving wall extends approximately 1,600 feet.[13][23] After Israel captured the Old City in June 1967, the adjacent Mughrabi Quarter was demolished to create the present prayer plaza.[23]

For Christians, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre marks the traditional sites of Jesus' crucifixion, burial, and resurrection.[2][1] The inter-Christian Status Quo governing the division of space, time, possession, and use among Christian communities survived in substantially similar procedural form from the Ottoman period through later administrations.[22]

For Muslims, the Dome of the Rock encloses the rock from which Islamic tradition holds that Muhammad ascended to heaven. The Al-Aqsa Mosque takes its name from the "furthest mosque" referenced in Quran 17:1, and the Temple Mount's Islamic designation is al-Haram al-Sharif.[13] Jerusalem ranks as Islam's third-holiest city after Mecca and Medina.[2]

The sixth-century Madaba mosaic depicts Jerusalem's plan and principal buildings, documenting the city's established importance as a holy center in late antiquity.[1] Since 1967, the Muslim Waqf has exercised day-to-day administration of the Temple Mount while Israel maintains security control. Non-Muslims may visit, but Waqf rules prohibit Jewish prayer services on the Mount.[13]

Jerusalem's archaeological record includes evidence from prehistoric and Bronze Age periods through the city's later Israelite, Roman, Byzantine, Islamic, Crusader, Mamluk, and Ottoman development.[12] The Kidron Valley, Tyropoeon Valley, and Mount Moriah ridge shaped the placement of defenses, roads, water systems, and neighborhoods.[9]

Documented features include a Mount of Olives cemetery dating to the ninth–eighth centuries BCE with more than 50 graves; Hezekiah's Pool, built at the end of the eighth century BCE during preparations for Sennacherib's siege; and Wilson's Arch, which connected the upper city with the Temple Mount near the end of the Second Temple period.[9] The Middle Wadi has since been filled to approximately 15 meters above its original level, obscuring a major feature of the ancient landscape.[9]

Jerusalem's political and legal status remains internationally contested.[18] Israel's Basic Law declares, "The complete and united Jerusalem is the capital of Israel," and identifies it as the seat of the President, Knesset, Government, and Supreme Court. The law protects holy places, provides for the city's development, defines its jurisdiction by reference to the municipal expansion of June 28, 1967, and restricts transfers of authority to foreign bodies.[8]

Palestinian leaders claim East Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount, as the capital of a future Palestinian state and regard Israeli Jewish neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem as settlements.[2] The Congressional Research Service records that Palestinian, Arab, and many international positions oppose Israeli annexation of areas in the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria — citing international law and existing Israeli-Palestinian agreements.[18]

A Jerusalem Center legal survey presents competing arguments concerning eastern Jerusalem. It characterizes the prevailing international position as treating Israel's extension of law and jurisdiction as annexation of occupied territory pending negotiations. It also presents an opposing argument that the British Mandate's end created a sovereignty vacuum, that Jordan never acquired lawful sovereignty there, and that Israel captured the area in self-defense following Jordanian attacks.[16]

Proposed negotiated arrangements for the Old City have included transferring control to an agreed governing council while preserving existing religious practices and acquired administrative rights. Such proposals identify freedom of access, visitation, belief, and worship as governing principles, subject to security and public order.[22]

The political meaning of Jerusalem's 1967 reunification and municipal expansion remains disputed. Israel describes the change as the restoration of a unified capital, while Palestinian, Arab, and many international positions characterize the extension of Israeli jurisdiction as annexation of occupied territory.[18][16] The demolition of the Mughrabi Quarter to create the Western Wall prayer plaza and its displacement of Palestinian residents are also subjects of continuing criticism and debate.[23]

Temple Mount/al-Haram al-Sharif access and worship arrangements remain a recurring source of tension. Israel retains security responsibility while the Waqf exercises religious and administrative authority. Some Israeli activists seek Jewish prayer rights on the Mount, while Palestinian and Muslim authorities oppose changes to the existing framework.[13]