153-695: Fatahland or Fatah land was a term used by Israel to refer to the areas in Southern Lebanon controlled by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and its largest faction, Fatah , during the Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon from 1968 to 1982. Today, the term is used to refer to Fatah's governance over the Palestinian enclaves in the West Bank , as opposed to Hamastan , in
306-471: A 2001 election ; he carried out his plan to unilaterally withdraw from the Gaza Strip and spearheaded the construction of the West Bank barrier , ending the intifada. Between 2000 and 2008, 1,063 Israelis, 5,517 Palestinians and 64 foreign citizens were killed. In 2006, a Hezbollah artillery assault on Israel's northern border communities and a cross-border abduction of two Israeli soldiers precipitated
459-568: A Jewish homeland in Palestine and gained British support . After World War I , Britain occupied the region and established Mandatory Palestine in 1920. Increased Jewish immigration in the leadup to the Holocaust and British colonial policy led to intercommunal conflict between Jews and Arabs , which escalated into a civil war in 1947 after the United Nations (UN) proposed partitioning
612-610: A World Heritage Site in 1981, and is on the List of World Heritage in Danger . Since 1860, Jerusalem has grown far beyond the Old City's boundaries. In 2022, Jerusalem had a population of some 971,800 residents, of which almost 60% were Jews and almost 40% Palestinians. In 2020, the population was 951,100, of which Jews comprised 570,100 (59.9%), Muslims 353,800 (37.2%), Christians 16,300 (1.7%), and 10,800 unclassified (1.1%). According to
765-555: A demonym . Jerusalem is one of the world's oldest cities, with a history spanning over 5,000 years. Its origins trace back to around 3000 BCE, with the first settlement near the Gihon Spring . The city is first mentioned in Egyptian Execration texts around 2000 BCE as "Rusalimum." By the 17th century BCE, Jerusalem had developed into a fortified city under Canaanite rule, with massive walls protecting its water system. During
918-465: A unicameral parliament elected by proportional representation , the Knesset , which determines the makeup of the government headed by the prime minister and elects the figurehead president . Israel is the only country to have a revived official language, Hebrew . Its culture comprises Jewish and Jewish diaspora elements alongside Arab influences. Israel has one of the largest economies in
1071-873: A voiceless uvular plosive (/q/), as in Classical Arabic , or with a glottal stop (ʔ) as in Levantine Arabic . Official Israeli government policy mandates that أُورُشَلِيمَ , transliterated as Ūrušalīm , which is the name frequently used in Christian translations of the Bible into Arabic, be used as the Arabic language name for the city in conjunction with القُدس , giving أُورُشَلِيمَ-القُدس , Ūrušalīm-al-Quds. Palestinian Arab families who hail from this city are often called " Qudsi " ( قُدسي ) or " Maqdasi " ( مقدسي ), while Palestinian Muslim Jerusalemites may use these terms as
1224-568: A Jewish " national home " in Palestine. Weizmann's interpretation of the declaration was that negotiations on the future of the country were to happen directly between Britain and the Jews, excluding Arabs. Jewish-Arab relations in Palestine deteriorated dramatically in the following years. In 1918 the Jewish Legion , primarily Zionist volunteers, assisted in the British conquest of Palestine . In 1920
1377-850: A Palestinian uprising against Israeli rule, broke out in 1987, with waves of uncoordinated demonstrations and violence in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. Over the following six years, the intifada became more organized and included economic and cultural measures aimed at disrupting the Israeli occupation. Over 1,000 people were killed. During the 1991 Gulf War , the PLO supported Saddam Hussein and Iraqi missile attacks against Israel . Despite public outrage, Israel heeded American calls to refrain from hitting back. In 1992, Yitzhak Rabin became prime minister following an election in which his party called for compromise with Israel's neighbours. The following year, Shimon Peres on behalf of Israel and Mahmoud Abbas for
1530-518: A city of some importance in early sacred Hebrew writing. Possibly the redactor of the Apocryphon of Genesis wanted to dissociate Melchizedek from the area of Shechem, which at the time was in possession of the Samaritans . However that may be, later Rabbinic sources also equate Salem with Jerusalem, mainly to link Melchizedek to later Temple traditions. Originally titled Bayt al-Maqdis, today, Jerusalem
1683-616: A de facto independent emirate in the Galilee. Ottoman attempts to subdue the sheikh failed. After Zahir's death the Ottomans regained control of the area. In 1799, governor Jazzar Pasha repelled an assault on Acre by Napoleon 's troops, prompting the French to abandon the Syrian campaign. In 1834, a revolt by Palestinian Arab peasants against Egyptian conscription and taxation policies under Muhammad Ali
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#17330850366461836-818: A massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. The Israeli government responded with an assassination campaign against the organizers of the massacre, a bombing and a raid on the PLO headquarters in Lebanon . On 6 October 1973, the Egyptian and Syrian armies launched a surprise attack against Israeli forces in the Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights, opening the Yom Kippur War . The war ended on 25 October with Israel repelling Egyptian and Syrian forces but suffering great losses. An internal inquiry exonerated
1989-537: A movement that sought to establish a Jewish state in Palestine, thus offering a solution to the Jewish question of the European states. Antisemitism, pogroms and official policies, in tsarist Russia led to the emigration of three million Jews in the years between 1882 and 1914, only 1% of which went to Palestine. Those who went to Palestine were driven primarily by ideas of self-determination and Jewish identity, rather than as
2142-568: A part of Coele-Syria . Over the ensuing centuries, the Hellenization of the region led to cultural tensions that came to a head during the reign of Antiochus IV , giving rise to the Maccabean Revolt of 167 BCE. The civil unrest weakened Seleucid rule, and in the late 2nd century the semi-autonomous Hasmonean Kingdom of Judea arose, eventually attaining full independence and expanding into neighboring regions. The Roman Republic invaded
2295-637: A proclamation allowing the exiled Judean population to return to Judah. The construction of the Second Temple was completed c. 520 BCE . The Achaemenids ruled the region as the province of Yehud Medinata . In 332 BCE, Alexander the Great conquered the region as part of his campaign against the Achaemenid Empire . After his death, the area was controlled by the Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires as
2448-652: A regional power, with a capital at Samaria ; during the Omride dynasty , it controlled Samaria , Galilee , the upper Jordan Valley , the plain of Sharon and large parts of Transjordan . The Kingdom of Israel was conquered around 720 BCE by the Neo-Assyrian Empire . The Kingdom of Judah, under Davidic rule with its capital in Jerusalem , later became a client state of first the Neo-Assyrian Empire and then
2601-517: A response to pogroms or economic insecurity. The Second Aliyah (1904–1914) began after the Kishinev pogrom ; some 40,000 Jews settled in Palestine, although nearly half left eventually. Both the first and second waves of migrants were mainly Orthodox Jews . The Second Aliyah included Zionist socialist groups who established the kibbutz movement based on the idea of establishing a separate Jewish economy based exclusively on Jewish labor. Those of
2754-662: A secret alliance with the UK and France and overran the Sinai Peninsula in the Suez Crisis but was pressured to withdraw by the UN in return for guarantees of Israeli shipping rights. The war resulted in significant reduction of Israeli border infiltration. In the early 1960s, Israel captured Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Argentina and brought him to Israel for trial . Eichmann remains
2907-535: A series of coordinated attacks on Israel, leading to the start of the Israel–Hamas war . On that day, approximately 1,300 Israelis, predominantly civilians, were killed in communities near the Gaza Strip border and during a music festival . Over 200 hostages were kidnapped and taken to the Gaza Strip. After clearing militants from its territory, Israel launched one of the most destructive bombing campaigns in modern history and invaded Gaza on 27 October with
3060-581: A year of fighting, a ceasefire was declared and temporary borders, known as the Green Line , were established. Jordan annexed what became known as the West Bank , including East Jerusalem , and Egypt occupied the Gaza Strip . Over 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled by Zionist militias and the Israeli military —what would become known in Arabic as the nakba ('catastrophe'). The events also led to
3213-521: Is a Palestinian Authority regional office and an electoral office located in the Dahiyat al Barid neighborhood. The Jerusalem City Council is a body of 31 elected members headed by the mayor, who serves a five-year term and appoints eight deputies. The former mayor of Jerusalem, Uri Lupolianski , was elected in 2003. In the November 2008 city elections, Nir Barkat was elected. In November 2018, Moshe Lion
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#17330850366463366-646: Is completely controlled by the Palestinian Authority. Al-Ram and Dahiyat al-Barid are mostly in Area B , where both Palestine and Israel has control. Other parts of Beit Hanina , Kafr Aqab and Arab al-Jahalin also falls under Area B. Jerusalem is situated on the southern spur of a plateau in the Judaean Mountains , which include the Mount of Olives (East) and Mount Scopus (North East). The elevation of
3519-501: Is debate about the earliest existence of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah and their extent and power. While it is unclear if there was a United Kingdom of Israel , historians and archaeologists agree that the northern Kingdom of Israel existed by ca. 900 BCE and the Kingdom of Judah by ca. 850 BCE. The Kingdom of Israel was the more prosperous of the two and soon developed into
3672-605: Is known as the Nakba , with those remaining becoming the new state's main minority. Over the following decades, Israel's population increased greatly as the country received an influx of Jews who emigrated, fled or were expelled from the Muslim world . Following the 1967 Six-Day War Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Egyptian Sinai Peninsula and Syrian Golan Heights . Israel established and continues to expand settlements across
3825-854: Is located in central Tel Aviv's HaKirya district) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (which is located in Rishon LeZion , in the wider Tel Aviv metropolitan area , near Beit Dagan ). Since its capture in 1967, the Israeli government has built 12 Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem , with a population amounting to 220,000 Israeli Jewish settlers as of 2019. The international community consider Israeli settlements to be illegal under international law . The Palestinian National Authority views East Jerusalem as occupied territory according to United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 . The Palestinian Authority claims Jerusalem, including
3978-514: Is most commonly known in Arabic as القُدس , transliterated as al-Quds and meaning "the holy" or "the holy sanctuary", cognate with Hebrew : הקדש , romanized : ha-qodesh . The name is possibly a shortened form of مدينة القُدس Madīnat al-Quds "city of the holy sanctuary" after the Hebrew nickname with the same meaning, Ir ha-Qodesh ( עיר הקדש ). The ق (Q) is pronounced either with
4131-616: Is the Valley of Hinnom , a steep ravine associated in biblical eschatology with the concept of Gehenna or Hell . The Tyropoeon Valley commenced in the northwest near the Damascus Gate , ran south-southeasterly through the centre of the Old City down to the Pool of Siloam , and divided the lower part into two hills, the Temple Mount to the east, and the rest of the city to the west, the lower and
4284-509: The jizya tax. Non-Muslim Ottoman subjects faced geographic and lifestyle restrictions, though these were not always enforced. The millet system organized non-Muslims into autonomous communities on the basis of religion. The concept of the "return" remained a symbol within religious Jewish belief which emphasized that their return should be determined by Divine Providence rather than human action. Leading Zionist historian Shlomo Avineri describes this connection: "Jews did not relate to
4437-647: The American embassy to Jerusalem, reversing decades of United States policy on the issue. The move was criticized by many nations. 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. A subsequent resolution condemning the US decision was passed in the United Nations General Assembly . On 14 May 2018,
4590-608: The Ayyubid and Mamluk periods, until it became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1517. In the modern period, Jerusalem was divided between Israel and Jordan after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War . Israel captured East Jerusalem during the Six-Day War in 1967, uniting the city under Israeli control. The status of Jerusalem remains a highly contentious issue, with both Israelis and Palestinians claiming it as their capital. Historiographically,
4743-828: The Church of the Holy Sepulchre . In 638 CE, Jerusalem was conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate , and under early Islamic rule, the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque were built, solidifying its religious importance in Islam. During the Crusades , Jerusalem changed hands multiple times, being captured by the Crusaders in 1099 and recaptured by Saladin in 1187. It remained under Islamic control through
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4896-637: The City of David shows first signs of settlement in the 4th millennium BCE, in the shape of encampments of nomadic shepherds. During the Canaanite period (14th century BCE), Jerusalem was named as Urusalim on ancient Egyptian tablets, probably meaning "City of Shalem " after a Canaanite deity . During the Israelite period, significant construction activity in Jerusalem began in the 10th century BCE (Iron Age II), and by
5049-544: The Four Holy Cities —Jerusalem, Tiberias, Hebron , and Safed —and in 1697, Rabbi Yehuda Hachasid led a group of 1,500 Jews to Jerusalem. A 1660 Druze revolt against the Ottomans destroyed Safed and Tiberias . In the second half of the 18th century, Eastern European Jews who were opponents of Hasidism , known as the Perushim , settled in Palestine. In the late 18th century, local Arab Sheikh Zahir al-Umar created
5202-566: The Gaza Strip and Egypt to the southwest, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. The country also has a small coastline on the Red Sea at its southernmost point, and part of the Dead Sea lies along its eastern border. Israel's proclaimed capital is in Jerusalem , while Tel Aviv is the country's largest urban area and economic center . Israel is located in a region known to Jews as
5355-770: The Gaza Strip in the ongoing Israel–Hamas war . Observers, including the UN Special Committee to investigate Israeli practices and United Nations Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese , have cited statements by senior Israeli officials that may indicate an " intent to destroy " (in whole or in part) Gaza's population, a necessary condition for the legal threshold of genocide to be met. A majority of 758 mostly US-based Middle East scholars, polled in 2024 by Brookings , believe Israel's actions in Gaza were intended to make it uninhabitable for Palestinians, and 75% of them say Israel's actions in Gaza constitute either genocide or "major war crimes akin to genocide". On 29 December 2023, South Africa instituted proceedings against Israel at
5508-472: The General Assembly of the United Nations in 1947, Jerusalem was envisaged to become a corpus separatum administered by the United Nations. 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. The international community largely considers the legal status of Jerusalem to derive from the partition plan, and correspondingly refuses to recognize Israeli sovereignty over
5661-425: The Haram al-Sharif , as the capital of the State of Palestine, The PLO claims that West Jerusalem is also subject to permanent status negotiations. However, it has stated that it would be willing to consider alternative solutions, such as making Jerusalem an open city . The PLO's position is that East Jerusalem, as defined by the pre-1967 municipal boundaries , shall be the capital of Palestine and West Jerusalem
5814-465: The Hebrew Bible , King David conquered the city from the Jebusites and established it as the capital of the United Kingdom of Israel , and his son, King Solomon , commissioned the building of the First Temple . Modern scholars argue that Israelites branched out of the Canaanite peoples and culture through the development of a distinct monolatrous —and later monotheistic —religion centered on El / Yahweh . These foundational events, straddling
5967-421: The International Court of Justice pursuant to the Genocide Convention , Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant , on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea . It is one of the oldest cities in the world , and is considered holy to the three major Abrahamic religions — Judaism , Christianity , and Islam . Both the State of Israel and
6120-499: The Iran–Iraq War , the Israeli air force destroyed Iraq's sole nuclear reactor, then under construction, in order to impede the Iraqi nuclear weapons program. Following a series of PLO attacks in 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon to destroy the PLO bases. In the first six days, Israel destroyed the military forces of the PLO in Lebanon and decisively defeated the Syrians. An Israeli government inquiry (the Kahan Commission ) held Begin and several Israeli generals indirectly responsible for
6273-401: The Israeli government — legislative , judicial , and executive —have resided there, except for the Ministry of Defense , which is located at HaKirya in Tel Aviv . At the time of Ben Gurion's proclamations and the ensuing Knesset vote of 24 January 1950, Jerusalem was divided between Israel and Jordan, and thus the proclamation only applied to West Jerusalem. In July 1980, Israel passed
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6426-512: The Israeli–Palestinian conflict after the interim Oslo Accords have not succeeded, and the country has engaged in several wars and clashes with Palestinian militant groups . Israel's practices in its occupation of the Palestinian territories have drawn sustained international criticism—along with accusations that it has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Palestinian people—from human rights organizations and United Nations officials. The country's Basic Laws establish
6579-530: The Jerusalem District town of Mevaseret Zion ( Bolivia and Paraguay ). There are a number of consulates-general located in Jerusalem, which work primarily either with Israel, or the Palestinian authorities. 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. On 6 December 2017 U.S. President Donald Trump officially recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital and announced his intention to move
6732-548: The Jerusalem Law as Basic Law . The law declared Jerusalem the "complete and united" capital of Israel. The Jerusalem Law was condemned by the international community, which did not recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. 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" . Member states were called upon to withdraw their diplomatic representation from Jerusalem. Following
6885-411: The Jewish-Roman Wars , which culminated in the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. The city was renamed Aelia Capitolina and rebuilt as a Roman colony after the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 CE), with Jews banned from entering the city. Jerusalem gained significance during the Byzantine Empire as a center of Christianity , particularly after Constantine the Great endorsed the construction of
7038-422: The Jordanian waqf , under the Jordanian Ministry of Religious Endowments. In 1988, Israel ordered the closure of Orient House , home of the Arab Studies Society, but also the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization , for security reasons. The building reopened in 1992 as a Palestinian guesthouse. The Oslo Accords stated that the final status of Jerusalem would be determined by negotiations with
7191-415: The Kiryat HaMemshala (government complex) in the Givat Ram neighbourhood. Some government buildings are located in Kiryat Menachem Begin . The city is home to the Knesset, the Supreme Court , the Bank of Israel , the National Headquarters of the Israel Police , the official residences of the President and Prime Minister , the Cabinet , and all ministries except for the Ministry of Defense (which
7344-406: The Knesset (Israel's parliament), the residences of the Prime Minister and President , and the Supreme Court . The international community rejects the annexation as illegal and regards East Jerusalem as Palestinian territory occupied by Israel . The name "Jerusalem" is variously etymologized to mean "foundation (Semitic yry' 'to found, to lay a cornerstone') of the pagan god Shalem ";
7497-415: The Labor Party . Later that year, Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat made a trip to Israel and spoke before the Knesset in what was the first recognition of Israel by an Arab head of state. Sadat and Begin signed the Camp David Accords (1978) and the Egypt–Israel peace treaty (1979). In return, Israel withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula and agreed to enter negotiations over autonomy for Palestinians in
7650-438: The Land of Israel , synonymous with the Palestine region , the Holy Land , and Canaan . In antiquity, it was home to the Canaanite civilization followed by the kingdoms of Israel and Judah . Situated at a continental crossroad , the region experienced demographic changes under the rule of various empires from the Romans to the Ottomans . European antisemitism in the late 19th century galvanized Zionism , which sought
7803-538: The Late Bronze Age (1550–1200 BCE), large parts of Canaan formed vassal states of the New Kingdom of Egypt . As a result of the Late Bronze Age collapse , Canaan fell into chaos, and Egyptian control over the region collapsed. A people named Israel appear for the first time in the Merneptah Stele, an ancient Egyptian inscription which dates to about 1200 BCE. Ancestors of the Israelites are thought to have included ancient Semitic-speaking peoples native to this area. Modern archaeological accounts suggest that
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#17330850366467956-402: The Late Bronze Age , Jerusalem became a vassal of Ancient Egypt , as documented in the Amarna letters . 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 . David's son, Solomon , built the First Temple , establishing the city as a major religious center. Following
8109-494: The League of Nations granted Britain the Mandate for Palestine under terms which included the Balfour Declaration with its promise to the Jews and with similar provisions regarding the Arab Palestinians. The population of the area was predominantly Arab and Muslim, with Jews accounting for about 11% and Arab Christians about 9.5% of the population. The Third (1919–1923) and Fourth Aliyahs (1924–1929) brought an additional 100,000 Jews to Palestine. The rise of Nazism , and
8262-423: The Neo-Babylonian Empire . It is estimated that the region's population was around 400,000 in the Iron Age II . In 587/6 BCE, following a revolt in Judah , King Nebuchadnezzar II besieged and destroyed Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple , dissolved the kingdom and exiled much of the Judean elite to Babylon . After capturing Babylon in 539 BCE, Cyrus the Great , founder of the Achaemenid Empire , issued
8415-534: The Palestinian Authority . 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. The Palestinian Authority regards East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. President Mahmoud Abbas has said that any agreement that did not include East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine would be unacceptable. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has similarly stated that Jerusalem would remain
8568-471: The Royal Navy and the refugees placed in detention camps in Atlit and Cyprus . On 22 July 1946, Irgun bombed the British administrative headquarters for Palestine, killing 91. The attack was a response to Operation Agatha (a series of raids, including one on the Jewish Agency , by the British) and was the deadliest directed at the British during the Mandate era. The Jewish insurgency continued throughout 1946 and 1947 despite concerted efforts by
8721-469: The Sabra and Shatila massacre and held Defense Minister Ariel Sharon as bearing "personal responsibility". Sharon was forced to resign. In 1985, Israel responded to a Palestinian terrorist attack in Cyprus by bombing the PLO headquarters in Tunisia. Israel withdrew from most of Lebanon in 1986 but maintained a borderland buffer zone in southern Lebanon until 2000, from where Israeli forces engaged in conflict with Hezbollah . The First Intifada ,
8874-456: The Sasanian conquest of Jerusalem and the short-lived Jewish revolt against Heraclius in 614 CE, the Byzantine Empire reconsolidated control of the area in 628. In 634–641 CE, the Rashidun Caliphate conquered the Levant . Over the next six centuries, control of the region transferred between the Umayyad , Abbasid , Fatimid caliphates, and subsequently the Seljuk and Ayyubid dynasties. The population drastically decreased during
9027-449: The Second Temple period . Jerusalem fell under Hellenistic rule after the conquests of Alexander the Great in 332 BCE, leading to increasing cultural and political influence from Greece . The Hasmonean revolt in 164 BCE briefly restored Jewish autonomy, with Jerusalem as the capital of an independent state. In 63 BCE, Jerusalem was conquered by Pompey and became part of the Roman Empire . The city remained under Roman control until
9180-441: The State of Palestine claim Jerusalem as their capital city . Israel maintains its primary governmental institutions there, and the State of Palestine ultimately foresees it as its seat of power. Neither claim is widely recognized internationally . Throughout its long history , Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times , captured and recaptured 44 times, and attacked 52 times. The part of Jerusalem called
9333-557: The Ubeidiya prehistoric site . The Skhul and Qafzeh hominins , dating back 120,000 years, are some of the earliest traces of anatomically modern humans outside of Africa. The Natufian culture , which may have been linked to Proto-Afroasiatic language , emerged by the 10th millennium BCE, followed by the Ghassulian culture by around 4,500 BCE. Early references to "Canaanites" and " Canaan " appear in Near Eastern and Egyptian texts ( c. 2000 BCE); these populations were structured as politically independent city-states . During
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#17330850366469486-413: The destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple and a sizable portion of the population being killed or displaced. A second uprising known as the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 CE) initially allowed the Jews to form an independent state, but the Romans brutally crushed the rebellion, devastating and depopulating Judea's countryside. Jerusalem was rebuilt as a Roman colony ( Aelia Capitolina ), and
9639-454: The dual , thus leading to the suggestion that the name Yerushalayim refers to the fact that the city initially sat on two hills. The Execration Texts of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt (c. 19th century BCE), which refer to a city called rwšꜣlmm or ꜣwšꜣmm , variously transcribed as Rušalimum , or Urušalimum , may indicate Jerusalem. Alternatively, the Amarna letters of Abdi-Heba (1330s BCE), which reference an Úrušalim , may be
9792-400: The illegally occupied territories , contrary to international law, and has effectively annexed East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights in moves largely unrecognized internationally. After the 1973 Yom Kippur War , Israel signed peace treaties with Egypt —returning the Sinai in 1982—and Jordan . In the 2020s, it normalized relations with more Arab countries. However, efforts to resolve
9945-419: The occupied West Bank , increasing friction with the Palestinians there. The 1980 Jerusalem Law was believed by some to reaffirm Israel's 1967 annexation of Jerusalem by government decree and reignited international controversy over the status of the city . No Israeli legislation has defined the territory of Israel, and no act specifically included East Jerusalem therein. In 1981 Israel effectively annexed
10098-491: The polis would be similar to Hierolophos . The city was renamed Aelia Capitolina for part of the Roman period of its history. The Aramaic Apocryphon of Genesis of the Dead Sea Scrolls (1QapGen 22:13) equates Jerusalem with the earlier "Salem" (שלם), said to be the kingdom of Melchizedek in Genesis 14. Other early Hebrew sources, early Christian renderings of the verse and targumim , however, put Salem in Northern Israel near Shechem (Sichem), now Nablus ,
10251-435: The 2010s, increasing regional cooperation between Israel and Arab League countries have been established, culminating in the signing of the Abraham Accords . The Israeli security situation shifted from the traditional Arab–Israeli conflict towards the Iran–Israel proxy conflict and direct confrontation with Iran during the Syrian civil war . On 7 October 2023, Palestinian militant groups from Gaza, led by Hamas, launched
10404-438: The 9th century BCE, the city had developed into the religious and administrative center of the Kingdom of Judah . In 1538, the city walls were rebuilt for a last time around Jerusalem under Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire . Today those walls define the Old City , which since the 19th century has been divided into four quarters – the Armenian , Christian , Jewish , and Muslim quarters. The Old City became
10557-495: The Bible, named Jebus . Called the "Fortress of Zion" ( metsudat Zion ), it was renamed as the "City of David", and was known by this name in antiquity. Another name, " Zion ", initially referred to a distinct part of the city, but later came to signify the city as a whole, and afterwards to represent the whole biblical Land of Israel . In Greek and Latin, the city's name was transliterated Hierosolyma/Hierosoluma (Greek: Ἱεροσόλυμα; in Greek hieròs , ἱερός , means holy), and
10710-413: The British military and Palestine Police Force to suppress it. British efforts to mediate with Jewish and Arab representatives also failed as the Jews were unwilling to accept any solution that did not involve a Jewish state and suggested a partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, while the Arabs were adamant that a Jewish state in any part of Palestine was unacceptable and that the only solution
10863-417: The British would evacuate. As Arab militias and gangs attacked Jewish areas, they were faced mainly by the Haganah as well as the smaller Irgun and Lehi. In April 1948, the Haganah moved onto the offensive. On 14 May 1948, the day before the expiration of the British Mandate, David Ben-Gurion , the head of the Jewish Agency, declared "the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz-Israel". The following day,
11016-653: The City of Jerusalem [...] the last to be under an International Trusteeship System". Meanwhile, the Jewish insurgency continued and peaked in July 1947, with a series of widespread guerrilla raids culminating in the Sergeants affair , in which the Irgun took two British sergeants hostage as attempted leverage against the planned execution of three Irgun operatives. After the executions were carried out,
11169-511: The Gaza Strip. Consequently, the West Bank was described as a new Fatahland. According to Riyad al-Maliki , instead of a two-state solution with a united State of Palestine and Israel as neighbors, the new map of the region may feature Gaza as a country and the West Bank as another, with Israel situated in between. Scholars note that Israel, the United States , and the European Union viewed
11322-518: The God of Jerusalem". An earlier example of the name appears in a papyrus from the 7th century BCE. In extra-biblical inscriptions, the earliest known example of the -ayim ending was discovered on a column about 3 km west of ancient Jerusalem, dated to the first century BCE. An ancient settlement of Jerusalem, founded as early as the Bronze Age on the hill above the Gihon Spring , was, according to
11475-595: The Golan Heights from Syria. Jerusalem's boundaries were enlarged, incorporating East Jerusalem. The 1949 Green Line became the administrative boundary between Israel and the occupied territories . Following the 1967 war and the " Three Nos " resolution of the Arab League, Israel faced attacks from the Egyptians in the Sinai Peninsula during the 1967–1970 War of Attrition , and from Palestinian groups targeting Israelis in
11628-518: The Golan Heights. The international community largely rejected these moves, with the UN Security Council declaring both the Jerusalem Law and the Golan Heights Law null and void. Several waves of Ethiopian Jews immigrated to Israel since the 1980s, while between 1990 and 1994, immigration from the post-Soviet states increased Israel's population by twelve percent. On 7 June 1981, during
11781-813: The Holocaust. During the 1950s, Israel was frequently attacked by Palestinian fedayeen , nearly always against civilians, mainly from the Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip, leading to several Israeli reprisal operations . In 1956, the UK and France aimed at regaining control of the Suez Canal , which Egypt had nationalized. The continued blockade of the Suez Canal and Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping, together with increasing fedayeen attacks against Israel's southern population and recent Arab threatening statements, prompted Israel to attack Egypt. Israel joined
11934-522: The Irgun killed the two British soldiers, hanged their bodies from trees, and left a booby trap at the scene which injured a British soldier. The incident caused widespread outrage in the UK. In September 1947, the British cabinet decided to evacuate Palestine as the Mandate was no longer tenable. On 29 November 1947, the General Assembly adopted Resolution 181 (II) . The plan attached to the resolution
12087-790: The Israelites and their culture branched out of the Canaanite peoples through the development of a distinct monolatristic —and later monotheistic —religion centered on Yahweh . They spoke an archaic form of Hebrew , known as Biblical Hebrew . Around the same time, the Philistines settled on the southern coastal plain . Most modern scholars agree that the Exodus narrative in the Torah and Old Testament did not take place as depicted; however, some elements of these traditions do have historical roots . There
12240-490: The Jerusalem landscape. Water supply has always been a major problem in Jerusalem, as attested to by the intricate network of ancient aqueducts , tunnels, pools and cisterns found in the city. Jerusalem is 60 km (37 mi) east of Tel Aviv and the Mediterranean Sea . On the opposite side of the city, approximately 35 km (22 mi) away, is the Dead Sea , the lowest body of water on Earth. Neighbouring cities and towns include Bethlehem and Beit Jala to
12393-574: The Lebanese authorities. Israel regarded "Fatahland" as a serious threat, as Palestinian fedayeen used the area as a base for launching artillery shells and guerrilla operations into Galilee . Fatah grew in power in Lebanon during the Lebanese Civil War . In March 1978, Israel invaded southern Lebanon up to the Litani River in an effort to drive the PLO away from the Israeli border. Control of
12546-638: The Levant was fairly cosmopolitan, with religious freedoms for Christians, Muslims, and Jews . In 1561 the Ottoman sultan invited Sephardi Jews escaping the Spanish Inquisition to settle in and rebuild the city of Tiberias . Under the Ottoman Empire's millet system , Christians and Jews were considered dhimmi (meaning "protected") under Ottoman law in exchange for loyalty to the state and payment of
12699-577: The Middle East and among the highest GDP per capita and standards of living in Asia . One of the most technologically advanced and developed countries in the world, it spends proportionally more on research and development than any other and is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons . Under the British Mandate (1920–1948), the entire region was known as Palestine . Upon establishment in 1948 ,
12852-608: The Muslim Quarter of the Old City 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. Palestinians regard Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine , and the city's borders have been the subject of bilateral talks. A team of experts assembled by
13005-402: The Old City is approximately 760 m (2,490 ft). The whole of Jerusalem is surrounded by valleys and dry riverbeds ( wadis ). The Kidron , Hinnom , and Tyropoeon Valleys intersect in an area just south of the Old City of Jerusalem. The Kidron Valley runs to the east of the Old City and separates the Mount of Olives from the city proper. Along the southern side of old Jerusalem
13158-565: The Old City is home to many sites of seminal religious importance , among them the Temple Mount with its Western Wall , Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque , and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre . At present, the status of Jerusalem remains one of the core issues in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict . During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War , West Jerusalem was among the areas incorporated into Israel, while East Jerusalem , including
13311-422: The Old City, was occupied and annexed by Jordan . Israel occupied East Jerusalem from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War and subsequently annexed it into the city's municipality, together with additional surrounding territory. One of Israel's Basic Laws , the 1980 Jerusalem Law , refers to Jerusalem as the country's undivided capital. All branches of the Israeli government are located in Jerusalem, including
13464-401: The PLO being expelled from Jordan. With its own army operating freely in Lebanon, the PLO had effectively created a state within a state in Lebanon. The 1969 Cairo agreement , signed by PLO chairman Yasser Arafat and Lebanese Armed Forces commander Emile Boustany , established that the presence and activities of Palestinian guerrillas in southern Lebanon would be tolerated and regulated by
13617-634: The PLO signed the Oslo Accords , which gave the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) the right to govern parts of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The PLO also recognized Israel's right to exist and pledged an end to terrorism. In 1994, the Israel–Jordan peace treaty was signed, making Jordan the second Arab country to normalize relations with Israel. Arab public support for the Accords
13770-598: The Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. United Nations General Assembly Resolution 58/292 affirmed that the Palestinian people have the right to sovereignty over East Jerusalem. Government offices are located outside the Israeli municipal limits include the Palestinian Security Services , Force 17 , the Preventative Security Service and the Ministry of Interior . There
13923-567: The Second Aliyah who became leaders of the Yishuv in the coming decades believed that the Jewish settler economy should not depend on Arab labor. This would be a dominant source of antagonism with the Arab population, with the new Yishuv's nationalist ideology overpowering its socialist one. Though the immigrants of the Second Aliyah largely sought to create communal Jewish agricultural settlements, Tel Aviv
14076-525: The Sinai Peninsula since 1957, and blocked Israel's access to the Red Sea. Other Arab states mobilized their forces. Israel reiterated that these actions were a casus belli and launched a pre-emptive strike ( Operation Focus ) against Egypt in June. Jordan, Syria and Iraq attacked Israel. In the Six-Day War , Israel captured and occupied the West Bank from Jordan, the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, and
14229-560: The United States officially opened its embassy in Jerusalem , transforming its Tel Aviv location into a consulate. 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. In April 2017, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced it viewed Western Jerusalem as Israel's capital in the context of UN-approved principles which include
14382-583: The West Bank and the Gaza Strip. On 11 March 1978, a PLO guerilla raid from Lebanon led to the Coastal Road massacre . Israel responded by launching an invasion of southern Lebanon to destroy PLO bases. Most PLO fighters withdrew, but Israel was able to secure southern Lebanon until a UN force and the Lebanese army could take over. The PLO soon resumed its insurgency against Israel, and Israel carried out numerous retaliatory attacks. Meanwhile, Begin's government provided incentives for Israelis to settle in
14535-456: The adult male Palestinian Arab population was killed, wounded, imprisoned or exiled. The British introduced restrictions on Jewish immigration to Palestine with the White Paper of 1939 . With countries around the world turning away Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust , a clandestine movement known as Aliyah Bet was organized to bring Jews to Palestine. By the end of World War II , 31% of
14688-525: The area near the Israeli border was subsequently transferred to the South Lebanon Army . In 1982, Israel launched another invasion of Lebanon with the goal of eliminating the PLO. Following the Israeli siege of Beirut , the PLO evacuated and relocated to Tunisia . Following the escalation of the Fatah–Hamas conflict into a civil war, Fatah and Hamas respectively seized control of the West Bank and
14841-456: The armies of four Arab countries—Egypt, Syria, Transjordan and Iraq—entered what had been Mandatory Palestine, launching the 1948 Arab–Israeli War ; contingents from Yemen , Morocco , Saudi Arabia , and Sudan joined the war. The purpose of the invasion was to prevent the establishment of the Jewish state and to "sweep them [Jews] into the sea". The Arab League stated the invasion was to restore order and prevent further bloodshed. After
14994-615: The basis that the partition plan privileged European interests over those of the Palestinians, and indicated that they would reject any other plan of partition. On 1 December 1947, the Arab Higher Committee proclaimed a three-day strike, and riots broke out in Jerusalem . The situation spiraled into a civil war . Colonial Secretary Arthur Creech Jones announced that the British Mandate would end on 15 May 1948, at which point
15147-536: 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". The status of the city, and especially its holy places, remains a core issue in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The Israeli government has approved building plans in
15300-549: The capital of Israel, with each state enjoying full sovereignty over its respective part of the city and with its own municipality. A joint development council would be responsible for coordinated development. Orient House in East Jerusalem served as the headquarters of the PLO in the 1980s and 1990s. It was closed by Israel in 2001, two days after the Sbarro restaurant suicide bombing . Some states, such as Russia and China , recognize
15453-462: The church and the authorities. Many Jews had emigrated to flourishing diaspora communities, while locally there was both Christian immigration and local conversion. By the middle of the 5th century, there was a Christian majority. Towards the end of the 5th century, Samaritan revolts erupted, continuing until the late 6th century and resulting in a large decrease in the Samaritan population. After
15606-521: The city's history is often interpreted through the lens of competing national narratives. Israeli scholars emphasize the ancient Jewish connection to the city, while Palestinian narratives highlight the city's broader historical and multicultural significance. Both perspectives influence contemporary discussions of Jerusalem's status and future. From 1923 until 1948, Jerusalem served as the administrative capital of Mandatory Palestine . From 1949 until 1967, West Jerusalem served as Israel's capital, but
15759-570: The city. Following the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel extended its jurisdiction and administration over East Jerusalem, establishing new municipal borders. In 2010, Israel approved legislation giving Jerusalem the highest national priority status in Israel. The law prioritized 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. Communications Minister Moshe Kahlon said that
15912-441: The context of the Fatah–Hamas conflict that has been ongoing since 2006. The term "Fatahland" emerged following the Six-Day War in 1967, after which the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) relocated to southern Lebanon and established a semi-autonomous region there. This effort gained momentum with the complete relocation of PLO leadership from Jordan to Lebanon following Black September from 1970 to 1971, which led to
16065-429: The country formally adopted the name State of Israel ( Hebrew : מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל , Medīnat Yisrā'el [mediˈnat jisʁaˈʔel] ; Arabic : دَوْلَة إِسْرَائِيل , Dawlat Isrāʼīl , [dawlat ʔisraːˈʔiːl] ) after other proposed names including Land of Israel ( Eretz Israel ), Ever (from ancestor Eber ), Zion , and Judea , were considered but rejected. The name Israel
16218-615: The crusaders before Muslim rule was fully restored by the Mamluk sultans of Egypt in 1291. In 1516, the Ottoman Empire conquered the region and ruled it as part of Ottoman Syria . Two violent incidents took place against Jews, the 1517 Safed attacks and the 1517 Hebron attacks , after the Turkish Ottomans ousted the Mamluks during the Ottoman–Mamluk War . Under the Ottoman Empire,
16371-616: The dawn of the 1st millennium BCE, assumed central symbolic importance for the Jewish people . The sobriquet of holy city (Hebrew: עיר הקודש , romanized: 'Ir ha-Qodesh ) was probably attached to Jerusalem in post-exilic times. The holiness of Jerusalem in Christianity , conserved in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible , which Christians adopted as the Old Testament ,
16524-486: The destruction of most of Palestine's Arab culture , identity , and national aspirations . Some 156,000 Arabs remained and became Arab citizens of Israel . By United Nations General Assembly Resolution 273 , Israel was admitted as a member of the UN on 11 May 1949. In the early years of the state, the Labor Zionist movement led by Prime Minister Ben-Gurion dominated Israeli politics . Immigration to Israel during
16677-582: The district's capital. 37% of the population is Palestinian, but in 2014 not more than 10% of tax revenues were allocated for them. In East Jerusalem, 52% of the land was excluded from development, 35% designated for Jewish settlements, and 13% for Palestinian use, almost all of which was already built upon. In Oslo I Accord , certain parts of few neighborhoods were allotted to the Palestinian Authority . Parts of Sur Baher , Wadi al-Hummus, Umm Leisun and Umm Tuba , altogether came under Area A , which
16830-465: The earliest extra-biblical Hebrew writing of the word Jerusalem is dated to the sixth or seventh century BCE and was discovered in Khirbet Beit Lei near Beit Guvrin in 1961. The inscription states: "I am Yahweh thy God, I will accept the cities of Judah and I will redeem Jerusalem", or as other scholars suggest: "Yahweh is the God of the whole earth. The mountains of Judah belong to him, to
16983-452: The earliest mention of the city. The form Yerushalem or Yerushalayim first appears in the Bible, in the Book of Joshua . According to a Midrash , the name is a combination of two names united by God, Yireh ("the abiding place", the name given by Abraham to the place where he planned to sacrifice his son ) and Shalem ("Place of Peace", the name given by high priest Shem ). One of
17136-516: The entirety of the Gaza Strip and over 90% of the West Bank with Jerusalem as a shared capital. Each side blamed the other for the failure of the talks. In late 2000, after a controversial visit by Sharon to the Temple Mount , the Second Intifada began. Palestinian suicide bombings were a recurrent feature. Some commentators contend that the intifada was pre-planned by Arafat after the collapse of peace talks. Sharon became prime minister in
17289-514: The following several centuries, dropping from an estimated 1 million during Roman and Byzantine periods to about 300,000 by the early Ottoman period , and there was a steady process of Arabization and Islamization . The end of the 11th century brought the Crusades , papally -sanctioned incursions of Christian crusaders intent on wresting Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Muslim control and establishing crusader states . The Ayyubids pushed back
17442-582: The god Shalem was thus the original tutelary deity of the Bronze Age city. Shalim or Shalem was the name of the god of dusk in the Canaanite religion , whose name is based on the same root S-L-M from which the Hebrew word for "peace" is derived ( Shalom in Hebrew , cognate with Arabic Salam ). The name thus offered itself to etymologizations such as "The City of Peace", "Abode of Peace", "Dwelling of Peace" ("founded in safety"), or "Vision of Peace" in some Christian authors. The ending -ayim indicates
17595-436: The government of responsibility for failures before and during the war, but public anger forced Prime Minister Golda Meir to resign. In July 1976, an airliner was hijacked in flight from Israel to France by Palestinian guerrillas; Israeli commandos rescued 102 of 106 Israeli hostages . The 1977 Knesset elections marked a major turning point in Israeli political history as Menachem Begin 's Likud party took control from
17748-518: The increasing persecution of Jews in 1930s Europe led to the Fifth Aliyah , with an influx of a quarter of a million Jews. This was a major cause of the Arab revolt of 1936–39 , which was suppressed by British security forces and Zionist militias. Several hundred British security personnel and Jews were killed; 5,032 Arabs were killed, 14,760 were wounded, and 12,622 were detained. An estimated ten percent of
17901-619: 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. The Babylonians destroyed the First Temple, leading to the Babylonian exile of the Jewish population. After the Persian conquest of Babylon in 539 BCE, Cyrus the Great allowed the Jews to return and rebuild the city and its temple, marking the start of
18054-475: The land between them. The State of Israel declared its establishment on 14 May 1948. The armies of neighboring Arab states invaded the area of the former Mandate the next day, beginning the First Arab–Israeli War . Subsequent armistice agreements established Israeli control over 77 percent of the former Mandate territory. The majority of Palestinian Arabs were either expelled or fled in what
18207-485: The late 1940s and early 1950s was aided by the Israeli Immigration Department and the non-government sponsored Mossad LeAliyah Bet ( lit. "Institute for Immigration B "). The latter engaged in clandestine operations in countries, particularly in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, where the lives of Jews were in danger and exit was difficult. Mossad LeAliyah Bet was disbanded in 1953. The immigration
18360-457: The latter were often re-designated for the former, so Jews newly arrived from Arab lands generally ended up staying longer in transit camps. During this period, food, clothes and furniture were rationed in what became known as the austerity period . The need to solve the crisis led Ben-Gurion to sign a reparations agreement with West Germany that triggered mass protests by Jews angered at the idea that Israel could accept monetary compensation for
18513-612: The majority of its seats. The headquarters of the Jerusalem Municipality and the mayor's office are at Safra Square ( Kikar Safra ) on Jaffa Road . The municipal complex, comprising two modern buildings and ten renovated historic buildings surrounding a large plaza, opened in 1993 when it moved from the old town hall building built by the Mandate authorities . The city falls under the Jerusalem District , with Jerusalem as
18666-764: The month-long Second Lebanon War . In 2007 the Israeli Air Force destroyed a nuclear reactor in Syria. In 2008, a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel collapsed, resulting in the three-week Gaza War . In what Israel described as a response to over a hundred Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israeli cities, Israel began an operation in the Gaza Strip in 2012, lasting eight days. Israel started another operation in Gaza following an escalation of rocket attacks by Hamas in July 2014. In May 2021 another round of fighting took place in Gaza and Israel, lasting eleven days. By
18819-410: The occupied territories, globally, and in Israel. Most important among the Palestinian and Arab groups was the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), established in 1964, which initially committed itself to "armed struggle as the only way to liberate the homeland". In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Palestinian groups launched attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets around the world, including
18972-403: The one hand, and Syria and Lebanon on the other. Arab nationalists led by Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser refused to recognize Israel and called for its destruction. By 1966 Israeli-Arab relations had deteriorated to the point of battles taking place between Israeli and Arab forces. In May 1967, Egypt massed its army near the border with Israel, expelled UN peacekeepers stationed in
19125-501: The only person executed in Israel by conviction in an Israeli civilian court. In 1963, Israel was engaged in a diplomatic standoff with the United States in relation to the Israeli nuclear programme . Since 1964 Arab countries, concerned over Israeli plans to divert waters of the Jordan River into the coastal plain , had been trying to divert the headwaters to deprive Israel of water resources, provoking tensions between Israel on
19278-680: The patriarch Jacob who, according to the Hebrew Bible , was given the name after he successfully wrestled with the Angel of the Lord . The earliest known archaeological artifact to mention the word Israel as a collective is the Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt (dated to the late 13th century BCE). Early hominin presence in the Levant , where Israel is located, dates back at least 1.5 million years based on
19431-417: The population of Palestine was Jewish. The UK found itself facing a Jewish insurgency over immigration restrictions and continued conflict with the Arab community over limit levels. The Haganah joined Irgun and Lehi in an armed struggle against British rule. The Haganah attempted to bring tens of thousands of Jewish refugees and Holocaust survivors to Palestine by ship. Most of the ships were intercepted by
19584-518: The province of Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina . Jews were expelled from the districts surrounding Jerusalem. Nevertheless, there was a continuous small Jewish presence, and Galilee became its religious center. Early Christianity displaced Roman paganism in the 4th century CE, with Constantine embracing and promoting the Christian religion and Theodosius I making it the state religion . A series of laws were passed that discriminated against Jews and Judaism, and Jews were persecuted by both
19737-683: The public regarded it as a divided city. A poll conducted by 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 contrary to 31% who opted for Palestinian citizenship. According to the poll, 40% of Palestinian residents would prefer to leave their neighbourhoods if they would be placed under Palestinian rule. 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
19890-473: The region in 63 BCE, first taking control of Syria , and then intervening in the Hasmonean civil war . The struggle between pro-Roman and pro- Parthian factions in Judea led to the installation of Herod the Great as a dynastic vassal of Rome . In 6 CE, the area was annexed as the Roman province of Judaea ; tensions with Roman rule led to a series of Jewish–Roman wars , resulting in widespread destruction. The First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE) resulted in
20043-440: 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. Costa Rica and El Salvador followed in 2006. There are five embassies—United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Papua-New Guinea and Kosovo —and two consulates located within the city limits of Jerusalem, and two Latin American states maintain embassies in
20196-406: The split favorably as it allowed for the Islamist government in Gaza to be isolated while the Fatah government in the West Bank could engage in agreements more amenable to Israel. Israel Israel , officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia . It is bordered by Lebanon and Syria to the north, the West Bank and Jordan to the east,
20349-502: The stated objectives of destroying Hamas and freeing hostages. The fifth war of the Gaza–Israel conflict since 2008, it has been the deadliest for Palestinians in the entire Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the most significant military engagement in the region since the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Israel is accused of carrying out a genocide against the Palestinian people by experts, governments, United Nations agencies, and non-governmental organisations during its invasion of
20502-455: The status of East Jerusalem as the capital of the future Palestinian state. On 15 December 2018, Australia officially recognized West Jerusalem as Israel's capital, but said their embassy in Tel Aviv would stay until a two-state resolution was settled. The decision was reversed in October 2022. The Kiryat HaLeom (national precinct) project is intended to house most government agencies and national cultural institutions. They are located in
20655-427: The territory was divided between Britain and France under the mandate system , and the British-administered area (including modern Israel) was named Mandatory Palestine . Arab opposition to British rule and Jewish immigration led to the 1920 Palestine riots and the formation of a Jewish militia known as the Haganah as an outgrowth of Hashomer, from which the Irgun and Lehi paramilitaries later split. In 1922,
20808-415: 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. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in 2014 that "Jerusalem will never be divided". 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
20961-401: The town, and its Jerusalem Affairs Offices are all located in Abu Dis. While the international community regards East Jerusalem, including the entire Old City, as part of the occupied Palestinian territories , neither part, West or East Jerusalem, is recognized as part of the territory of Israel or the State of Palestine . Under the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine adopted by
21114-413: The undivided capital of Israel. 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. Israel has not incorporated Abu Dis within its security wall around Jerusalem. The Palestinian Authority has built a possible future parliament building for the Palestinian Legislative Council in
21267-413: The upper cities described by Josephus . Today, this valley is hidden by debris that has accumulated over the centuries. In biblical times, Jerusalem was surrounded by forests of almond, olive and pine trees. Over centuries of warfare and neglect, these forests were destroyed. Farmers in the Jerusalem region built stone terraces along the slopes to hold back the soil, a feature still very much in evidence in
21420-434: The vision of the Return in a more active way than most Christians viewed the Second Coming ." The religious Judaic notion of being a nation was distinct from the modern European notion of nationalism. The Jewish population of Palestine from the Ottoman rule to the beginning of the Zionist movement, known as the Old Yishuv , comprised a minority and fluctuated in size. During the 16th century, Jewish communities struck roots in
21573-407: 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." This indeed took place, and since the beginning of 1950 all branches of
21726-427: Was a unified Palestine under Arab rule. In February 1947, the British referred the Palestine issue to the newly formed United Nations . On 15 May 1947, the UN General Assembly resolved that a Special Committee be created "to prepare ... a report on the question of Palestine". The Report of the Committee proposed a plan to replace the British Mandate with "an independent Arab State, an independent Jewish State, and
21879-431: Was damaged by the continuation of Israeli settlements and checkpoints , and the deterioration of economic conditions. Israeli public support for the Accords waned after Palestinian suicide attacks . In November 1995, Rabin was assassinated by Yigal Amir , a far-right Jew who opposed the Accords. During Benjamin Netanyahu's premiership at the end of the 1990s, Israel agreed to withdraw from Hebron , though this
22032-473: Was elected mayor. Apart from the mayor and his deputies, City Council members receive no salaries and work on a voluntary basis. The longest-serving Jerusalem mayor was Teddy Kollek , who spent 28 years—six consecutive terms—in office. Most of the meetings of the Jerusalem City Council are private, but each month, it holds a session that is open to the public. Within the city council, religious political parties form an especially powerful faction, accounting for
22185-519: Was essentially that proposed in the report of 3 September. The Jewish Agency, the recognized representative of the Jewish community, accepted the plan, which assigned 55–56% of Mandatory Palestine to the Jews. At the time, the Jews were about a third of the population and owned around 6–7% of the land. Arabs constituted the majority and owned about 20% of the land, with the remainder held by the Mandate authorities or foreign landowners. The Arab League and Arab Higher Committee of Palestine rejected it on
22338-409: Was established as the first planned Jewish town in 1909. Jewish armed militias emerged during this period, the first being Bar-Giora in 1907. Two years later, the larger Hashomer organization was founded as its replacement. Chaim Weizmann's efforts to garner British support for the Zionist movement eventually secured the Balfour Declaration of 1917, stating Britain's support for the creation of
22491-825: Was in accordance with the One Million Plan . Some immigrants held Zionist beliefs or came for the promise of a better life, while others moved to escape persecution or were expelled from their homes. An influx of Holocaust survivors and Jews from Arab and Muslim countries to Israel during the first three years increased the number of Jews from 700,000 to 1,400,000. By 1958, the population had risen to two million. Between 1948 and 1970, approximately 1,150,000 Jewish refugees relocated to Israel. Some immigrants arrived as refugees and were housed in temporary camps known as ma'abarot ; by 1952, over 200,000 people were living in these tent cities. Jews of European background were often treated more favorably than Jews from Middle Eastern and North African countries—housing units reserved for
22644-406: Was never ratified or implemented, and he signed the Wye River Memorandum , giving greater control to the PNA. Ehud Barak , elected prime minister in 1999, withdrew forces from southern Lebanon and conducted negotiations with PNA Chairman Yasser Arafat and U.S. President Bill Clinton at the 2000 Camp David Summit . Barak offered a plan for the establishment of a Palestinian state , including
22797-417: Was not recognized as such internationally because UN General Assembly Resolution 194 envisaged Jerusalem as an international city . As a result of the Six-Day War in 1967, the whole of Jerusalem came under Israeli control . 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
22950-487: Was reinforced by the New Testament account of Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection there. Meanwhile, in Islam , Jerusalem is the third-holiest city, after Mecca and Medina . The city was the first standard direction for Muslim prayers , and in Islamic tradition , Muhammad made his Night Journey there in 621, ascending to heaven where he spoke to God , per the Quran . As a result, despite having an area of only 0.9 km ( 3 ⁄ 8 sq mi),
23103-564: Was suggested by David Ben-Gurion and passed by a vote of 6–3. In the early weeks after establishment, the government chose the term Israeli to denote a citizen of the Israeli state. The names Land of Israel and Children of Israel have historically been used to refer to the biblical Kingdom of Israel and the entire Jewish people respectively. The name Israel (Hebrew: Yīsrāʾēl ; Septuagint Ancient Greek : Ἰσραήλ , Israēl , " El (God) persists/rules", though after Hosea 12:4 often interpreted as "struggle with God") refers to
23256-486: Was suppressed; Muhammad Ali's army retreated and Ottoman rule was restored with British support in 1840. The Tanzimat reforms were implemented across the Ottoman Empire. The first wave of modern Jewish migration to Ottoman-ruled Palestine , known as the First Aliyah , began in 1881, as Jews fled pogroms in Eastern Europe. The 1882 May Laws increased economic discrimination against Jews, and restricted where they could live. In response, political Zionism took form,
23409-416: Was the term used by Matthew and Mark in their gospels instead of the Hebrew term. Up until the 2010's the consensus among historians was that following Alexander the Great 's conquest, Hierosoluma was set to be incorporated into the larger temple cities of the Seleucid kingdom , and to be Hellenized as Hierapolis. However, modern historians dispute this as a proper Ancient Greek translation for
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