Jerusalem
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives.ý
Jerusalem (Hebrew: ýéÀøåÌùÈÑìÇéÄíý Yerushalyim) is the capital and largest city of Israel in both population and area with ýý732,100 residents in an area of 126 square kilometers (49 sq mi). Located in the ýJudean Mountains, between the M erranean Sea and the northern tip of the Dead ýSea, the city has a history that goes back as far as the 4th millennium BCE, making it ýone of the oldest cities in the world. 4 Jerusalem has been the holiest city in Judaism ýand the spiritual center of the Jewish people since the 10th century BCE. The city ýcontains a number of significant ancient Christian sites and is considered the third-ýholiest city in Islam.ý The walled area of Jerusalem, which constituted the entire city until the 1860s, is now called the Old City, and was added to the List of World Heritage Sites in danger in ýý1982. 7 The Old City has been traditionally divided into four quarters, although the ýnames used today-the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters-were ýonly introduced in the early 19th century. 8 Despite having an area of only 0.9 square ýkilometer (0.35 square mile), 9 the Old City is home to several sites of key religious ýimportance: the Temple Mount and its Western Wall for Jews, the Church of the Holy ýSepulchre for Christians, and the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque for Muslims.ý
Modern Jerusalem has grown up around the Old City, with its civic and cultural hub ýextending westward toward Israel's urban center in Gush Dan. The Arab population resides in clusters in the North, East and South. Today, Jerusalem remains a bone of ýcontention in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem ýý(captured in the 1967 Six-Day War) has been particularly controversial, as Palestinians ýview this part of the city as the capital of a potential Palestinian state. 10 11 The status ý
of a "united Jerusalem" as Israel's "eternal capital" 12 13 has not been officially ýrecognized by most of the international community, and nearly all countries maintain ýtheir embassies in Tel Aviv.
Further information: Names of Jerusalem
Although the precise origin of the Hebrew name for Jerusalem, Yerushalayim remains uncertain, scholars have come up with a variety of interpretations. Some say it means ýý"legacy of peace" - a portmanteau of yerusha (legacy) and shalom (peace). "Shalom" ýis a cognate of the Hebrew name "Shlomo," i.e., King Solomon," the builder of the ýFirst Temple. 15 16 Alternatively, the second part of the portmanteau could be Salem ýý(Shalem literally "whole" or "in harmony"), an early name for Jerusalem 17 that appears ýin the Book of Genesis. 18 Others cite the Amarna letters, where the Akkadian name ýof the city appears as Uru?alim, a cognate of the Hebrew Ir Shalem. Some believe ýthere is a connection to Shalim, the beneficent deity known from Ugaritic myths as ýthe personification of dusk. A Midrashic interpretation in Genesis Rabba explains that Abraham came to the city ýthat was then called Shalem after rescuing Lot. 20 Upon arrival, he asked the king and ýhigh priest Melchizedek to bless him, and Melchizedek did so in the name of God ý
ý(indicating that he, like Abraham, was a monotheist). This encounter between ýMelchizedek and Abraham was commemorated by renaming the city in their honor: ýthe name Yeru (derived from Yireh, the name Abraham gave to the Temple Mount) was combined with Shalem, 20 producing Yeru-Shalem, meaning the "city of Shalem," ýor "founded by Shalem." If shalem means "complete," or "without defect, " ýYerushalayim would mean the "perfect city," or "the city of he who is perfect". 21 The ýending -im indicates the plural in Hebrew grammar and -ayim the dual, leading to an ýinterpretation of the name as representing two facets of the city, such as two ýhills. 22 23 The pronunciation of the last syllable as -ayim appears to be a late ý
development, which had not yet appeared at the time of the Septuagint.ý History Main article: History of Jerusalem See also: History of ancient Israel and Judah, History of Palestine, and ýTimeline of Jerusalem
Ceramic evidence indicates the occupation of Ophel, within present-day Jerusalem, as ýfar back as the Copper Age, c. 4th millennium BCE, 24 4 with evidence of a ýpermanent settlement during the early centuries of the Early Bronze Age, c. 3000-ýý2800 BCE. 24 Ann Killebrew has shown how Jerusalem was a large and important ýwalled city in the MB IIB and IA IIC (ca. 1800-1550 and 720-586 BCE), during the ý
intervening Late Bronze (LB) and IA I and IIA/B Ages Jerusalem was a small and ýrelatively insignificant and unfortified town. 25 The earliest written references to the ýcity are probably in the Berlin and Brussels groups of Execration Texts (c. 19th ýcentury BCE) (which refer to a city called Roshlamem or Rosh-ramen) 24 and the ýAmarna letters (c. 14th century BCE). 26 27 Some archaeologists, including Kathleen ý
Kenyon, believe Jerusalem as a city was founded by West Semitic people with ýorganized settlements from around 2600 BCE. According to tradition the city was ýfounded by Shem and Eber, ancestors of Abraham. The Biblical account portrays the ýJebusites as having control of the city, inhabiting the area around the present-day city ýuntil the late 11th century BCE when David is said to have invaded and conquered ý
their city, Jebus, and established it as the capital of the United Kingdom of Israel and ýJudah (c. 1000s BCE). 28 29 iv Recent excavations of a large stone structure are ýinterpreted by some archaeologists as lending credence to the biblical narrative.ý Temple periods Artist's depiction of the First Temple, according to Biblical descriptions According to the Hebrew Bible, David reigned until 970 BCE, when his son Solomon ý
became king of Israel. 30 Within a decade, Solomon began to build the Holy Temple ýon Mount Moriah inside the city. Solomon's Temple (later known as the First Temple), ýwent on to play a pivotal role in Jewish and Christian history as the repository of the ýArk of the Covenant. 31 The next four centuries, up until the destruction of Solomon's ýTemple (c. 586 BCE), are known in history as the First Temple Period. 32 Upon ý
Solomon's death (c. 930 BCE), the ten northern tribes split off to form the Kingdom ýof Israel. Under the leadership of the House of David and Solomon, Jerusalem ýremained the capital of the Kingdom of Judah. 33 When the Assyrians conquered the ýKingdom of Israel in 722 BCE, Jerusalem was strengthened by a great influx of ýrefugees from the northern kingdom. The First Temple period ended around 586 BCE, ý
as the Babylonians conquered Judah and Jerusalem, and laid waste to Solomon's ýTemple. 33 However, since most claims of the Fall of Jerusalem are gathered from the ýPtolemaic records, which some dates have been found to be erroneous; Some point to ýthe Destruction of Jerusalem occurring in 607 BCE. This would be about 70 years ýprior to 538-537 dates of the conquest of Babylon from the Persians and hence the ý
Restoration of the Jews.ý In 538 BCE, after fifty years of Babylonian captivity, Persian King Cyrus the Great ý
permitted the Jews to return to Judah to rebuild Jerusalem and their holy temple. ýConstruction of the Second Temple, was completed in 516 BCE, during the reign of ýDarius the Great, seventy years after the destruction of the First Temple. 34 35 ýJerusalem resumed its role as capital of Judah and center of Jewish worship. When ýAlexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire, Jerusalem and Judea fell under ý
Hellenistic Greek control, eventually falling to the Ptolemaic dynasty under Ptolemy I. ýIn 198 BCE, Ptolemy V lost Jerusalem and Judea to the Seleucids under Antiochus ýIII. The Seleucid attempt to recast Jerusalem as a Hellenized polis came to a head in ýý168 BCE with the successful Maccabean revolt of Mattathias the High Priest and his ýfive sons against Antiochus Epiphanes, and their establishment of the Hasmonean ý
Kingdom in 152 BCE with Jerusalem again as its capital. 36 ý View of David's Citadel from Hinnom Valley
As Rome became stronger it installed Herod as a Jewish client king. Herod the Great, ýas he was known, devoted himself to developing and beautifying the city. He built ýwalls, towers and palaces, and expanded the Temple Mount, buttressing the courtyard ýwith blocks of stone weighing up to 100 tons. Under Herod, the area of the Temple ýMount doubled in size. 37 38 30 In 6 CE, the city, as well as much of the surrounding ýarea, came under direct Roman rule as the Iudaea Province 39 and Herod's ýdescendants through Agrippa II remained client kings of Judea until 96 CE. Roman ýrule over Jerusalem and the region began to be challenged with the first Jewish-Roman ýwar, the Great Jewish Revolt, which resulted in the destruction of the Second Temple ýin 70 CE. In 130 CE Hadrian attempted to Romanize the city, and renamed it Aelia ýCapitolina. 40 Jerusalem once again served as the capital of Judea during the three-year ý
rebellion known as the Bar Kochba revolt. The Romans succeeded in recapturing the ýcity in 135 CE and as a punitive measure Hadrian banned the Jews from entering it. ýHadrian proceeded to rename the entire Iudaea Province to Syria Palaestina after the ýBiblical Philistines in an attempt to thwart future rebellion and to de-Judaize ýJudea.
Shifts in control
Capture of Jerusalem during the First Crusade, 1099 (from a medieval manuscript)ýIn the five centuries following the Bar Kokhba revolt, the city remained under Roman ýthen Byzantine rule. During the 4th century, the Roman Emperor Constantine I ýconstructed Christian sites in Jerusalem such as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. ýJerusalem reached a peak in size and population at the end of the Second Temple Period: The city covered two square kilometers (0.8 sq mi.) and had a population of ýý200,000 43 41 From the days of Constantine until the Arab conquest in 638, Jews were ýbanned from Jerusalem, 44 but were allowed back into the city by Muslim rulers. 45 By ýthe end of the 7th century, an Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik had commissioned and ýcompleted the construction of the Dome of the Rock over the Foundation Stone. 46 In ýthe four hundred years that followed, Jerusalem's prominence diminished as Arab ýpowers in the region jockeyed for control. 47 ý In 1099, Jerusalem was besieged by the First Crusaders, who killed most of its Muslim ýand Jewish inhabitants, apart from many Christians. 48 That would be the first of ýseveral conquests to take place over the next four hundred years. In 1187, the city was ýtaken from the Crusaders by Saladin. 49 Between 1228 and 1244, it was given by ýSaladin's descendant al-Kamil to the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. Jerusalem ýfell again in 1244 to the Khawarizmi Turks, who were later, in 1260, replaced by the ýMamelukes. In 1517, Jerusalem and its environs fell to the Ottoman Turks, who would ý
maintain control of the city until the 20th century. 49 This era saw the first expansion ýoutside the Old City walls, as new neighborhoods were established to relieve the ýovercrowding that had become so prevalent. The first of these new neighborhoods ýincluded the Russian Compound and the Jewish Mishkenot Sha'ananim, both founded ýin 1860. 50 ý
In 1917 after the Battle of Jerusalem, the British Army, led by General Edmund ý
Allenby, captured the city. 51 The League of Nations, through its 1922 ratification of ý
the Balfour Declaration, entrusted the United Kingdom to administer the Mandate of ý
Palestine and help establish a Jewish state in the region. 52 The period of the Mandate ý
saw the construction of new garden suburbs in the western and northern parts of the ý
city and the establishment of institutions of higher learning such as the Hebrew ý
University, founded in 1925. ý
ýState of Israel
See also: UN General Assembly Resolution 194ý
As the British Mandate of Palestine was expiring, the 1947 UN Partition Plan (Part III) Recommended "the creation of a special international regime in the City of ýJerusalem, constituting it as a corpus separatum under the administration of the ýUnited Nations." However, this plan was never implemented and at the end of the ýý1948 Arab-Israeli War, Jerusalem found itself divided between Israel and Jordan ýý(then known as Transjordan). The ceasefire line established through the Armistice ýAgreement of 1949 between Israel and Jordan, cut through the center of the city from ýý1949 until 1967, during which time West Jerusalem was part of Israel and East ýJerusalem was part of Jordan. In 1949, Israel designated West Jerusalem as its capital. ýContrary to the terms of the Armistice Agreement of 1949 between Jordan and Israel, ýIsraelis were denied access to Jewish holy sites, many of which were desecrated, and ýonly allowed extremely limited access to Christian holy sites. Following the 1967 Six-Day War Israel captured East Jerusalem, asserted sovereignty over the entire city, and later in 1980 declared Jerusalem, "complete and united", to be ýthe capital of Israel. 58 However, East Jerusalem has been seen by the Palestinian ýArabs as a possible capital of a proposed Palestinian state. They also refer to ýSecurity Council resolution 252, which considers invalid expropriation of land and ýother actions that tend to change the legal status of Jerusalem. The status of the city and of its holy places remains disputed to this day.ý
Geography
Ein Karem in the hills of southwest Jerusalemý Jerusalem is situated around 31°47?N, 35°13?E on the southern spur of a plateau in the ýJudean Mountains, which include the Mount of Olives (East) and Mount Scopus ýý(North East). The elevation of the Old City is approximately 760 metres (2,500 ft). The whole of Jerusalem is surrounded by valleys and dry riverbeds (wadis), although ýthose to the north are less pronounced than those on the other sides. ýThree of the most prominent valleys in the region, the Kidron, Hinnom, and ýTyropoeon Valleys, intersect in an area just south of the Old City of Jerusalem. The ý
Kidron Valley runs just to the east of the Old City and separates the Mount of Olives ýfrom the city proper. Along the southern side of old Jerusalem is the Valley of ýHinnom, a steep ravine associated in Biblical eschatology with the concept of ýGehenna or hell. 64 A third valley commenced in the northwest near the present-day location of Damascus Gate, ran south-southeasterly through the center of the Old City ý
down to the Pool of Siloam, and divided the lower part into two hills, the Temple ýMount to the east, and the rest of the city to the west (the lower and the upper cities ýdescribed by Josephus). Today, this valley, the Tyropoeon Valley, is mostly hidden ýfrom view due to the amount of debris that has accumulated within the ravine over ýthe past few millennia. Jerusalem is 60 kilometers (37 mi) 65 east of Tel Aviv and the M erranean Sea. On ýthe opposite side of the city, approximately 35 kilometers (22 mi) 66 away, is the Dead ýSea, the lowest body of water on Earth. Neighboring cities and towns include ýBethlehem and Beit Jala to the south, Abu Dis and Ma'ale Adumim to the east, ýMevaseret Zion to the west, and Ramallah and Giv'at Ze'ev to the north.
Climate
The city is characterized by a M erranean climate, with hot, dry summers, and cold, ý
wet winters. Snowfall occurs every couple of winters. January is the coldest month of ý
the year, with an average temperature of 8 °C (46 °F). July and August are the hottest ý
months, with an average temperature of 23 °C (73 °F). 70 Temperatures vary widely ý
from day to night, and Jerusalem evenings are typically cool even in summer. The ý
average annual precipitation is close to 590 millimetres (23 in) with rain occurring ý
usually from October to May. ý
ý
Demographics of Jerusalem
In May 2006, Jerusalem had a population of 724,000, of whom 65% were Jewish, ýý32% were Muslim, and 2% were Christian, and a population density of ýý5,750.4 inhabitants per square kilometer (14,893.5/sq mi). 3 73 In 2005, Jerusalem ýreceived 2,450 immigrants, with nearly three quarters of them arriving from the ýUnited States, France, and former members of the Soviet Union. Within Israel, ýemigrants from Jerusalem outnumber immigrants to the city. In 2005, over ten ýthousand Israelis migrated to Jerusalem while over sixteen thousand left the city. The population of Jerusalem, however, continues to rise due to high birth rates, ýespecially among the Arab and Haredi Jewish communities (whose birth rates are ýhigher than the Israeli national average). Consequently, the total fertility rate in ýJerusalem (4.02) is far higher than those of comparable cities in the region such as Tel ýAviv (1.98) and well above the national average of 2.90. Similarly, the average size of ýJerusalem's 180,000 households is 3.8 people. In 2005, the total number of residents in Jerusalem grew by approximately thirteen ýthousand (1.8%) - also well above the Israeli national average. However, as the city ýhas continued to grow, the religious and ethnic composition of Jerusalem has ýproceeded to shift. Although Jews account for the majority of people in Jerusalem, ý
they only account for thirty-one percent of the children under age fifteen. This ýrecent data corroborates the observation that the Jewish population of Jerusalem has ýbeen declining over the past four decades. In 1967, the year of the Six-Day War, Jews ýaccounted for seventy-four percent of the population, which is nine percent more than ýtheir share of the population in 2006. 74 Explanations for this decline are the soaring ý
cost of housing in Jerusalem, the smaller job market and the growing religious ýcharacter of the city. Many young people are moving to the suburbs and coastal cities ýin search of cheaper housing and the more secular lifestyle offered by other cities. Demographics and the Jewish-Arab population split continue to play a major role in ýcarving the outcome of the dispute over Jerusalem. In 1998, the chairman of the ý
Jerusalem Development Authority even proposed expanding city limits to the west so ýas to include more areas heavily populated with Jews.
Local government
The Jerusalem City Council has thirty-one elected members, one of whom is the mayor. The mayor serves a five-year term and appoints six deputies. The current ýmayor of Jerusalem, Uri Lupolianski was elected in 2003. 77 Apart from the mayor ýand his deputies, City Council members receive no salaries and work on a voluntary ýbasis. The longest-serving Jerusalem mayor was Teddy Kollek, who spent twenty-ý eight years - six consecutive terms - in office. Most of the meetings of the ýJerusalem City Council are private, but each month, it holds a session that is open to ýthe public. 77 Within the city council, religious political parties form an especially ýpowerful faction, accounting for the majority of its seats. 78 The headquarters of the ýJerusalem Municipality and the mayor's office are at Safra Square (Kikar Safra) on ýJaffa Road. The new municipal complex, comprising two modern buildings and ten ýrenovated historic buildings surrounding a large plaza, opened in 1993. 79 The city ýfalls under the Jerusalem District, with Jerusalem as the district's capital.ý
ý
Capital of Israel
Further information: Positions on Jerusalem On December 5, 1949, the State of Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, ýproclaimed Jerusalem as Israel's capital and since then all branches of the Israeli ýgovernment - legislative, judicial, and executive - have resided there. 80 At the time ýof the proclamation, Jerusalem was divided between Israel and Jordan and thus only ýWest Jerusalem was considered Israel's capital. Immediately after the 1967 Six-Day ýWar, however, Israel annexed East Jerusalem, making it a de facto part of the Israeli ýcapital. Israel enshrined the status of the "complete and united" Jerusalem - west and ýeast - as its capital, in the 1980 Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel.
The Knesset Building in Jerusalem, home to the legislative branch of the Israeli ýgovernment The non-binding United Nations Security Council Resolution 478, passed on August ýý20, 1980, declared that this law was "null and void and must be rescinded forthwith." ýMember states were advised to withdraw their diplomatic representation from the city ýas a punitive measure. Most of the remaining countries with embassies in Jerusalem complied with the resolution by relocating them to Tel Aviv, where many embassies ýalready resided prior to Resolution 478. Currently there are no embassies located ýwithin the city limits of Jerusalem, although there are embassies in Mevasseret Zion, ýon the outskirts of Jerusalem, and four consulates in the city itself. 81 In 1995, the ýUnited States Congress had planned to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem ýwith the passage of the Jerusalem Embassy Act. 82 However, U.S. presidents, ýincluding President Bush and President Clinton, have argued that Congressional ýresolutions regarding the status of Jerusalem are merely advisory. The Constitution ýreserves foreign relations as an executive power, and as such, the US embassy is still in ýTel Aviv. Israel's most prominent governmental institutions, including the ýKnesset, the Supreme Court, and the official residences of the President and ý
Prime Minister, are located in Jerusalem.ý
ý
Palestinian claims
Further information: Positions on Jerusalem (Palestinian)ý Prior to the creation of the State of Israel, Jerusalem served as the administrative ýcapital of the British Mandate of Palestine, which included present-day Israel and ýJordan. 86 From 1949 until 1967, West Jerusalem served as Israel's capital but was not ýrecognized internationally as Israel's capital, because UN General Assembly ýResolution 194 ruled Jerusalem an international city. As a result of the Six-Day War in ýý1967, the whole of Jerusalem came under Israeli control. According to the Oslo ýAccords, the final status of Jerusalem should be determined by peaceful negotiations, ýas the Palestinian National Authority sees East Jerusalem as the capital of a future ýPalestinian state. 10 Orient House was the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation ýOrganization in the 1980s and 1990s, but is currently closed.
ýCulture
Although Jerusalem is known around the world for its religious significance, the city is ýalso home to many artistic and cultural venues. The Israel Museum, Jerusalem's ýpremier art museum, annually attracts nearly one million visitors, approximately one-ýthird of them visitors from overseas. 88 The twenty-acre museum complex comprises ýseveral buildings featuring special exhibits and extensive collections of Judaica, ýarcheological findings, and Israeli and European art. The Dead Sea scrolls, discovered ýin the mid-twentieth century in the Qumran caves near the Dead Sea, are housed in ýthe Museum's Shrine of the Book. 89 The Youth Wing, which mounts changing ýexhibits and runs an extensive art education program, is visited by 100,000 children a ýyear. The museum has a large outdoor sculpture garden, and a scale-model of the ýSecond Temple was recently moved from the Holyland Hotel to a new location on the ýmuseum grounds. 88 Other museums affiliated with the Israel Museum are the ýRockefeller Archaeological Museum, Ticho House, and the Paley Center of Art. The ýRockefeller Museum, located in East Jerusalem, was the first archeological museum in ýthe Middle East. It was built in 1938 during the British Mandate. 90 91 Ticho House, ý
in downtown Jerusalem, houses the paintings of Anna Ticho and the Judaica ýcollections of her husband, an ophthalmologist who opened Jerusalem's first eye clinic ýin this building in 1912.
|
