posted September 29, 2004 01:33 AM            

The site of Jerusalem was occupied during the Stone Age, but the aboriginal inhabitants were driven out in the period from 5000 bc to 4000 bc by a people who had advanced into the Bronze Age. The invaders, called Canaanites in the Old Testament, were a mixed people among whom Jebusites were dominant. The Canaanites came under Egyptian rule in the 15th century bc, during the conquests of King Thutmose III. Among the early records referring to Jerusalem are Egyptian tablets dating from about 1400 bc that name the city Urusalim. In about 1250 bc Hebrews from Egypt began their conquest of Canaan, the region to the west of the Jordan River later known as Palestine. So powerfully fortified was Jerusalem, however, that it did not fall until more than 200 years later. In 1000 bc, some years after being anointed King of Israel, David finally captured the city.

A Holy City of the Jews

According to the Old Testament, David brought the sacred Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem from Qiryat Ye’crim (a holy place of the time, west of Jerusalem) and installed it in a new tabernacle, built a royal palace and other buildings, and strengthened the city’s fortifications. Although David greatly expanded the Kingdom of Israel and made Jerusalem its capital, the city and the temple he built were quite modest. Solomon, his son and successor, improved the temple and enlarged the city. He built a city wall and many buildings on a scale of magnificence previously unknown in Israel.

Solomon’s Temple was destroyed and the Jews exiled by the Babylonians in the year 586 bc. In 539 bc, Babylonia was conquered by the Persians (see Persia), who allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem the following year. The construction of a new temple, or Second Temple, was then undertaken on the ruins of the old. Jerusalem was captured by Alexander the Great in 333 bc, and after his death it came under the rule first of Egyptians and later of Syrians. The Syrian ruler Antiochus IV attempted to wipe out the Jewish religion by destroying a large part of Jerusalem in 168 bc. This caused a Jewish revolt under the leadership of Judas Maccabeus, a member of a priestly ruling family, the Hasmonaeans (see Maccabees). He liberated Jerusalem from the Syrians in 165 bc and later extended Hasmonaean rule over a large part of Judea. Jerusalem became the destination of annual Jewish pilgrimage from the outlying area, since certain religious obligations could only be fulfilled in the temple. All Jewish sacred and secular law and power came to be concentrated in the city.

B Roman Period

This power was eclipsed with the conquest of Jerusalem in 63 bc by the Roman general Pompey the Great. Herod the Great became king of Judea in 37 bc. During his administration, which lasted until 4 bc, Herod rebuilt the temple, constructed a fortress, and enhanced other elements of the city. The retaining wall built by Herod for the Temple Mount stands today as the Western Wall. After Herod’s reign, a series of Roman governors were installed. From ad 26 to 36 the governor was Pontius Pilate, who sentenced Jesus to be crucified for treason. The Jews revolted against increasingly oppressive Roman rule in ad 66, and they managed to hold on to Jerusalem in the face of siege until ad 70. In that year, the city was captured by Titus, son of the Roman emperor Vespasian, who destroyed the Temple, except for the Western Wall. The city suffered almost complete destruction during the rebellion (132-135) led by Simon Bar Kokhba, following which the Jews were banished from the city. Under the Roman emperor Hadrian, the city was rebuilt as a pagan city, and its name was changed to Aelia Capitolina. Although the city effectively retained Jerusalem as its name, it did not serve again as a capital until 1099, when it was captured by Crusaders.

In the intervening years, Jerusalem gained stature in religious terms; in administrative and political terms, however, it remained relatively inconsequential. Under Roman rule, the city became a destination for Christian pilgrimage, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built during the reign of Constantine the Great (303-337). Roman support for churches and religious figures gave the city an increasingly Christian aspect.

C Muslim Rule and the Crusaders

In 637, the city came under Muslim control following conquest by Caliph Umar I.

In 638, the city came under Muslim control following conquest by Caliph Umar I. The Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque were soon constructed on the Temple Mount, with the Dome of the Rock standing on the site of the First and Second Temples. The Seljuks, a Turkish dynasty, ruled Jerusalem harshly in the 11th century and continued to expand, especially toward Europe. In response to this expansion and Turkish control of places sacred to Christianity, Pope Urban II called the first of the Crusades, asking Christians to travel to the Middle East and fight to reclaim the Holy Land, especially Jerusalem. Jerusalem fell to the Crusaders under Godfrey of Bouillon in 1099. The Crusaders slaughtered many of the Muslim and Jewish residents and ruled with great cruelty until Saladin captured the city again for the Muslims in 1187. In 1517 Jerusalem was taken by the Ottomans, who ruled it until the 20th century.

During the period of Muslim control, the city was always part of a broader territory, ruled from distant imperial capitals. Its economic fortunes fluctuated, but, in keeping with its marginal political status, the city was often poor and neglected. Its population grew slowly; estimates for the beginning of the 19th century are of fewer than 10,000 people. Much of the growth came from Jewish pilgrims who settled in the city, and by the mid-19th century Jews were once again the majority. As the population grew, there was increased pressure on the housing capacity of the Old City. Jews began to build neighborhoods outside the Old City’s walls, and nearby Arab villages expanded.

D Modern Period

During World War I (1914-1918), the British swept the Ottomans out of Jerusalem and took control of the city in 1917. They captured a city that had spread well beyond the Old City walls but was still poor and underdeveloped. The British became the legal administrators of Jerusalem under the terms of a League of Nations mandate in 1922. In order to preserve the historical character of the area, the British immediately developed plans for its growth, which they tried to direct away from the area adjacent to the Old City walls. As the neighborhoods outside the Old City grew, a pattern of separation pervaded, with Jews and Palestinian Arabs exhibiting a preference for self-segregation when possible, as they had in the Old City. The Jewish-Arab struggle for control of Palestine grew in intensity, and the friction among residents of Jerusalem increased as well. Jews and Arabs both sought to gain control in Jerusalem based on feelings of historical, political, and religious rights.

In 1947 the UN recommended that the British mandate of Palestine be divided into a Jewish state and a Palestinian state, and that Jerusalem be made an international city. Violence erupted between Jews and Arabs in Jerusalem, and the UN plan was rejected by the Palestinian Arabs. During the first Arab-Israeli war (1948-1949), called the War of Independence by Israel, forces from the Kingdom of Jordan pushed into the area to fight against Israel. Jordanian forces succeeded in occupying the eastern side of Jerusalem, including all of the Old City. The Jewish residents and forces were compelled to withdraw, and at the conclusion of the fighting, Jerusalem was divided; the new state of Israel had control of West Jerusalem, and Jordan controlled East Jerusalem.

The dividing line was subsequently fortified, fenced, and set with land mines, and the city remained divided in this manner until 1967. During this period, the Jewish side of the city grew as Israel developed its national government and built up the institutional life of the city. In 1950 Israel proclaimed Jerusalem its capital. The area of the city controlled by Jordan languished, however, since Jordan directed its resources to the growth of its capital, Amman. Jewish and Christian property in the Old City was heavily damaged by a combination of looting, neglect, and destruction.

Early in the Six-Day War of 1967, Jordanian forces in Jerusalem began to bomb the Jewish side of the city. In the ensuing warfare, Israel gained control of all of Jerusalem and the adjacent West Bank territory. The boundaries of the city were redrawn to expand its size by more than 200 percent, and in 1980 the Knesset passed a law declaring reunited Jerusalem to be Israel’s eternal capital. The new municipal boundary added a number of Palestinian villages and the Atarot airport. Palestinian residents of the city were offered Israeli citizenship, but the offer was largely declined. Since many Palestinians retained Jordanian citizenship, the city took on a new political reality, with Palestinians and Israelis voting in the same municipal elections, but in different national elections (Jordanian and Israeli, respectively). Functionally, the city operated as a unit, with shared infrastructure, services, and taxation. Nevertheless, deep social divisions remained.

After the Six-Day War, the urban development of Jerusalem was designed to promote homogeneous ethnic neighborhoods, with buffers separating Arabs and Jews. The pattern grew more complicated as new neighborhoods for Israeli Jews were constructed in the area that prior to 1967 had been dominated by Arabs. By 1990 West Jerusalem was exclusively Jewish, and East Jerusalem had nearly equal populations of Arabs and Jews. The Old City continued to have a non-Israeli majority, but the Jewish Quarter was restored and repopulated, and it quickly became a focal point of tourist and cultural activity. Since the Israeli residential and business sectors outside the Old City have been the target of development support from the government, many new neighborhoods, modern structures, and services have been created. Clear gaps exist between the development of Arab and Jewish areas.

Politically, the city continues to be disputed. Israel claims sovereignty over all of Jerusalem, but Palestinians claim at least the eastern half, including the Old City and all of its holy sites. The complex historical and religious significance of Jerusalem has led to widespread demands for a negotiated settlement of its future political status. Repartition of the city or shared Palestinian-Israeli rule are among the options. Due to the sensitivity and centrality of the question of Jerusalem, discussions concerning the future of the city were isolated from the main body of the Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations that began in 1993. The peace negotiations stalled in 1996 after a conservative government came to power in Israel. In 1997 Israel began construction of Jewish housing projects in East Jerusalem, an action that was protested by the Palestinians as a direct violation of the peace accords. While the issue of Jerusalem’s status remains open, the city continues to grow and modernize, further shifting the balance from old to new.

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And since we don't desire to claim anything of this Holy city or it's land that is settled upon, this question is to remain to always be the same...

"So what are we fighting for?"