Modern day
Jerusalem from Mt. of Olives
Jerusalem, located in the Judaen
mountains between the Mediterranean Sea and the northern tip of the
Dead Sea is one of the oldest cities in the world. The city is the holiest in all of
Judaism, the third holiest city of Islam, and a site of great
significance for Christianity. The walled area of Jerusalem, or the
"Old
City," constituted the entire city until the mid-nineteenth century,
around the same time that its four traditional quarters were designated
the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim. Despite the small area of
the Old City (.35 sq. miles), it is the home of several of the most
important religious sites for the three western faiths; Judaism's
Temple Mount
and the Western Wall, Christianity's Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and
Islam's Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque.
First Century Jerusalem
15th-16th Century Watercolor
Jerusalem's significant historical sites: Actual 1949 armistice
line shown in bold black.
Under the Mandate of Palestine, the city of
Jerusalem was to remain in the control of a special "international
regime" controlled by the United Nations. This plan was never fully
implemented and the city was the source of vicious fighting during the
1949 Arab-Israeli War. The resulting armistice led to the dividing line
between West and East Jerusalem; the west controlled by Israel, and the
east controlled by the Jordanian ruled West Bank. After the war, access
to the easter part of the city and its holy sites was cut off to
Israelis by the Jordanian government, and extremely limited access was
granted to visitors of East Jerusalem's holy Christian sites.
