Jerusalem, The Holy City of the Jews

Historical Facts:
438 CE There is conclusive historical and archaeological evidence that there has been an unbroken Jewish presence in Jerusalem since 438 CE, 200 years before the Arab conquest in 638 CD. The Jewish claim, therefore, is not based on biblical and historical rights alone. Jews have always been permanent residents of the Old City, and since 1820, the Jews constituted the largest single community there. Despite persecution and oppression, the Jewish presence in Jerusalem was interrupted only twice: under Byzantine rule between 135 and 438 CE, and during the Crusader Kingdom, which lasted from 1099 to 1187 CE.

1889 Thirty thousand out of 40,000 people in Jerusalem are Jews.

1911 Baedeker's guide reports Jerusalem's total population as 70,000, i.e., 45,000 Jews, 15,000 Christians and 10,000 Muslims.

1922 Haj Amin el-Husseini appointed Mufti of Jerusalem and becomes leader of Arab insurgent movement, siding with Hitler during World War II.

1929 Continued harassment of prayers at the Western Wall (such as by removing the cloth screen dividing the male and female enclosures on Yom Kippur) causes indignation among world Jewry. Muslim agitation leads to country-wide riots, culminating in the massacre of the Hebron and Safed Jewish communities.

1936 The establishment of the Arab Higher Committee under the Mufti of Jerusalem led to increased disturbances and a general strike. The investigating Royal Commission headed by Lord Peel recommended the partition of Palestine. The ensuing Arab revolt resulted in a high death toll among Jews, Arab rioters and moderate Arabs killed by Arab extremists.

1939 Hadassah Medical Center opened on Mount Scopus. In the 1948 War of Independence, a convoy on its way to the center was ambushed and its 78 doctors and nurses were murdered. Eventually the center was evacuated.

1948 After the War of Independence, Jerusalem is divided. East Jerusalem and the Old City remain in Jordanian hands, with the Jewish Quarter and its 58 synagogues destroyed and its Jewish population expelled. Israel retains West Jerusalem; passage between the two parts possible only through the Mandelbaum Gate.

Prime Minister Ben Gurion declares State of Israel with Jerusalem as its capital.

1948 - 1967 During the Jordanian occupation, the large Jewish cemetery on the mount of Olives was callously desecrated. Some 38,000 tombstones were ripped out of the ground and used for the building of roads or paving latrines in the camps of the Arab Legion.

Throughout the 19 years of Jordanian occupation Jews were denied access to the Old City altogether. Christians were barred from crossing from Israel into Jordan-held East Jerusalem to visit their Holy Places, except at Christmas and Eastertime.

1967 The Six Day War erupts. King Hussein orders his army to attack West Jerusalem despite Israeli warnings. In the ensuing battle, East Jerusalem falls into Israeli hands and the divided city is reunited.

The Law for the Protection of the Holy Places passed by the Knesset.

The Jerusalem Committee, an international panel of architects, planners and historians for the review of the city's development, established.

Excavations by Amiran and Eitan begin at the Citadel.

1980 Special law enacted by Knesset re-affirming that united Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. In the political aftermath, foreign embassies in the city move to Tel Aviv.

Crown Prince Fahd of Saudi Arabia declares a Jihad (Holy War) "to protect the Holy City against Zionist aggression."

International Christian Embassy Jerusalem founded.