Heletz ( Hebrew : חֶלֶץ ) is a moshav in southern Israel . Located between Ashkelon , Kiryat Gat and Sderot , it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof Ashkelon Regional Council . In 2022 it had a population of 504.
136-471: The moshav was founded in 1950 by immigrants from Yemen , and was named after the Biblical Helez, one of King David's Warriors (2 Samuel 23:26). It was founded on land belonging to the depopulated Palestinian village of Burayr . The Heletz oil field was the location of the first successful oil well in the country, with extraction beginning in 1955 resulting in much celebration. It remains
272-623: 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
408-570: 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
544-902: 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
680-530: 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
816-730: A criminal offense. Because of these hardships, Israel set up the group Lishkat Hakesher in the early 1950s to maintain contact and promote aliyah with Jews behind the Iron Curtain . 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
952-723: A grandchild of a Jew), the legal right to assisted immigration and settlement in Israel, as well as Israeli citizenship. Someone who "makes aliyah " is called an oleh (m.; pl. olim ) or olah (f.; pl. olot ). Many religious Jews espouse aliyah as a return to the Promised Land , and regard it as the fulfillment of God 's biblical promise to the descendants of the Hebrew patriarchs Abraham , Isaac , and Jacob . Nachmanides (the Ramban) includes making aliyah in his enumeration of
1088-561: A higher geographic elevation . The reason is that many Jews in early rabbinic times used to live either in Egypt's Nile Delta and on the plains of Babylonia , which lay relatively low; or somewhere in the Mediterranean Basin , from where they arrived by ship. It is noteworthy that various references in the earlier books of the Bible indicate that Egypt was considered as being "below" other countries, so that going to Egypt
1224-415: A new suburb of Jaffa established in 1909, eventually grew to become the city of Tel Aviv . During this period, some of the underpinnings of an independent nation-state arose: Hebrew , the ancient national language, was revived as a spoken language; newspapers and literature written in Hebrew were published; political parties and workers organizations were established. The First World War effectively ended
1360-552: A price of $ 2,500 and later at $ 3,300 per head." A mass emigration was politically undesirable for the Soviet regime. The only acceptable ground was family reunification, and a formal petition ("вызов", vyzov ) from a relative from abroad was required for the processing to begin. Often, the result was a formal refusal . The risks to apply for an exit visa compounded because the entire family had to quit their jobs, which in turn would make them vulnerable to charges of social parasitism ,
1496-683: A right to Israeli citizenship, aliyah (returning to Israel) has both a secular and a religious significance. The first modern period of immigration to receive a number in common speech was the Third Aliyah, which in the World War ;I period was referred to as the successor to the First and Second Aliyot from Babylonia in the Biblical period. Reference to earlier modern periods as the First and Second Aliyot appeared first in 1919 and took
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#17327980945661632-638: A sign of approaching redemption and contributed greatly to the messianic spirit of the time. Aliyah was also spurred during this period by the resurgence of messianic fervor among the Jews of France , Italy , the Germanic states , Poland , Russia , and North Africa . The belief in the imminent coming of the Jewish Messiah , the ingathering of the exiles and the re-establishment of the kingdom of Israel encouraged many who had few other options to make
1768-503: A small economy and scant foreign currency reserves, could provide for the immigrants, a strict regime of rationing was put in place. Measures were enacted to ensure that all Israeli citizens had access to adequate food, housing, and clothing. Austerity was very restrictive until 1953; the previous year, Israel had signed a reparations agreement with West Germany , in which the West German government would pay Israel as compensation for
1904-448: A while to catch on. The pronounced persecution of Russian Jews between 1881 and 1910 led to a large wave of emigration. Since only a small portion of East European Jews had adopted Zionism by then, between 1881 and 1914 only 30–40,000 emigrants went to Ottoman Palestine, while over one and a half million Russian Jews and 300,000 from Austria-Hungary reached Northern America. Between 1882 and 1903, approximately 35,000 Jews immigrated to
2040-487: Is a Hebrew word meaning "fondness for Zion." They were also called Hovevei Tsiyon or "enthusiasts for Zion" by the members of the groups themselves. While these groups expressed interest and "fondness" for Palestine, they were not strong enough in number to encompass an entire mass movement as would appear later on in other waves of migration. The majority, belonging to the Hovevei Zion and Bilu movements, came from
2176-531: 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
2312-542: Is characterized as the Pre-Modern Aliyah . Since the birth of Zionism in the late 19th century, the advocates of aliyah have striven to facilitate the settlement of Jewish refugees in Ottoman Palestine , Mandatory Palestine , and the sovereign State of Israel. The periodization of historical waves of Aliyah was first published after the 1917 Balfour Declaration , which created expectations of
2448-604: 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
2584-928: 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
2720-469: 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
2856-637: 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
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#17327980945662992-636: Is the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel or the Palestine region , which is today chiefly represented by the State of Israel . Traditionally described as "the act of going up" (towards the Jewish holy city of Jerusalem ), moving to the Land of Israel or "making aliyah" is one of the most basic tenets of Zionism . The opposite action – emigration by Jews from
3128-487: The 613 commandments . Sifre says that the mitzvah (commandment) of living in Eretz Yisrael is as important as all the other mitzvot put together. There are many mitzvot such as shmita , the sabbatical year for farming, which can only be performed in Israel. For generations of religious Jews, aliyah was associated with the coming of the Jewish Messiah . Jews prayed for their Messiah to come, who
3264-677: 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,
3400-626: 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,
3536-610: The Bauhaus style (the White City of Tel Aviv has the highest concentration of International Style architecture in the world with a strong element of Bauhaus) and founded the Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra. With the completion of the port at Haifa and its oil refineries , significant industry was added to the predominantly agricultural economy. The Jewish population reached 450,000 by 1940. At
3672-617: The Bricha of the Holocaust survivors ; the aliyah from elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa as well as the aliyah from Western and Communist countries following the Six-Day War with the 1968 Polish political crisis , as well as the aliyah from post-Soviet states in the 1990s. Today, most aliyah consists of voluntary migration for ideological, economic, or family reunification purposes. Because Jewish lineage can provide
3808-611: The Byzantine Empire in 1453 and the expulsion of Jews from Spain (1492) and Portugal (1498), many Jews made their way to the Holy Land. Some Ukrainian Jewish refugees fleeing the pogroms of the Khmelnytsky Uprising of the mid-17th century also settled in the Holy Land. Then the immigration in the 18th and early 19th centuries of thousands of followers of various Kabbalist and Hassidic rabbis, as well as
3944-869: 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
4080-656: 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
4216-686: The First Aliyah and the Second Aliyah to Ottoman Palestine, followed by the Third , Fourth , and Fifth Aliyah to Mandatory Palestine. Following Ruppin and Jacob Lestschinsky before him, Gurevich's use of the term Aliyah emphasized the ideological element of the immigration, despite the fact that such a motivation was not representative of the immigrants as a whole. Subsequently, named periods include Aliyah Bet (immigration done in spite of restrictive Mandatory law) between 1934 and 1948 and
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4352-602: 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
4488-528: 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
4624-704: 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
4760-775: The Histadrut (General Labor Federation); an elected assembly; national council; and the Haganah , the forerunner of the Israel Defense Forces . Between 1924 and 1929, 82,000 Jews arrived, many as a result of increasing anti-Semitism in Poland and throughout Europe. The vast majority of Jewish immigrants arrived from Europe mostly from Poland, the Soviet Union , Romania, and Lithuania, but about 12% came from Asia, mostly Yemen and Iraq. The immigration quotas of
4896-538: The Holocaust , due to Israel's taking in a large number of Holocaust survivors. The resulting influx of foreign capital boosted the Israeli economy and allowed for the relaxing of most restrictions. The remaining austerity measures were gradually phased out throughout the following years. When new immigrants arrived in Israel, they were sprayed with DDT , underwent a medical examination, were inoculated against diseases, and were given food. The earliest immigrants received desirable homes in established urban areas, but most of
5032-510: 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
5168-530: 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
5304-548: 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
5440-411: 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
5576-422: 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
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5712-415: 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
5848-406: 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 ";
5984-402: 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
6120-493: The Mount of Olives . Kurdish Jews settled in Jerusalem starting around 1895. Between 1904 and 1914, 35–40,000 Jews immigrated to Ottoman Palestine. The vast majority came from the Russian Empire , in particular from the Pale of Settlement in Eastern Europe. Jews from other countries in Eastern Europe such as Romania and Bulgaria also joined. Jewish emigration from Eastern Europe was largely due to pogroms and outbreaks of anti-Semitism there. However, Mountain Jews from
6256-507: The Ottoman Palestine , joining the pre-existing Jewish population which in 1880 numbered 20,000-25,000. The Jews immigrating arrived in groups that had been assembled, or recruited. Most of these groups had been arranged in the areas of Romania and Russia in the 1880s. The migration of Jews from Russia correlates with the end of the Russian pogroms, with about 3 percent of Jews emigrating from Europe to Palestine. The groups who arrived in Palestine around this time were called Hibbat Tsiyon , which
6392-534: 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
6528-400: The Russian Empire with a smaller number arriving from Yemen . Many established agricultural communities. Among the towns that these individuals established are Petah Tikva (already in 1878), Rishon LeZion , Rosh Pinna , and Zikhron Ya'akov . In 1882 the Yemenite Jews settled in the Arab village of Silwan located south-east of the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem on the slopes of
6664-449: 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
6800-439: The United States kept Jews out. This group contained many middle-class families that moved to the growing towns, establishing small businesses, and light industry. Of these approximately 23,000 left the country. Between 1929 and 1939, with the rise of Nazism in Germany , a new wave of 250,000 immigrants arrived; the majority of these, 174,000, arrived between 1933 and 1936, after which increasing restrictions on immigration by
6936-454: 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
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#17327980945667072-491: 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 ,
7208-412: The world's Jewish population . The Hebrew word aliyah means "ascent" or "going up". Jewish tradition views traveling to the Land of Israel as an ascent, both geographically and metaphysically. In one opinion, the geographical sense preceded the metaphorical one, as most Jews going on pilgrimage to Jerusalem , which is situated at approximately 750 meters (2,500 feet) above sea level, had to climb to
7344-436: The 1930s and 1940s, Zionist historians began to divide the next periods of immigration to Palestine into different phases, in a form which "created and presumed the unique traits of aliyah and the Zionist enterprise". The currently accepted five-wave periodization was first published in Hebrew by sociologist David Gurevich in his 1944 work The Jewish Population of Palestine: Immigration, Demographic Structure and Natural Growth :
7480-438: 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
7616-495: 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
7752-412: The British Mandate, and illegal immigration escalated rapidly as many Holocaust survivors joined the aliyah. After Aliyah Bet, the process of numbering or naming individual aliyot ceased, but immigration did not. A major wave of Jewish immigration, mainly from post-Holocaust Europe and the Arab and Muslim world took place from 1948 to 1951. In three and a half years, the Jewish population of Israel, which
7888-508: The British made immigration clandestine and illegal, called Aliyah Bet . The Fifth Aliyah was again driven almost entirely from Europe, mostly from Central Europe (particularly from Poland , Germany , Austria , and Czechoslovakia ), but also from Greece . Some Jewish immigrants also came from other countries such as Turkey , Iran , and Yemen . The Fifth Aliyah contained large numbers of professionals, doctors, lawyers, and professors, from Germany. Refugee architects and musicians introduced
8024-444: The Caucasus and Jews from other countries including Yemen, Iran , and Argentina also arrived at this time. The Eastern European Jewish immigrants of this period, greatly influenced by socialist ideals, established the first kibbutz , Degania Alef , in 1909 and formed self-defense organizations, such as Hashomer , to counter increasing Arab hostility and to help Jews to protect their communities from Arab marauders. Ahuzat Bayit,
8160-414: The French port of Sète aboard President Warfield (renamed Exodus ). The British turned them back to France from Haifa, and forced them ashore in Hamburg. Despite British efforts to curb the illegal immigration, during the 14 years of its operation, 110,000 Jews immigrated to Palestine. In 1945 reports of the Holocaust with its 6 million Jewish killed, caused many Jews in Palestine to turn openly against
8296-419: 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
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#17327980945668432-405: The Hebrews of living in Egypt of being enemies who in time of war might "Fight against us, and so get them up out of the land". Widespread use of the term Aliyah to describe ideologically inspired Jewish immigration to Palestine / Israel is due to Arthur Ruppin 's 1930 work Soziologie der Juden . Aliyah has also been defined, by sociologists such as Aryeh Tartakower , as immigration for
8568-490: 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
8704-415: The Jewish Agency under which 50,000 German Jews and $ 100 million worth of their assets would be moved to Palestine. The British government limited Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine with quotas, and following the rise of Nazism to power in Germany , illegal immigration to Mandatory Palestine commenced. The illegal immigration was known as Aliyah Bet ("secondary immigration"), or Ha'apalah , and
8840-449: The Jewish exiles living in Babylon to their home city of Jerusalem in 459 BC. Even those Jews who did not end up returning gave their children names like Yashuv-Tzadik and Yaeliyahu which testified to their desire to return. Jews returned to the Land of Israel throughout the Second Temple period . Herod the Great also encouraged aliyah and often gave key posts, such as the position of High Priest , to returnees. In late antiquity,
8976-447: The Jewish year 5600, Christian year 1840, a movement documented in Arie Morgenstern's Hastening Redemption . There were also those who like the British mystic Laurence Oliphant tried to lease Northern Palestine to settle the Jews there (1879). Jewish immigration to Palestine began in earnest following the 1839 Tanzimat reforms; between 1840 and 1880, the Jewish population of Palestine rose from 9,000 to 23,000. In Zionist history,
9112-462: The Jews (both of which were regarded as "co-nationals"), their price was "calculated". Ceaușescu, happy with these policies, even declared that " oil , Germans, and Jews are our most important export commodities". Israeli government paid to facilitate aliyah, and around 235,000 people emigrated from Romania to Israel under this agreement. When Romania was under control of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej , he received 10 million dollars per year, and only he had
9248-429: The Land of Israel – is referred to in the Hebrew language as yerida ( lit. ' descent ' ). The Law of Return that was passed by the Israeli parliament in 1950 gives all diaspora Jews, as well as their children and grandchildren, the right to relocate to Israel and acquire Israeli citizenship on the basis of connecting to their Jewish identity . For much of their history , most Jews have lived in
9384-447: 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
9520-402: 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
9656-450: 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
9792-422: 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
9928-628: 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
10064-668: The United States (especially in New York City and Los Angeles ). The first major wave of aliyah from Ethiopia took place in the mid-1970s. The massive airlift known as Operation Moses began to bring Ethiopian Jews to Israel on November 18, 1984, and ended on January 5, 1985. During those six weeks, some 6,500–8,000 Ethiopian Jews were flown from Sudan to Israel. An estimated 2,000–4,000 Jews died en route to Sudan or in Sudanese refugee camps. In 1991 Operation Solomon
10200-514: 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
10336-435: The access to the money transferred to the secret account. Israel also bought Romanian goods and invested into Romania's economy. After his death, Ceauşescu practically sold the Jews to Israel, and received between 4,000 and 6,000$ per person. Israel could have transferred nearly 60 million dollars for the aliyah. Another estimation is higher - according to Radu Ioanid , "Ceausescu sold 40,577 Jews to Israel for $ 112,498,800, at
10472-545: The beginning of the immigration wave, most of the immigrants to reach Israel were Holocaust survivors from Europe, including many from displaced persons camps in Germany , Austria , and Italy , and from British detention camps on Cyprus . Large sections of shattered Jewish communities throughout Europe, such as those from Poland and Romania also immigrated to Israel, with some communities, such as those from Bulgaria and Yugoslavia , being almost entirely transferred. At
10608-536: 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
10744-461: The camps received a ration card, an identity card, a mattress, a pair of blankets, and $ 21 to $ 36 in cash. They settled either in established cities and towns, or in kibbutzim and moshavim . Many others stayed in the Ma'abarot as they were gradually turned into permanent cities and towns, which became known as development towns , or were absorbed as neighborhoods of the towns they were attached to, and
10880-620: 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
11016-521: 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
11152-521: 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
11288-526: The core of the Old Yishuv in Jerusalem. This was part of a larger movement of thousands of Jews from countries as widely spaced as Persia and Morocco, Yemen and Russia, who moved to Palestine beginning in the first decade of the nineteenth century – and in even larger numbers after the conquest of the region by Muhammad Ali of Egypt in 1832 – all drawn by the expectation of the arrival of the Messiah in
11424-663: The country. While many have actively chosen to settle in Israel rather than some other country, many had little or no choice about leaving their previous home countries. While Israel is commonly recognized as "a country of immigrants ", it is also, in large measure, a country of refugees , including internal refugees. Israeli citizens who marry individuals of Palestinian heritage, born within the Israeli-occupied territories and carrying Palestinian IDs, must renounce Israeli residency themselves in order to live and travel together with their spouses. The Hebrew Bible relates that
11560-639: 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 ,
11696-520: The diaspora outside of the Land of Israel due to various historical conflicts that led to their persecution alongside multiple instances of expulsions and exoduses . In the late 19th century, 99.7% of the world's Jews lived outside the region, with Jews representing 2–5% of the population of the Palestine region . Despite its historical value as a national aspiration for the Jewish people , aliyah
11832-517: The different waves of aliyah , beginning with the arrival of the Biluim from Russia in 1882, are categorized by date and the country of origin of the immigrants. In the late 19th century, 99.7% of the world's Jews lived outside the region, with Jews representing 2–5% of the population of the Palestine region . Pre-19th century small-scale return migration of Diaspora Jews to the Land of Israel
11968-740: The disciples of the Vilna Gaon and the disciples of the Chattam Sofer , added considerably to the Jewish populations in Jerusalem , Tiberias , Hebron , and Safed . The messianic dreams of the Gaon of Vilna inspired one of the largest pre-Zionist waves of immigration to Eretz Yisrael. In 1808 hundreds of the Gaon's disciples, known as Perushim , settled in Tiberias and Safed, and later formed
12104-591: 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
12240-522: 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
12376-456: 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
12512-498: The entire Jewish population of Libya left for Israel around this time, and clandestine aliyah from Syria took place, as the Syrian government prohibited Jewish emigration, in a process that was to last decades. Israel also saw significant immigration of Jews from non-Arab Muslim countries such as Iran , Turkey , and Afghanistan in this period. This resulted in a period of austerity . To ensure that Israel, which at that time had
12648-603: The founding of the State of Israel, the Jewish Agency for Israel was mandated as the organization responsible for aliyah in the diaspora. From 1948 until the early 1970s, around 900,000 Jews from Arab lands left, fled, or were expelled from various Arab nations, of which an estimated 650,000 settled in Israel. In the course of Operation Magic Carpet (1949–1950), nearly the entire community of Yemenite Jews (about 49,000) immigrated to Israel. Its other name, Operation On Wings of Eagles (Hebrew: כנפי נשרים, Kanfei Nesharim),
12784-645: 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
12920-407: The good of the community, regardless of the destination. Aliyah is an important Jewish cultural concept and a fundamental component of Zionism . It is enshrined in Israel's Law of Return , which accords any Jew (deemed as such by halakha and/or Israeli secular law ) and eligible non-Jews (a child and a grandchild of a Jew, the spouse of a Jew, the spouse of a child of a Jew and the spouse of
13056-410: The immigrants still living in transit camps. The Israeli government built 260 new settlements and 78,000 housing units to accommodate the immigrants, and by the mid-1950s, almost all were in permanent housing. The last ma'abarot closed in 1963. In the mid-1950s, a smaller wave of immigration began from North African countries such as Morocco , Tunisia , Algeria , and Egypt , many of which were in
13192-405: The immigrants were then sent to transit camps, known initially as immigrant camps , and later as Ma'abarot . Many were also initially housed in reception centers in military barracks. By the end of 1950, some 93,000 immigrants were housed in 62 transit camps. The Israeli government's goal was to get the immigrants out of refugee housing and into society as speedily as possible. Immigrants who left
13328-627: The international consultant firm of TRACS International to study the oil and gas reserves underlying the Heletz field. Reserves are estimated at 20 million barrels (3.2 × 10 ^ m) of oil to as high as 100 million barrels (16 × 10 ^ m). Tomco Energy had its shares suspended on 11 February 2009 stating contractual difficulties relating to the financing of its Heletz oil field operations. Aliyah Aliyah ( US : / ˌ æ l i ˈ ɑː / , UK : / ˌ ɑː -/ ; Hebrew : עֲלִיָּה ʿălīyyā , lit. ' ascent ' )
13464-751: 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
13600-635: 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
13736-547: The midst of nationalist struggles. Between 1952 and 1964, some 240,000 North African Jews came to Israel. During this period, smaller but significant numbers arrived from other places such as Europe, Iran , India , and Latin America . In particular, a small immigration wave from then communist Poland , known as the " Gomulka Aliyah", took place during this period. From 1956 to 1960, Poland permitted free Jewish emigration, and some 50,000 Polish Jews immigrated to Israel. Since
13872-403: The most economic oil field in Israel. Recently Avenue Group, Inc. and Tomco Energy have restarted production from the Heletz oil field. The companies reported total production of over 3,200 barrels (510 m) of oil since June 11. Three more wells are currently awaiting the delivery and installation of downhole pumps in preparation for their return to production. The companies have also retained
14008-581: The patriarch Abraham came to the Land of Canaan with his family and followers in approximately 1800 BC. His grandson Jacob went down to Egypt with his family, and after several centuries there, the Israelites went back to Canaan under Moses and Joshua , entering it in about 1300 BC. In Zionist historiography, post the Balfour Declaration and the start of the "Third Aliyah", the "First Aliyah" and "Second Aliyah" originally referred to
14144-511: The perilous journey to the land of Israel. Pre-Zionist resettlement in Palestine met with various degrees of success. For example, little is known of the fate of the 1210 "aliyah of the three hundred rabbis" and their descendants. It is thought that few survived the bloody upheavals caused by the Crusader invasion in 1229 and their subsequent expulsion by the Muslims in 1291. After the fall of
14280-535: The period of the Second Aliyah. It is estimated that over half of those who arrived during this period ended up leaving; Ben Gurion stated that nine out of ten left. Between 1919 and 1923, 40,000 Jews, mainly from Eastern Europe arrived in the wake of World War I . The British occupation of Palestine and the establishment of the British Mandate created the conditions for the implementation of
14416-686: The promises contained in the Balfour Declaration . Many of the Jewish immigrants were ideologically driven pioneers, known as halutzim , trained in agriculture and capable of establishing self-sustaining economies. In spite of immigration quotas established by the British administration, the Jewish population reached 90,000 by the end of this period. The Jezreel Valley and the Hefer Plain marshes were drained and converted to agricultural use. Additional national institutions arose such as
14552-738: 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
14688-552: 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
14824-451: The same time, tensions between Arabs and Jews grew during this period, leading to a series of Arab riots against the Jews in 1929 that left many dead and resulted in the depopulation of the Jewish community in Hebron . This was followed by more violence during the " Great Uprising " of 1936–1939. In response to the ever-increasing tension between the Arabic and Jewish communities married with
14960-517: The same time, the number of Jewish immigrants from Arab countries greatly increased. Special operations were undertaken to evacuate Jewish communities perceived to be in serious danger to Israel, such as Operation Magic Carpet , which evacuated almost the entire Jewish population of Yemen , and Operation Ezra and Nehemiah , which airlifted most of the Jews of Iraq to Israel. Egyptian Jews were smuggled to Israel in Operation Goshen. Nearly
15096-638: The start of a huge wave of immigration dubbed the "Third Aliyah", in contrast to the Biblical "First Aliyah" and "Second Aliyah" " returns to Zion " described in Ezra–Nehemiah . Over the next two years, discussion in Zionist literature transformed the two prior to refer to the contemporary immigration waves at the end of the 19th century and the early 20th. These periods as per the modern convention were first published in October 1919 by Yosef Haim Brenner . In
15232-455: 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
15368-523: 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
15504-550: The three major Abrahamic religions — Judaism , Christianity , and Islam . Both the State of Israel and 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
15640-431: The tin dwellings were replaced with permanent housing. In the early 1950s, the immigration wave subsided, and emigration increased; ultimately, some 10% of the immigrants would leave Israel for other countries in the following years. In 1953, immigration to Israel averaged 1,200 a month, while emigration averaged 700 a month. The end of the period of mass immigration gave Israel a critical opportunity to more rapidly absorb
15776-539: 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
15912-489: The two Biblical " returns to Zion " described in Ezra–Nehemiah – the "First Aliya" led by Zerubbabel , and the "Second Aliya" led by Ezra and Nehemiah approximately 80 years later. A few decades after the fall of the Kingdom of Judah and the Babylonian exile of the Jewish people, approximately 50,000 Jews returned to Zion following the Cyrus Declaration from 538 BC. The Jewish priestly scribe Ezra led
16048-611: The two hubs of rabbinic learning were Babylonia and the land of Israel . Throughout the Amoraic period, many Babylonian Jews immigrated to the land of Israel and left their mark on life there, as rabbis and leaders. In the 10th century, leaders of the Karaite Jewish community, mostly living under Persian rule, urged their followers to settle in Eretz Yisrael. The Karaites established their own quarter in Jerusalem , on
16184-499: 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
16320-413: 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
16456-681: The various commitments the British faced at the dawn of World War II, the British issued the White Paper of 1939 , which severely restricted Jewish immigration to 75,000 people for five years. This served to create a relatively peaceful eight years in Palestine while the Holocaust unfolded in Europe. Shortly after their rise to power, the Nazis negotiated the Ha'avara or "Transfer" Agreement with
16592-633: The war ended. Romanian Jews were, under their own will, "sold" or "exchanged" to Israel in the 1950s with the help of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee for about 8,000 lei (about 420 dollars ). The price of these Jews usually varied according to their "worth". This practice continued at a slower pace from 1965 under Nicolae Ceaușescu , a Romanian communist leader. During the 1950s, West Germany had been also paying Romania an amount of money in exchange for some Germans of Romania , and, just like
16728-517: 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
16864-757: The western slope of the Kidron Valley . During this period, there is abundant evidence of pilgrimages to Jerusalem by Jews from various countries, mainly in the month of Tishrei , around the time of the Sukkot holiday. The number of Jews migrating to the land of Israel rose significantly between the 13th and 19th centuries, mainly due to a general decline in the status of Jews across Europe and an increase in religious persecution . The expulsion of Jews from England (1290), France (1391), Austria (1421), and Spain (the Alhambra decree of 1492) were seen by many as
17000-446: Was 650,000 at the state's founding, was more than doubled by an influx of about 688,000 immigrants. In 1949, the largest-ever number of Jewish immigrants in a single year - 249,954 - arrived in Israel. This period of immigration is often termed kibbutz galuyot (literally, ingathering of exiles), due to the large number of Jewish diaspora communities that made aliyah. However, kibbutz galuyot can also refer to aliyah in general. At
17136-589: Was acted upon by few prior to the rise of a national awakening among Jews worldwide and the subsequent development of the Zionist movement in the late 19th century; the large-scale immigration of Jews to Palestine had consequently begun by 1882. Since the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948, more than 3 million Jews have made aliyah. As of 2014 , Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories contain approximately 42.9 percent of
17272-407: Was described as "going down to Egypt" while going away from Egypt (including Hebrews going out of Egypt to Canaan) was "going up out of Egypt". Thus, in the Book of Genesis 46 God speaks to Jacob and says “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down to Egypt with you." And in the Book of Exodus 1, the oppressive new King of Egypt suspects
17408-548: 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
17544-585: Was inspired by Following the establishment of Israel, about one-third of Iranian Jews , most of them poor, immigrated to Israel, and immigration from Iran continued throughout the following decades. An estimated 70,000 Iranian Jews immigrated to Israel between 1948 and 1978. Following the Islamic Revolution in 1979, most of the Iranian Jewish community left, with some 20,000 Iranian Jews immigrating to Israel. Many Iranian Jews also settled in
17680-533: Was launched to bring the Beta Israel Jews of Ethiopia . In one day, May 24, 34 aircraft landed at Addis Ababa and brought 14,325 Jews from Ethiopia to Israel . Since that time, Ethiopian Jews have continued to immigrate to Israel bringing the number of Ethiopian-Israelis today to over 100,000. After the war, Romania had second-largest Jewish population in Europe, of around 350,000 or higher. In 1949, 118,939 Romanian Jews had emigrated to Israel since
17816-477: 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
17952-536: Was organized by the Mossad Le'aliyah Bet , as well as by the Irgun . Immigration was done mainly by sea, and to a lesser extent overland through Iraq and Syria . During World War II and the years that followed until independence, Aliyah Bet became the main form of Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine. Following the war, Bricha ("escape"), an organization of former partisans and ghetto fighters
18088-631: Was primarily responsible for smuggling Jews from Eastern Europe through Poland. In 1946 Poland was the only Eastern Bloc country to allow free Jewish aliyah to Mandate Palestine without visas or exit permits. By contrast, Stalin forcibly brought Soviet Jews back to USSR, as agreed by the Allies during the Yalta Conference . The refugees were sent to the Italian ports from which they traveled to Mandatory Palestine. More than 4,500 survivors left
18224-706: 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),
18360-416: 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
18496-499: Was to redeem the "Land of Israel" ( Eretz Yisrael , commonly known in English as the region of Palestine ) from gentile rule and return world Jewry to the land under a Halachic theocracy . In Zionist discourse, the term aliyah (plural aliyot ) includes both voluntary immigration for ideological, emotional, or practical reasons and, on the other hand, mass flight of persecuted populations of Jews. The vast majority of Israeli Jews today trace their family's recent roots to outside
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