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115-805: The Israel Antiquities Authority plans to move into a new building for the National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel in Jerusalem , next to the Israel Museum . The Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums (IDAM) of the Ministry of Education was founded on July 26, 1948, after the establishment of the State of Israel. It took over the functions of the Department of Antiquities of

230-477: A Large Stone Structure , which she dated to the tenth century BCE, would be evidence of buildings in Jerusalem of a size appropriate to the capital of a centralized kingdom at that time. Others, most notably Israel Finkelstein of Tel Aviv University , argue that the structure could, for the most part, be from the much later Hasmonean period. However, new evidence continues to emerge from the dig. Mazar's date

345-570: 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

460-902: 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

575-547: A "wet sieving" process. In 2024, several researchers published a number of radiocarbon tests conducted in five different parts of the City of David which they argue provide evidence for the existence of an urban settlement in Jerusalem all through the 12th–10th centuries BCE. The period of the tenth and ninth centuries BCE has been the subject of an intense scholarly dispute, as well as of ongoing archaeological investigations. The 2005 discovery by archaeologist Eilat Mazar of

690-530: 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

805-638: A few of the targets relating to the area of the City of David have been achieved and neither the location of the tombs of David and Solomon or the Ophel are known. The City of David is one of the most excavated archaeological sites in the country and one of the first to be excavated. Many researchers of Near Eastern history often took part in digs within the City of David, among whom were: C. Warren , 1867–1870; H. Guthe , 1881; F.J. Bliss and A.C. Dickie, 1894–1897; R. Weill , 1913–1914 and 1923–1924; M. Parker and L. Vincent , 1909–1911, in which they documented

920-478: A gap in the walls of David 's city is mentioned. After significantly modifying Jerusalem's topography for centuries, the moat disappeared again in the Late Hellenistic period , when it was backfilled as part of construction activities. In the uppermost (northern area): City of David archaeologist Eilat Mazar believes that a so-called Large Stone Structure she has discovered at the upper area of

1035-743: 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 a World Heritage Site in 1981, and is on the List of World Heritage in Danger . Since 1860, Jerusalem has grown far beyond

1150-663: A number of places where the bedrock had been cut in various ways. These included areas where the rock had been smoothed and others where it had been cut to form flow channels. There were also several groups of small basins, sometimes called cup marks , cut into the bedrock. These are assumed to have been used for some form of agricultural processing. Macalister and Duncan speculated that they were used in olive oil processing. Edwin C. M. van den Brink , who notes that similar carved basins have been found at Beit Shemesh and near Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut , speculates that they may have been created by repeated grinding and crushing activity, such as

1265-461: A tiny backwater." Today, scholars are divided amongst those who support the historicity of the biblical narrative of a united monarchy ruled by David, those who completely deny its existence and those who support its existence but believe that the Hebrew Bible contains theological exaggerations. A view held by Finkelstein, Koch & Lipschits (2011) that the City of David is to be placed on

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1380-403: A vertical shaft descending from a slanted tunnel to an apparent water source. He suggested that the shaft was used to supply water to the city, which he believed was the old biblical city of David. Today this shaft is called after its discoverer " Warren's shaft ", but his interpretation has been proven wrong, as the shaft is not man-made and had not yet been discovered by Jerusalem's inhabitants in

1495-531: 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

1610-671: 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

1725-691: Is located in Wadi Hilweh , an extension of the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan , East Jerusalem , intertwined with an Israeli settlement . The name " City of David " originates in the biblical narrative where Israelite king David conquers Jerusalem , then known as Jebus, from the Jebusites . David's conquest of the city is described twice in the Bible: once in the Books of Samuel and once in

1840-873: 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

1955-522: 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

2070-565: Is supported by 10th century imported luxury goods found within the Large Stone Structure, including two Phoenician-style ivory inlays once attached to iron objects. Comparable objects found in a Phoenician tomb at Achziv suggest that they may have decorated a sword handle. A quantity of luxury round, carinated bowls with red slip and hand burnishing support both the tenth century date and a sophisticated, urban lifestyle. A bone has been radiocarbon dated by Elisabetta Boaretto at

2185-693: 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

2300-532: Is the future building of the IAA, aiming to concentrate all centralized administrative offices into one structure. The campus is planned on 20,000 square meters between the Israel Museum and the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem by Architect Moshe Safdie . The IAA's organization consists of: The IAA's six-member restoration team restores potsherds, textiles, metal objects and other objects related to

2415-545: 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), the Old City is home to many sites of seminal religious importance , among them

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2530-727: Is traditionally considered to be on the ridge squeezed in by the Central (Tyropoeon) Valley to the west and the Qidron Valley to the east, with the Hinnom Valley bordering it from the south, and distinct from the Ophel saddle area to its north and with the city walls ending before the King's Garden to the south. Here is an incomplete overview of archaeological sites inside the presumed city, and adjacent to it. An at least 70-metre long, 30-metre wide and 9-metre deep moat , separating

2645-523: 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 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

2760-677: 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,

2875-563: 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,

2990-537: The Books of Chronicles ; those two versions vary in certain details. In his Antiquities of the Jews , 1st century Jewish-Roman historian Josephus repeated the story. The reliability of the Bible for the time period's history is subject to debate among scholars. According to the Hebrew Bible, the name "City of David" was applied to Jerusalem after its conquest by David c. 1000 BCE, and is not to be confused with

3105-888: The British Mandate in Israel and Palestine. Originally, its activities were based on the British Mandate Department of Antiquities ordinances. IDAM was the statutory authority responsible for Israel's antiquities and for the administration of small museums. Its functions include curation of the state collection of antiquities, storing of the state collection, maintaining a list of registered antiquities sites, inspecting antiquities sites and registering newly discovered sites, conducting salvage and rescue operations of endangered antiquities sites, maintaining an archaeological library (the state library), maintaining an archive. The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA)

3220-810: The Bronze and Iron Ages . It is situated on southern part of the eastern ridge of ancient Jerusalem, west of the Kidron Valley and east of the Tyropoeon Valley , to the immediate south of the Temple Mount . The City of David is an important site of biblical archeology . Remains of a defensive network dating back to the Middle Bronze Age were found around the Gihon Spring ; they continued to remain in use throughout subsequent periods. Two monumental Iron Age structures, known as

3335-559: The Chalcolithic period and the Early Bronze Age , largely built-up around the natural spring, although not known then by the name City of David. The Old Testament claims that, after the conquest of Jerusalem, an earlier name for the site, Jebus, was replaced by the term "City of David". David's son, Solomon , extended the wall to the north and added to it the area of the Temple Mount whereon he built an edifice (Temple) to

3450-869: 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

3565-693: The Early Roman period , and which, when the Jewish exiles returned to Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah , they continued to call the immediate area surrounding the Pool of Siloam by the name "City of David," although this name was eventually replaced by the name Accra ( חקרא ‎). According to Haaretz , "the prevailing theory in mainstream scholarship, that even if such rulers existed, they were monarchs of

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3680-602: 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

3795-476: 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

3910-601: The Israel Antiquities Authority , and where they detailed Iron Age II findings in a rock-cut pool near the Gihon spring. In the "City of David Visitors' Center," before it was opened to the public, excavations were conducted in and around the general area of that site by a team of IAA archaeologists, again confirming the existence of a city dating back to the Iron Age II, and continuing unabated to

4025-510: 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

4140-805: 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

4255-548: 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

4370-457: 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 , was reinforced by the New Testament account of Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection there. Meanwhile, in Islam , Jerusalem

4485-411: 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

4600-422: 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

4715-469: 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 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

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4830-415: 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

4945-428: The Large Stone Structure and the Stepped Stone Structure , were discovered at the site. Scholars debate if these may be identified with David or date to a later period. The site is also home to the Siloam Tunnel , which, according to a common hypothesis, was built by Hezekiah during the late 8th century BCE in preparation for an Assyrian siege . However, recent excavations at the site suggested an earlier origin in

5060-402: 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

5175-534: 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

5290-449: 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

5405-409: 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 "; the god Shalem was thus the original tutelary deity of the Bronze Age city. Shalim or Shalem

5520-473: 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 the Old City, was occupied and annexed by Jordan . Israel occupied East Jerusalem from Jordan during

5635-414: The Temple Mount . The site has a good defensive position, as it is almost surrounded by the Central or Tyropoeon Valley to its west, by the Hinnom Valley to the south, and the Kidron Valley on the east. The ridge is currently inside the predominantly Arab neighborhood of Wadi Hilweh, which is part of Silwan , an East Jerusalem suburb. It is thought to have been the site of a walled city from

5750-470: The Weizmann Institute , showing a probable date between 1050 and 780 BCE. A large section of a "delicate and elegant" black-on-red jug, also found in the structure, is of a kind dated to the second half of the tenth century BCE. In 2010 Mazar announced the discovery of what she believed to be a 10th-century BCE city wall . According to Mazar, "It's the most significant construction we have from First Temple days in Israel," and "It means that at that time,

5865-454: 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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5980-491: 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 ,

6095-482: The 10th century BCE. There have been numerous excavations since and several digs are currently underway. Complete chronological lists of the digs are available at the website of the Israel Antiquities Authority , dating to following periods: In 2010, an archaeological survey of the City of David was conducted by Rina Avner, Eliahu Shukron and Ronny Reich, on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). In 2012–2013, two teams of archaeologists conducted surveys of

6210-404: The 10th century, in Jerusalem there was a regime capable of carrying out such construction." Aren Maeir, an archaeology professor at Bar Ilan University, said he has yet to see evidence that the fortifications are as old as Mazar claims. Doron Ben-Ami wrote in 2014 that, on the basis of his own excavations in the Givati parking lot area bordering on the "City of David" from the north-west, there

6325-415: 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 the Knesset (Israel's parliament), the residences of the Prime Minister and President , and

6440-409: The Archaeological Survey of Israel (1964-1988). The period of expansion lasted for a number of years, but was followed by a period in which diminished fiscal resources and a reduction in funding led to large cutbacks in the size of its work force and its activities. It published the results of excavations in three journals: The Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel

6555-495: 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

6670-417: The Bronze Age, which enjoyed the defensive advantages of its position. In the pre-Israelite period, the area is thought to have been separated from the site of the later Temple Mount by the Ophel , an uninhabited area which became the seat of government under Israelite rule. In 2014, excavations at the Givati parking lot argued there had been no 10th-century city wall, meaning: no fortified settlement in

6785-405: The City of David during the Iron IIA (c. 1000–925 BCE), the time span usually proposed by biblical scholars for the reigns of David, Solomon and Rehoboam . During the reign of Hezekiah (reign c. 716–697/687 BCE), the walls of Jerusalem were expanded westward, across the Central Valley from the City of David and the Temple Mount, enclosing a previously unwalled suburb in the area known today as

6900-419: 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

7015-478: The God of his fathers. From the eighth century BCE, the city began to expand westward beyond the dale. The debate within biblical archaeology on whether this site on the hill southeast of the Old City could be identified with what the Hebrew Bible calls Jebus and later the City of David, began in the late 19th century with the excavations of Charles Warren and Hermann Guthe . The 1909–11 work of Louis-Hugues Vincent and Montagu Brownlow Parker identified

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7130-490: 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

7245-447: 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

7360-402: 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

7475-432: 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 the Hebrew Bible , King David conquered the city from the Jebusites and established it as

7590-476: The Old City, south of its southeastern corner, in the southern part of the eastern ridge next to the Gihon Spring . The City of David was the ancient epicenter of Jerusalem and whose boundaries stretched from the Temple Mount in the north, thence southward to the Pool of Siloam , including the area marking the Kidron brook in the east and the adjacent dale in the west. Its area is about 50 dunams (ca. 12.3 acres). The beginning of its settlement dates back to

7705-402: 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

7820-485: The Southeastern Ridge from the Ophel and the top of the Temple Mount , was identified in 2023 in the Givati parking lot dig, with an additional segment to the east discovered by Kathleen Kenyon in the 1960s and now understood as part of the same defensive ditch. It is not possible to determine when it was hewn out of the bedrock, but it was in place by the Late Iron Age IIA , around 900 BCE. It reached from Jerusalem's central valley ( Josephus ' Tyropoeon Valley ) in

7935-402: The Temple Mount has largely been rejected by scholars of historical geography . The area is one of the most intensively excavated sites in the Holy Land. Archaeological practice at the site has been criticized for its practitioners not acknowledging political and corporate motivations, questionable field practice and overtly skewed interpretations. It is on a narrow ridge running south from

8050-437: 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

8165-431: The Western Hill of the Old City. Archaeological exploration of the area began in the nineteenth century, with excavations undertaken by Charles Warren in 1867. Warren was sent by the Palestine Exploration Fund . Warren conducted an excavation of the area south of the Temple Mount and recovered a massive fortification. The finding led him to conduct more excavations at the area south of the Temple Mount. There he revealed

8280-599: The area on behalf of the IAA; one led by Joseph (Joe) Uzziel, and the other by Yuval Gadot. Archaeological surveys in the City of David continued in 2014, led by Uzziel, and Nahshon Szanton. A four-year project started in 2017, called "Setting the Clock in the City of David" and led by Yuval Gadot, an archaeologist at Tel Aviv University together with Elisabetta Boaretto (Weizmann Institute of Science), plus two Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists, Joe Uziel and Doron Ben Ami, intends to carbon-14 date sites in Jerusalem. At

8395-407: The basis of their findings, have disproved Warren 's theory that King David (c. 1000 BCE) captured Jerusalem by entering into the city through the shaft now known as Warren's Shaft , and have concluded that the shaft was largely in disuse at that time, although it was within the city and the city was, indeed, encompassed by a monumental wall which they had excavated. This ancient wall, found on

8510-536: 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

8625-620: 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

8740-569: 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 the dawn of the 1st millennium BCE, assumed central symbolic importance for

8855-521: 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

8970-521: 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

9085-591: 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

9200-522: 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

9315-590: The earliest known settlement traces in the Jerusalem region, suggesting the area was an ancient core of settlement in Jerusalem dating back to the Bronze Age . One of the stated objectives of the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) since its establishment in 1865 was to search for the true location of the biblical "City of David" and to report on its findings. However, after 130 years of research, surveys, and excavations in Jerusalem, only

9430-456: 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

9545-468: The grinding of grain or the crushing of olives. Eilat Mazar speculates that they were used to collect rainwater. Pieces of pottery have been found. Middle Bronze Age Jerusalem is mentioned several times in Egyptian texts from the 19th–18th centuries BCE. Pottery and bronze arrowheads dating form this period have been found. In 2010, a fragment of a clay tablet dating from the 14th century BCE

9660-693: 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

9775-677: The late 9th or early 8th century BCE. Remains from the early Roman period include the Pool of Siloam and the Stepped Street , which stretched from the pool to the Temple Mount. The excavated parts of the archeological site are today part of the Jerusalem Walls National Park . The site is managed by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and operated by the Ir David Foundation . It

9890-628: The location of tunnels and artifacts discovered in and on the bedrock in the areas around Warren's Shaft on the eastern slopes of the mountain above the Gihon Spring; R.A.S. Macalister and J. G. Duncan, 1923–1925, who discovered the Ophel ostracon in Wadi Hilweh of the City of David; J.W. Crowfoot and G.M. Fitzgerald, 1927–1928; K.M. Kenyon , in the years 1961–1967; Y. Shilo , 1978 to 1985; and more. More recent excavations (2000–2008) were conducted by R. Reich and E. Shukron on behalf of

10005-567: 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

10120-471: The material culture of the country discovered in archaeological excavations. Unlike their peers around the world, the team in Israel is barred by Israeli law from working with human remains. 31°46′27.54″N 35°12′7.94″E  /  31.7743167°N 35.2022056°E  / 31.7743167; 35.2022056 Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant , on a plateau in

10235-527: The modern organization by the same name and which showcases relatively small excavated portions of the larger city. It is first mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, in 1 Kings 11:27 , in 2 Samuel 5:9 , in 2 Chronicles 32:30 and in Nehemiah 3:15–16 , being the name given to Jerusalem after it had been conquered by King David and who is said to have ruled in the city for 33 years. The area's majority Palestinian Arab residents refer to it as Wadi Hilweh , before it

10350-489: The pharaoh in Egypt. Professor Christopher Rollston points out that there is no mention of any personal names or titles and no place names in the document. He notes that the quality of the script is good but that this does not show that it is "international royal correspondence." He also suggests that caution should be taken before positing a definite date as it is not a stratified find, having been discovered after excavation in

10465-738: 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

10580-552: 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

10695-430: The site and tentatively dated to the tenth to ninth century BC, may be the palace of King David . Not far from that excavation area a number of bullae (seal impressions) were unearthed, bearing the names of Yehucal son of Shelemiah and Gedaliah son of Pashhur , two officials mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah . The Gihon Spring is a major water source used in several successive ancient water systems. The remains at

10810-607: The site include several water tunnels, one of which, the Siloam Tunnel , was built by King Hezekiah and still carries water, along with several pools including the Pool of Siloam known from the Old and New Testaments. The ancient water systems connected to the Gihon Spring include natural, masonry-built, and rock-cut structures, such as On the eastern slope of the ridge, towards the Qidron Valley: Outside

10925-447: The south, Abu Dis and Ma'ale Adumim to the east, Mevaseret Zion to the west, and Ramallah and Giv'at Ze'ev to the north. City of David (historic) The City of David ( Hebrew : עיר דוד , romanized :  ʿĪr Davīd ), known locally mostly as Wadi Hilweh ( Arabic : وادي حلوة ), is the name given to an archaeological site considered by most scholars to be the original settlement core of Jerusalem during

11040-475: The southeastern ridge of ancient Jerusalem. The hill descends from the Dung Gate toward the Gihon Spring and the Pool of Siloam . Today, the archeological site is part of the Palestinian neighborhood and former village of Silwan , which was historically centered on the slopes of the southern part of the Mount of Olives , east of the City of David. In the 20th century, the village spread west and crossed

11155-510: 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

11270-523: 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

11385-523: The time only ten reliable carbon dates existed from all of the city's digs. According to Gadot, the chronology of Jerusalem is "an assumption on an assumption on an assumption". The results of several studies have been published including for the Gihon Spring Tower and for Wilson's Arch. There are several excavated sections known as Area A, B, C, etc., which include city walls, water systems, remains of buildings and more. The City of David

11500-590: 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

11615-499: 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

11730-413: 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

11845-407: The valley to the eastern hill, the site of the ancient city. Before 1948, the area was known in Arabic as Wadi al-Nabah , but was renamed to Wadi al-Hilweh after the wife of the local mukhtar who was killed in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War . The prevailing view of archaeologists is that the ancient site of the City of David lay on an elongated spur facing north–south, extending outside the wall of

11960-516: The walls to the south: The Giv'ati Parking Lot excavations extend over an area of about 5 dunams (1.2 acres ). Here archaeologists claim to have found the remains of the Acra , a fortress built by Antiochus Epiphanes to subdue those Jerusalemites who were opposed to Hellenisation. See Ophel: Jerusalem ophel . Chalcolithic remains include bits of pottery found in clefts in the bedrock by Macalister and Duncan. The expedition also discovered

12075-517: 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

12190-681: The west, to the western slopes of the Qidron Valley north of the Stepped Stone Structure , thus either protecting the northern walls of the Bronze Age city if it is indeed that old, or separating the Iron Age II, so Israelite acropolis , which possibly included the Temple Mount, from the residential part of the city. Researchers tentatively connected it to a passage from the Hebrew Bible , 1 Kings 11:27 , where

12305-534: Was apparently no 10th-century city wall: "Had a fortified settlement existed in the City of David, then the course of the city wall on the west would have had to pass through the Givati excavation area. No such city wall has thus far been found. This means that the Iron Age IIa settlement [c. 1000–925 BCE] was not fortified." Ben-Ami's findings stand in stark contrast to those of R. Reich and E. Shukron who, on

12420-652: Was created from the IDAM by the Knesset (Israeli parliament) in a 1990 statute . Amir Drori became its first director. The IAA fulfilled the statutory obligations of the IDAM and in its early days was greatly expanded from the core number of workers in IDAM to a much larger complement, and to include the functions of the Archaeological Survey of Israel project, ending the activity of the Association for

12535-548: 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

12650-463: 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 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

12765-477: 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

12880-440: Was renamed by Israeli authorities as the City of David after 1967, a name which was first applied to the site by French archaeologist Raymond Weill in 1913. Rannfrid Thelle wrote that the title "City of David" favors the Jewish national agenda and appeals to its Christian supporters. The archaeological site is on a rocky spur south of the Temple Mount and outside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem , sometimes described as

12995-488: 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

13110-471: 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

13225-408: Was uncovered, making it the oldest written document yet uncovered in Jerusalem. It is dated by the writing it bears, in an ancient Akkadian cuneiform script. The text was deciphered by graduate student Takayoshi Oshima working under professor Wayne Horowitz . According to Horowitz, the quality of the writing indicates that this was a royal inscription, apparently a letter from the king of Jerusalem to

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