Foundations
What Is Jerusalem?
Today’s Jerusalem is a city that remains undefined in any official sense that would be considered legitimate by all its residents. Residents must navigate an imposed labyrinthine maze of borders, jurisdictions, and fragmented spaces that is difficult for non-natives to fathom. Understanding these complexities is the starting point for anyone wanting to grasp the realities faced by Jerusalem’s Palestinians.
Featured in This Topic
A legal expert reviews pivotal Israeli rulings on al-Aqsa Mosque since 1967.
Northward expansion of the city into West Bank would be first since 1967.
An interactive map of Greater (Jewish) Jerusalem as envisioned by Israel
In 1900, Jerusalemites felt they were part of a city whose municipality was improving their quality of life in measurable ways. A book review.
For Palestinian Jerusalemites, the Oslo Accords had the disastrous effect of severing the city from the rest of the West Bank.
A family story from the Nakba reveals how Jerusalem has been transformed.
Three Palestinians remember their childhoods in cosmopolitan Jerusalem prior to 1948
A shining example of genuine community-based restoration work in the fraught political Jerusalem landscape
A look back at Jerusalem’s rulers since ancient times and the city’s population based on more recent censuses
Palestinian Jerusalemites view the history of their city through a different lens. A conversation with Palestinian historian Nazmi Jubeh.
A stunning live performance work created by Douban Professional Dance that shows how Jerusalem has benefited from its diversity, and how diversity shapes Jerusalemites’ identity still.
Young Palestinian Jerusalemite musicians play qanun across Jerusalem landscapes.
The history of Jerusalem’s largest and most iconic gate
Damascus Gate has become ugly, not from an architectural point of view but from a daily emotional one.
Is this a fleeting moment or a new reality?
The Story in Numbers
10
Number of times the official Jerusalem municipal boundaries have changed since 1917 [1]
19.2 sq km
The area of the city of Jerusalem under the British Mandate period, 1917–47 [2]
28
Number of Palestinian localities that Israel unilaterally incorporated into the city upon expanding the municipal boundaries in 1967 to add areas on the (Arab) eastern side of the city that had not previously belonged to it [3]
70 sq km
Newly expanded area of East Jerusalem after Israel unilaterally expanded the boundaries in June, 1967, de facto annexing an additional 64 sq km to East Jerusalem from the original 6 sq km, including many Palestinian villages that had not previously been in the city [4]
126.4 sq km
The total area of the city of Jerusalem today [5]
440 sq km
The area of “Greater Jerusalem,” the expanded, Jewish-majority Jerusalem that Israel envisions and is rapidly developing [6]
0
Number of times the Palestinian residents of Jerusalem have been consulted or given an opportunity to influence where the official municipal boundaries of Jerusalem should be [7]
Notes
1. See Table 1 in Where Is Jerusalem?.
2. See Table 1 in Where Is Jerusalem?.
3. See Table 1 in Where Is Jerusalem?.
4. See Table 1 in Where Is Jerusalem?.
5. See Table 1 in Where Is Jerusalem?.
6. See Israel’s Vision of a Greater [Jewish] Jerusalem
7. See Where Is Jerusalem?.
Jerusalemites loved to explore and photograph the great outdoors with family members and friends.
Some key drivers of the demographic balance in Jerusalem