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
Where is Jerusalem? The answer is a lot more complex and unclear than you might think.
How Israel razed an 800-year-old historic Muslim neighborhood in the dead of night within hours of occupying East Jerusalem
A conversation with Adalah’s legal director, Suhad Bishara, about Israel’s plan to relegate the Salah al-Din Street commercial district to irrelevance
For Palestinian Jerusalemites, the Oslo Accords had the disastrous effect of severing the city from the rest of the West Bank.
Jerusalem photographer May Herbawe takes us atop the roof of Souk Khan al-Zeit in the Old City, as part of our series on Jerusalemites’ favorite places in the city.
This documentary depicts life in Arab Jerusalem before the 1967 War and captures Palestinians’ sense of loss in its aftermath.
Jerusalem’s Holy Basin is a microcosm of Israel’s settler-colonial agenda in the city and the country.
Israel is spending millions on a Judeo-centric “Jerusalem Heritage” program for the Holy Basin.
Damascus Gate, brought to life by painter Ippolito Caffi
Is this a fleeting moment or a new reality?
Damascus Gate has become ugly, not from an architectural point of view but from a daily emotional one.
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?.
A view of Jerusalem, not as a symbol of religiosity and conflict, but rather as a living city. A book review.