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
The Status Quo agreement on Jerusalem’s holy sites, enacted in the Ottoman era, seeks to prevent conflict between religious groups. Increasingly, it is being violated.
Damascus Gate has become ugly, not from an architectural point of view but from a daily emotional one.
This scholarly yet accessible biography describes Jerusalem’s rise to an eternal symbol for the three Abrahamic religions. A book review.
The mufti’s luxurious home in Sheikh Jarrah is a microcosm of the city’s rich and vibrant Palestinian past—and of its erasure by Israeli authorities.
Is this a fleeting moment or a new reality?
A glimpse of Jerusalem at the point when the New City was just beginning to breach the walls of the Old City
Jerusalem’s Holy Basin is a microcosm of Israel’s settler-colonial agenda in the city and the country.
An introduction to the applications of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) within the context of the occupied Palestinian Territory (oPT), including East Jerusalem.
What was it like to live through Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem in June 1967, and how did it transform the city and community?
This documentary depicts life in Arab Jerusalem before the 1967 War and captures Palestinians’ sense of loss in its aftermath.
A look back at Jerusalem’s rulers since ancient times and the city’s population based on more recent censuses
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?.
Jewish aggressions toward Islam’s third holiest site escalate to new heights.
Damascus Gate, brought to life by painter Ippolito Caffi