Jerusalem

Jerusalem sits on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains, in the Southern Levant between the Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea. Among the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities, it is sacred to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—the three major Abrahamic faiths. Both Israel and Palestine claim it as their capital: Israel houses its main government institutions there, while Palestine envisions it as its future seat of power. Neither claim enjoys broad international recognition.

The city’s status remains a central flashpoint in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The 1947 United Nations Partition Plan proposed making Jerusalem a corpus separatum—a special international zone under UN administration. After the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, 1949 armistice agreements split the city: West Jerusalem under Israeli control, East Jerusalem under Jordanian control. That arrangement held until 1967, when Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan during the Six-Day War and later annexed it, along with additional surrounding land, into the city’s municipality.

Israel’s 1980 Basic Law, the Jerusalem Law, declares the city its undivided capital. All branches of the Israeli government—the Knesset, the residences of the prime minister and president, and the Supreme Court—are located there. Over its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, captured and recaptured 44 times, and attacked 52 times. The earliest known settlement, in the area called the City of David, dates to the 4th millennium BCE, when nomadic shepherds camped there.

In the Canaanite period (14th century BCE), Egyptian tablets record the city as Urusalim, likely meaning “City of Shalem,” after a Canaanite deity. During the Israelite period, major construction began in the 10th century BCE (Iron Age II), and by the 9th century BCE the city had become the religious and administrative center of the Kingdom of Judah. The city walls were last rebuilt in 1538 under Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. Those walls now define the Old City, which since the 19th century has been divided into four quarters: Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim.

The Old City was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981 and is listed as a World Heritage in Danger site. Since 1860, Jerusalem has expanded well beyond the Old City’s boundaries. In 2020, the population was 951,100: 570,100 Jews (59.9%), 353,800 Muslims (37.2%), 16,300 Christians (1.7%), and 10,800 unclassified (1.1%). In 2022, Jews made up about 60% of the population and Palestinians nearly 40%.

According to the Hebrew Bible, King David conquered the city from the Jebusites and made it the capital of the United Kingdom of Israel; his son Solomon built the First Temple there. Modern scholars, however, argue that the Israelites emerged from Canaanite culture, developing a distinct monolatrous—later monotheistic—religion centered on El/Yahweh. These events became central symbols for the Jewish people. The title “holy city” likely attached to Jerusalem in the post-exilic period.

For Christians, the city’s holiness—already present in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament)—was reinforced by the New Testament accounts of Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection there. In Islam, Jerusalem is the third-holiest city, after Mecca and Medina. It was the first direction for Muslim prayers, and Islamic tradition holds that Muhammad made his Night Journey there in 621, ascending to heaven to speak with God, as recorded in the Quran.

Despite covering only 0.9 km², the Old City contains sites of profound religious importance: the Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound on the Temple Mount (including the Western Wall, the Dome of the Rock, and the Qibli Mosque), and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The name Jerusalem is often etymologized as “foundation of the god Shalem,” from the Semitic root yry (“to found, to lay a cornerstone”), used that way in the Hebrew Bible in Job and Genesis. Shalem was the tutelary deity of the Bronze Age city.

Shalim or Shalem was the Canaanite god of dusk; the root S-L-M also yields the Hebrew word for “peace” (shalom, cognate with Arabic salam). This led to interpretations like “City of Peace,” “Abode of Peace,” or “Vision of Peace” in some Christian writings. The ending -ayim suggests a dual form, possibly referring to the city’s original location on two hills. Ancient Egyptian sources: Execration Texts from the Middle Kingdom (c. 19th century BCE) mention a city called rwšꜣlmm or ꜣwšꜣmm, transcribed as Rušalimum or Urušalimum, possibly Jerusalem.

The Amarna letters of Abdi-Heba (1330s BCE) refer to Úrušalim, which may be the earliest clear mention. Hebrew Bible and Jewish sources: The forms Yerushalem and Yerushalayim first appear in the Book of Joshua. Jerusalem is mentioned 669 times in the Hebrew Bible; the term Zion appears 154 times, either symbolically for Jerusalem or as a reference to the entire Land of Israel. A Midrash holds that the name combines two names united by God: Yireh (“the abiding place,” given by Abraham) and Shalem.