The Jerusalem Post is an Israeli daily English-language broadsheet newspaper, founded on 1 December 1932 by Gershon Agron as The Palestine Post. The daily readership numbers (tens of thousands) do not approach those of the major Hebrew newspapers.

While it was once regarded as left-wing, the paper underwent a noticeable shift to the right in the late 1980s.^[3] After 2004, under the editorial leadership of David Horovitz, a non-partisan, more inclusive editorial line was fostered. Today the Post features columns and opinion articles spanning the political spectrum.

History[link]

The Palestine Post was founded on 1 December 1932 by American journalist-turned-newspaper-editor, Gershon Agron in the British Mandate of Palestine. During its time as The Palestine Post, the publication supported the struggle for a Jewish homeland in Palestine and openly opposed British policy restricting Jewish immigration during the Mandate period.

According to the Historical Jewish Press, The Palestine Post was established "as part of a Zionist-Jewish initiative", and "Zionist institutions considered the newspaper one of the most effective means of exerting influence on the British authorities".^[4]

On the evening of 1 February 1948, a stolen British police car loaded with half a ton of TNT pulled up in front of the Jerusalem office of the Palestine Post. The driver of a second car arrived a few minutes later, lit the fuse and drove off.^[5] The building also contained other newspaper offices, the British press censor, the Jewish settlement police, and a Haganah post with a cache of weapons. Arab leader Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni claimed responsibility for the bombing, but historian Uri Milstein reported that the bomb had been prepared by the Nazi-trained Fawzi el-Kutub, known as "the engineer", and that two British army deserters were also involved, Cpl. Peter Mersden and Capt. Eddie Brown.^[6][7] Three persons died later, one newspaper typesetter and two people who lived in a nearby block of flats.^[8] Dozens of others were injured and the printing press was destroyed. The morning paper came out in a reduced format of two pages, printed up at a small print shop nearby.^[9]

In 1950, two years after the State of Israel was declared, the paper was renamed The Jerusalem Post.

Ownership changes[link]

Until 1989 the paper supported the forerunners of the Labor Party. In 1989, the paper was purchased by Hollinger Inc. A number of journalists resigned from the Post after Conrad Black's takeover and founded The Jerusalem Report, a weekly magazine eventually sold to the Post. The leader of the walkout was David Landau, who founded Haaretz English Edition and went on to become editor-in-chief of Haaretz until 2009.

On 16 November 2004, Hollinger sold the paper to Mirkaei Tikshoret Ltd., a Tel Aviv-based publisher of Israeli newspapers. CanWest Global Communications, Canada's biggest media concern, had announced an agreement to take a 50 percent stake in the Jerusalem Post after Mirkaei bought the property, but the deal soured. The two sides went to arbitration, and CanWest lost.^[10]

Political orientation[link]

The New York Times says "The Jerusalem Post’s stance has swung back and forth."^[11] Left-wing and right-wing columns are often featured on the editorial pages. It espouses economic positions close to those of libertarianism: tight fiscal control on public spending, curbing of welfare, cutting taxes, and anti-union monopoly legislation, among others.^{[citation needed]} The paper competes with Haaretz newspaper, which began publishing an English language edition in the 1990s as an insert to the International Herald Tribune. In summer 2011 the paper fired its outspoken columnist Larry Derfner for a controversial post in his personal blog in which he wrote that Palestinians have a right to kill Israelis to oppose the occupation. The dismissal was criticized by many, most notably former Editor-in-Chief Jeff Barak.

Today[link]

The Jerusalem Post is published from Sunday to Friday, with no edition appearing on Saturday (the Jewish Sabbath) and Jewish religious holidays. The current Editor-in-Chief is Steve Linde, who took over from David Horovitz in 2011. The paper hosts a number of regular opinion columnists who provide insights on particular subjects such as religion, foreign affairs and economics. The paper's current Managing Editor is David Brinn, its News Editor is Ilan Evyatar and Night Editor is Jonathan Beck.

The paper also publishes editions geared for the foreign market — a Christian edition, a French-language edition and an international edition — as well as several newspapers for children and teenagers.

In January, 2008, the paper announced a new partnership with The Wall Street Journal, including joint marketing and exclusive publication in Israel of The Wall Street Journal Europe.^[12]

Some of the material in The Jerusalem Post is translated and included in the free Hebrew daily Israel Post, which is co-owned by Eli Azur, who owns a controlling stake in The Jerusalem Post.

The Jerusalem Post also publishes a monthly magazine titled Ivrit. Its target audience is people learning Hebrew language and it is described as "an easy-Hebrew" publication, meant for improving basic Hebrew reading skills. It uses vowel notation system to make comprehension of the alephbet abjad simpler.^[13]

JPost.com[link]

The Jerusalem Post also publishes an online edition found at, and colloquially referred to as, Jpost.com. The site contains archives that go back to 1989, and the default search on the site sends users to archive listings, powered by ProQuest, where articles can be purchased.^[14] Free blurbs of the article are available as well, and full articles are available when linked to directly from navigation within JPost.com or from a search engine.

A French language version of the newspaper is also published online at fr.jpost.com.^[15]

Notable journalists and writers[link]

Caroline B. Glick Hirsh Goodman Isi Leibler Barry Rubin Alon Ben-Meir Shmuley Boteach Jay Bushinsky Uri Savir Amotz Asa-El Issamar Ginzberg Ray Hanania Sarah Honig Naomi Ragen Herb Keinon Shlomo Riskin Jonathan Rosenblum Khaled Abu Toameh Gil Troy Israel Kasnett Warren Goldstein Alan Dershowitz Liat Collins Editors[link] Steve Linde (2011–present)[16] David Horovitz (2004–2011) Bret Stephens (2002–2004) Jeff Barak (2000–2002) Carl Schrag (2000) David Makovsky (1999–2000) Jeff Barak (1996–1999) David Bar-Illan (1992–1996) N. David Gross (1990–1992) Ari Rath and Erwin Frenkel (1975–1989) Lea Ben Dor (1974–1975) Ted Lurie (1955–1975) Gershon Agron (1932–1955) See also[link] Israel portal Journalism portal References[link] ^ The Jerusalem Post (Israeli newspaper) Britannica ^ http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/press.html ^ The press in Israel BBC News, 8 May 2006 ^ Historical Jewish Press ^ American Jewish Historical Society: American Newlyweds in Israel, 1948 ^ Uri Milstein, History of Israel's War of Independence, Vol III (English edition: University Press of America, 1997, ISBN 0-7618-0769-1), pages 105–107. ^ http://www.jpost.com/LocalIsrael/InJerusalem/Article.aspx?id=141579 , ^ The Palestine Post, 5 February 1948, p3. ^ American Jewish Historical Society: American Newlyweds in Israel, 1948 ^ CanWest loses battle for 50% of 'Jerusalem Post' ^ New York Times ^ 'Post' partners with Wall Street Journal ^ Jerusalem Post – Ivrit ^ Pqarchiver.com ^ (French) Jpost.com ^ http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=224653 Horovitz steps down, Linde taking over as JPost editor External links[link] Jerusalem Post – Internet Edition Jerusalem Post – French Edition Palestine Post – complete searchable contents 1932–1950 JPostPedia v t e Newspapers of Israel General Haaretz · Israel HaYom · Israel Post · Maariv · Makor Rishon · Yedioth Ahronoth Financial Calcalist · Globes · TheMarker Non-Hebrew Al-Ittihad (Arabic) · The Jerusalem Post (English, French)  · Vesti (Russian) Haredi Hamodia · Yated Ne'eman Weekly Almadina (Arabic) · B'Sheva · HaIr · Kol HaIr · Kul al-Arab (Arabic) · Novosti Nedeli (Russian) · Zman Tel Aviv

Jerusalem יְרוּשָׁלַיִם (Yerushalayim) القُدس (al-Quds)
—  City  —
From upper left: Jerusalem skyline viewed from Givat ha'Arba, Mamilla, the Old City and the Dome of the Rock, a souq in the Old City, the Knesset, the Western Wall, the Tower of David and the Old City walls
Flag Coat of arms of Jerusalem Coat of arms
Nickname(s): Ir ha-Kodesh (Holy City), Bayt al-Maqdis (House of the Holiness)
Coordinates: 31°47′N 35°13′E / 31.783°N 35.217°E / 31.783; 35.217Coordinates: 31°47′N 35°13′E / 31.783°N 35.217°E / 31.783; 35.217
District	Jerusalem
Government
• Mayor	Nir Barkat
Area
• City	125,156 dunams (125.156 km2 or 48.323 sq mi)
• Metro	652,000 dunams (652 km2 or 252 sq mi)
Elevation	754 m (2,474 ft)
Population (2012)
• City	801,000
• Density	6,400/km2 (17,000/sq mi)
• Metro	1,029,300
Demonym	Jerusalemite
Time zone	IST (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	IDT (UTC+3)
Area code(s)	overseas dialing +972-2; local dialing 02
Website	jerusalem.muni.il[iv]

Jerusalem ( /dʒəˈruːsələm/; Hebrew: יְרוּשָׁלַיִם‎‎ Yerushaláyim   ; Arabic: القُدس‎ al-Quds    and/or أورشليم Ûrshalîm)^[i] is the capital of Israel, though not internationally recognized as such,^[ii] and one of the oldest cities in the world.^[1] It is located in the Judean Mountains, between the Mediterranean Sea and the northern edge of the Dead Sea. If the area and population of East Jerusalem is included, it is Israel's largest city in both population and area,^[2][3] with a population of 801,000 residents^[4] over an area of 125.1 km² (48.3 sq mi).^[5][6][iii] Jerusalem is also a holy city to the three major Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times.^[7] The oldest part of the city was settled in the 4th millennium BCE.^[1] In 1538, walls were built around Jerusalem under Suleiman the Magnificent. Today those walls define the Old City, which has been traditionally divided into four quarters—known since the early 19th century as the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters.^[8] The Old City became a World Heritage site in 1981, and is on the List of World Heritage in Danger.^[9] Modern Jerusalem has grown far beyond its boundaries.

In Judaism, Jerusalem has been the holiest city since, according to the Hebrew Bible, King David of Israel first established it as the capital of the united Kingdom of Israel in c.1000 BCE, and his son, King Solomon, commissioned the building of the First Temple in the city.^[10] In Christianity, Jerusalem has been a holy city since, according to the New Testament, Jesus was crucified there, possibly in c.33 CE,^[11][12][13] and 300 years later Saint Helena identified the pilgrimage sites of Jesus' life. In Sunni Islam, Jerusalem is the third-holiest city.^[14][15] It became the first Qibla, the focal point for Muslim prayer (Salah) in 610 CE,^[16] and, according to Islamic tradition, Muhammad made his Night Journey there ten years later.^[17][18] As a result, despite having an area of only 0.9 square kilometres (0.35 sq mi),^[19] the Old City is home to many sites of tremendous religious importance, among them the Temple Mount, the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque.

Today, 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 captured and later annexed by Israel, while East Jerusalem, including the Old City, was captured by Jordan. Israel captured East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War and subsequently annexed it. Currently, Israel's Basic Law refers to Jerusalem as the country's "undivided capital". The international community has rejected the annexation as illegal and treats East Jerusalem as Palestinian territory held by Israel under military occupation.^{[20][21][22][23]} The international community does not recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, and the city hosts no foreign embassies.

According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, 208,000 Palestinians live in East Jerusalem, which is sought by the Palestinian Authority as a future capital of a future Palestinian state.^[24][25][26]

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 the Supreme Court. Jerusalem is home to the Hebrew University and to the Israel Museum with its Shrine of the Book. The Jerusalem Biblical Zoo has ranked consistently as Israel's top tourist attraction for Israelis.^[27][28]

Etymology[link]

A city called Rušalimum or Urušalimum (Foundation of Shalem)^[29] appears in ancient Egyptian records as the first two references to Jerusalem, dating back to the 19th and 18th centuries BCE.^[30][31] The name recurs in Akkadian cuneiform as Urušalim, in the Amarna tablets datable to the 1400-1360 BCE. The name “Jerusalem” is variously etymologised to mean “foundation (Sumerian yeru, ‘settlement’/Semitic yry, ‘found’) of the god Shalem”, ‘dwelling of peace’, ‘founded in safety’,^[32] or to mean ‘Salem gives instruction’ (yrh, ‘show, teach, instruct’). The god Shalem has a special relationship with Jerusalem.^[33] Others dismiss the Sumerian link, and point to yarah, Semitic/Hebrew for ‘to lay a cornerstone’, yielding the idea of laying a cornerstone to the temple of the god Shalem, who was a member of the West Semitic pantheon (Akkadian Shalim, Assyrian Shulmanu), the god of the setting sun and the nether world, as well as of health and perfection.^[34]

The form Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) first appears in the Bible, in the book of Joshua. This form has the appearance of a portmanteau (blend) of Yireh (an abiding place of the fear and the service of God) ^[35] The meaning of the common root S-L-M is unknown but is thought to refer to either "peace" (Salam or Shalom in modern Arabic and Hebrew) or Shalim, the god of dusk in the Canaanite religion.^[36][37] The name gained the popular meanings "The City of Peace"^[29][38] and "Abode of Peace",^[39][40] alternately "Vision of Peace" in some Christian theology.^[41] Typically the ending -im indicates the plural in Hebrew grammar and -ayim the dual, thus leading to the suggestion that the name refers to the fact that the city sits on two hills.^[42][43] However the pronunciation of the last syllable as -ayim appears to be a late development, which had not yet appeared at the time of the Septuagint.

The most ancient settlement of Jerusalem, founded as early as the Bronze Age on the hill above the Gihon Spring, was according to the Bible named Jebus.^[44] It was renamed the City of David in the first millennium BCE,^[44] and was known by this name in antiquity.^[45][46] Another name, "Zion", initially referred to a distinct part of the city, but later came to signify the city as a whole and to represent the biblical Land of Israel. In Greek and Latin the city's name was transliterated Hierosolyma (Greek: Ἱεροσόλυμα; in Greek hieròs, ἱερός, means holy), although the city was renamed Aelia Capitolina for part of the Roman period of its history.

In Arabic, Jerusalem is most commonly known as القُدس, transliterated as al-Quds and meaning "The Holy" or "The Holy Sanctuary".^[39][40] Official Israeli government policy mandates that أُورُشَلِيمَ, transliterated as Ūršalīm, which is the cognate of the Hebrew and English names, be used as the Arabic language name for the city in conjunction with القُدس. أُورُشَلِيمَ-القُدس‎.^[47]

History[link]

Given the city's central position in both Israeli nationalism (Zionism) and Palestinian nationalism, the selectivity required to summarise more than 5,000 years of inhabited history is often^[48][49] influenced by ideological bias or background (see Historiography and nationalism). For example, the Jewish periods of the city's history are important to Israeli nationalists (Zionists), whose discourse suggests that modern Jews descend from the Israelites and Maccabees,^[50][51] whilst the Islamic, Christian and other non-Jewish periods of the city's history are important to Palestinian nationalism, whose discourse suggests that modern Palestinians descend from all the different peoples who have lived in the region.^[52][53] As a result, both sides claim the history of the city has been politicized by the other in order to strengthen their relative claims to the city,^{[48][48][49][54][55]} and that this is borne out by the different focuses the different writers place on the various events and eras in the city's history.

Overview of Jerusalem's historical periods[link]

<timeline> ImageSize = width:700 height:auto barincrement:12 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:30 right:80 left:10 AlignBars = justify

DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:-2000 till:2012 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:500 start:-2000 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:100 start:-2000

Colors =

 id:canvas      value:rgb(1,1,1)
 id:y     value:yellow
 id:b     value:blue
 id:g     value:green
 id:r     value:red
 id:l     value:black

Backgroundcolors = canvas:canvas

BarData =

 barset:Rulers

PlotData=

 width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till
 barset:Rulers

 from:-2000 till: -1550 color:y text:"Proto-Canaanite"
 from:-1550 till: -1178 color:y text:"Egyptian New Kingdom"
 from:-1178 till: -1000 color:y text:"Jebusite"
 from:-1000 till: -732 color:b text:"Israel-Judah (House of David)"
 from:-732 till: -627 color:y text:"Neo-Assyrian"
 from:-627 till: -539 color:y text:"Neo-Babylonian"
 from:-539 till: -332 color:y text:"Persian (Achaemenid)"
 from:-332 till: -140 color:y text:"Macedonian (Ptolemaic / Seleucid)"
 from:-140 till: -63 color:b text:"Hasmonean"
 from:-63 till: 325 color:y text:"Roman"
 from:325 till: 614 color:r text:"Byzantine"
 from:614 till: 629 color:y text:"Persian (Sassanid)"
 from:629 till: 638 color:r text:"Byzantine"
 from:638 till: 661 color:g text:"Rashidun"
 from:661 till: 750 color:g text:"Umayyad"
 from:750 till: 969 color:g text:"Abbasid"
 from:969 till: 1073 color:g text:"Fatimid"
 from:1073 till: 1099 color:g text:"Seljuq"
 from:1099 till: 1187 color:r text:"Kingdom of Jerusalem (Crusaders)"
 from:1187 till: 1260 color:g text:"Ayyubid"
 from:1260 till: 1517 color:g text:"Mamluk"
 from:1517 till: 1917 color:g text:"Ottoman"
 from:1917 till: 1948 color:r text:"British"
 from:1948 till: 1967 color:l text:"Israel and Jordan"
 from:1967 till: 2012 color:b text:"Israel"

 barset:skip

</timeline>

Ancient period[link]

Stepped Stone Structure, City of Jebus

Ceramic evidence indicates occupation of the City of David, within present-day Jerusalem, as far back as the Copper Age (c. 4th millennium BCE),^[1][56] with evidence of a permanent settlement during the early Bronze Age (c. 3000–2800 BCE).^[56][57] The Execration Texts (c. 19th century BCE), which refer to a city called Roshlamem or Rosh-ramen^[56] and the Amarna letters (c. 14th century BCE) may be the earliest mention of the city.^[58][59] Some archaeologists, including Kathleen Kenyon, believe Jerusalem^[60] as a city was founded by Northwest Semitic people with organized settlements from around 2600 BCE. According to Jewish tradition, the city was founded by Shem and Eber, ancestors of Abraham. In the biblical account, Jerusalem ("Salem") when first mentioned is ruled by Melchizedek, an ally of Abraham (identified with Shem in legend). Later, in the time of Joshua, Jerusalem lay within territory allocated to the tribe of Benjamin (Joshua 18:28), but continued to be under the independent control of the Jebusites until it was conquered by David and made into the capital of the united Kingdom of Israel (c. 11th century BCE).^[61][62][v] Recent excavations of a Large Stone Structure and a nearby Stepped Stone Structure are widely believed^{[by whom?]} to be the remains of King David's palace. The excavations have been interpreted by some archaeologists as lending credence to the biblical narrative, while others disagree.^[63]

According to Hebrew scripture, King David reigned for 40 years. The generally accepted estimate of the conclusion of this reign is 970 BCE. The Bible records that David was succeeded by his son Solomon,^[64] who built the Holy Temple on Mount Moriah. Solomon's Temple (later known as the First Temple), went on to play a pivotal role in Jewish history as the repository of the Ark of the Covenant.^[65] For more than 400 years, until the Babylonian conquest in 587 BCE, Jerusalem was the political capital of the united Kingdom of Israel and then the Kingdom of Judah. During this period, known as the First Temple Period,^[66] the Temple was the religious center of the Israelites.^[67] On Solomon's death (c. 930 BCE), the ten northern tribes split off to form the Kingdom of Israel. Under the leadership of the House of David and Solomon, Jerusalem remained the capital of the Kingdom of Judah.^[68]

When the Assyrians conquered the Kingdom of Israel in 722 BCE, Jerusalem was strengthened by a great influx of refugees from the northern kingdom. The First Temple period ended around 586 BCE, as the Babylonians conquered Judah and Jerusalem, and laid waste to Solomon's Temple.^[66]

Classical antiquity[link]

In 538 BCE, after 50 years of Babylonian captivity, Persian King Cyrus the Great invited the Jews to return to Judah to rebuild the Temple.^[69] Construction of the Second Temple was completed in 516 BCE, during the reign of Darius the Great, 70 years after the destruction of the First Temple.^[70][71] In about 445 BCE, King Artaxerxes I of Persia issued a decree allowing the city and the walls to be rebuilt.^[72] Jerusalem resumed its role as capital of Judah and center of Jewish worship.

When Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire, Jerusalem and Judea came under Macedonian control, eventually falling to the Ptolemaic dynasty under Ptolemy I. In 198 BCE, Ptolemy V lost Jerusalem and Judea to the Seleucids under Antiochus III. The Seleucid attempt to recast Jerusalem as a Hellenized city-state came to a head in 168 BCE with the successful Maccabean revolt of Mattathias and his five sons against Antiochus Epiphanes, and their establishment of the Hasmonean Kingdom in 152 BCE with Jerusalem again as its capital.

In 63 BCE, Pompey the Great intervened in a Hasmonean struggle for the throne and captured Jerusalem, extending the influence of the Roman Republic over Judea.^[73] Following a short invasion by Parthians, backing the rival Hasmonean rulers, Judea became a scene of struggle between pro-Roman and pro-Parthian forces, eventually leading to the emergence of Edomite Herod, who would be appointed King of the Jews by the Roman senate and establish the Herodian dynasty.

Roman siege and destruction of Jerusalem (David Roberts, 1850)

As Rome became stronger it installed Herod as a Jewish client king. Herod the Great, as he was known, devoted himself to developing and beautifying the city. He built walls, towers and palaces, and expanded the Temple Mount, buttressing the courtyard with blocks of stone weighing up to 100 tons. Under Herod, the area of the Temple Mount doubled in size.^[64][74][75] Shortly after Herod's death, in 6 CE Judea came under direct Roman rule as the Iudaea Province,^[76] although Herod's descendants through Agrippa II remained client kings of neighbouring territories until 96 CE. Roman rule over Jerusalem and the region began to be challenged with the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. Jerusalem once again served as the capital of Judea during the three-year rebellion known as the Bar Kokhba revolt, beginning in 132 CE. The Romans succeeded in suppressing the revolt in 135 CE. Emperor Hadrian combined Iudaea Province with neighboring provinces to create Syria Palaestina, erasing the name of Judea,^[77] romanized the city, renaming it Aelia Capitolina,^[78] and banned the Jews from entering it on pain of death, except for one day each year (9 Ab). These anti-Jewish measures^[79][80][81] which affected also Jewish Christians,^[82] was taken to ensure 'the complete and permanent secularization of Jerusalem.'^[83] The enforcement of the ban on Jews entering Aelia Capitolina continued until the 4th century CE.

In the five centuries following the Bar Kokhba revolt, the city remained under Roman then Byzantine rule. During the 4th century, the Roman Emperor Constantine I constructed Christian sites in Jerusalem, such as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Jerusalem reached a peak in size and population at the end of the Second Temple Period, when the city covered two square kilometers (0.8 sq mi.) and had a population of 200,000.^[80][84] From the days of Constantine until the 7th century, Jews were banned from Jerusalem.^[85]

The eastern continuation of the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, maintained control of the city for years. Within the span of a few decades, Jerusalem shifted from Byzantine to Persian rule and returned to Roman-Byzantine dominion once more. Following Sassanid Khosrau II's early 7th century push into Byzantine, advancing through Syria, Sassanid Generals Shahrbaraz and Shahin attacked the Byzantine-controlled city of Jerusalem (Persian: Dej Houdkh‎). They were aided by the Jews of Palaestina Prima, who had risen up against the Byzantines.^[86]

In the Siege of Jerusalem (614), after 21 days of relentless siege warfare, Jerusalem was captured. The Byzantine chronicles relate that the Sassanid army and the Jews slaughtered tens of thousands of Christians in the city, an episode which has been the subject of much debate between historians.^[87] The conquered city would remain in Sassanid hands for some fifteen years until the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius reconquered it in 629.^{[86][verification needed]} Reinstalled Byzantine rule resulted in wide-scale massacre of the Jews throughout Palaestina Prima and Palaestina Secunda provinces, which would practically erase the 150,000-strong Jewish community. The remnants of the Palaestinian and Jerusalemite Jews found refuge in Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Middle Ages[link]

Dome of the Rock viewed through Cotton Gate

Byzantine Jerusalem was conquered by the Arab armies of Omar ibn Hattab in 634. Among Muslims of Islam's earliest era it was referred to as Madinat bayt al-Maqdis ("City of the Temple")^[88] which was restricted to the Temple Mount. The rest of the city "...was called Iliya, reflecting the Roman name given the city following the destruction of 70 c.e.: Aelia Capitolina".^[89] Later the Temple Mount became known as al-Haram al-Sharif, “The Noble Sanctuary”, while the city around it became known as Bayt al-Maqdis,^[90] and later still, al-Quds al-Sharif "The Noble City". The Islamization of Jerusalem began in the first year A.H. (620 CE), when Muslims were instructed to face the city while performing their daily prostrations and, according to Muslim religious tradition, Muhammad's night journey and ascension to heaven took place. After 16 months, the direction of prayer was changed to Mecca.^[91] In 638 the Islamic Caliphate extended its dominion to Jerusalem.^[92] With the Arab conquest, Jews were allowed back into the city.^[93] The Rashidun caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab signed a treaty with Monophysite Christian Patriarch Sophronius, assuring him that Jerusalem's Christian holy places and population would be protected under Muslim rule.^[94] Christian-Arab tradition records that, when led to pray at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the holiest site for Christians, the caliph Umar refused to pray in the church so that Muslims would not request conversion of the church to a mosque.^[95] He prayed outside the church, where the Mosque of Umar (Omar) stands to this day, opposite the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. According to the Gaullic bishop Arculf, who lived in Jerusalem from 679 to 688, the Mosque of Umar was a rectangular wooden structure built over ruins which could accommodate 3,000 worshipers.^[96] When the Muslims went to Bayt Al-Maqdes for the first time, They searched for the site of the Far Away Holy Mosque (Al-Masjed Al-Aqsa) that was mentioned in Quran and Hadith according to Islamic beliefs. Contemporary Arabic and Hebrew sources say the site was full of rubbish, and that Arabs and Jews cleaned it.^[97] The Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik commissioned the construction of the Dome of the Rock in the late 7th century.^[98] The 10th century historian al-Muqaddasi writes that Abd al-Malik built the shrine in order to compete in grandeur with Jerusalem's monumental churches.^[96] Over the next four hundred years Jerusalem's prominence diminished as Arab powers in the region jockeyed for control.^[99]

Medieval illustration of capture of Jerusalem during the First Crusade, 1099

In 1099, The Fatimid ruler expelled the native Christian population before Jerusalem was conquered by the Crusaders, who massacred most of its Muslim and Jewish inhabitants when they took the solidly defended city by assault, after a period of siege; later the Crusaders created the Kingdom of Jerusalem. By early June 1099 Jerusalem’s population had declined from 70,000 to less than 30,000.^[100]

In 1187, the city was wrested from the Crusaders by Saladin who permitted Jews and Muslims to return and settle in the city.^[101] Under the Ayyubid dynasty of Saladin, a period of huge investment began in the construction of houses, markets, public baths, and pilgrim hostels as well as the establishment of religious endowments. However, for most of the 13th century, Jerusalem declined to the status of a village due to city's fall of strategic value and Ayyubid internecine struggles.^[102]

In 1244, Jerusalem was sacked by the Khwarezmian Tartars, who decimated the city's Christian population and drove out the Jews.^[103] The Khwarezmian Tartars were driven out by the Ayyubids in 1247. From 1250 to 1517, Jerusalem was ruled by the Mamluks. During this period of time many clashes occurred between the Mamluks on one side and the crusaders and the Mongols on the other side. The area also suffered from many earthquakes and black plague.^{[citation needed]} Some European Christian presence was maintained in the city by the Order of the Holy Sepulchre.

Early modern period[link]

David's Citadel and the Ottoman walls

In 1517, Jerusalem and environs fell to the Ottoman Turks, who generally remained in control until 1917.^[101] Jerusalem enjoyed a prosperous period of renewal and peace under Suleiman the Magnificent – including the rebuilding of magnificent walls around the Old City. Throughout much of Ottoman rule, Jerusalem remained a provincial, if religiously important center, and did not straddle the main trade route between Damascus and Cairo.^[104] The English reference book Modern history or the present state of all nations written in 1744 stated that "Jerusalem is still reckoned the capital city of Palestine".^[105]

The Ottomans brought many innovations: modern postal systems run by the various consulates; the use of the wheel for modes of transportation; stagecoach and carriage, the wheelbarrow and the cart; and the oil-lantern, among the first signs of modernization in the city.^[106] In the mid 19th century, the Ottomans constructed the first paved road from Jaffa to Jerusalem, and by 1892 the railroad had reached the city.^[106]

Modern period[link]

Ben-Zakai Synagogue in 1893

With the annexation of Jerusalem by Muhammad Ali of Egypt in 1831, foreign missions and consulates began to establish a foothold in the city. In 1836, Ibrahim Pasha allowed Jerusalem's Jewish residents to restore four major synagogues, among them the Hurva.^[107] In the 1834 Arab revolt in Palestine, Qasim al-Ahmad led his forces from Nablus and attacked Jerusalem, aided by the Abu Ghosh clan, entered the city on 31 May 1834. The Christians and Jews of Jerusalem were subjected to attacks. Ibrahim's Egyptian army routed Qasim's forces in Jerusalem the following month.^[108]

Ottoman rule was reinstated in 1840, but many Egyptian Muslims remained in Jerusalem and Jews from Algiers and North Africa began to settle in the city in growing numbers.^[107] In the 1840s and 1850s, the international powers began a tug-of-war in Palestine as they sought to extend their protection over the region's religious minorities, a struggle carried out mainly through consular representatives in Jerusalem.^[109] According to the Prussian consul, the population in 1845 was 16,410, with 7,120 Jews, 5,000 Muslims, 3,390 Christians, 800 Turkish soldiers and 100 Europeans.^[107] The volume of Christian pilgrims increased under the Ottomans, doubling the city's population around Easter time.^[110]

In the 1860s, new neighborhoods began to develop outside the Old City walls to house pilgrims and relieve the intense overcrowding and poor sanitation inside the city. The Russian Compound and Mishkenot Sha'ananim were founded in 1860.^[111] In 1867 an American Missionary reports an estimated population of Jerusalem of 'above' 15,000, with 4,000 to 5,000 Jews and 6,000 Muslims. Every year there were 5,000 to 6,000 Russian Christian Pilgrims.^[112]

Until the 1880s there were no formal orphanages in Jerusalem, as families generally took care of each other. In 1881 the Diskin Orphanage was founded in Jerusalem with the arrival of Jewish children orphaned by a Russian pogrom. Other orphanages founded in Jerusalem at the beginning of the 20th century were Zion Blumenthal Orphanage (1900) and General Israel Orphan's Home for Girls (1902).^[113]

British Mandate[link]

Old Jerusalem City Hall

General Edmund Allenby enters the Old City of Jerusalem on 11 December 1917

In 1917 after the Battle of Jerusalem, the British Army, led by General Edmund Allenby, captured the city,^[114] and in 1922, the League of Nations at the Conference of Lausanne entrusted the United Kingdom to administer the Mandate for Palestine, the neighbouring mandate of Transjordan to the east across the River Jordan, and the Iraq Mandate beyond it.

From 1922 to 1948 the total population of the city rose from 52,000 to 165,000 with two thirds of Jews and one-third of Arabs (Muslims and Christians).^[115] The situation between Arabs and Jews in Palestine was not quiet. In Jerusalem, in particular, riots occurred in 1920 and in 1929. Under the British, new garden suburbs were built in the western and northern parts of the city^[116][117] and institutions of higher learning such as the Hebrew University were founded.^[118]