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Much is the pathos that envelopes the legacy of Jerusalem. Sacred to three major religions, Judaism, Islam and Christianity, who after all share a common sacred heritage in the Old Testament, Jerusalem is Zion - where the Second Temple of Herod stood and with the exclusion of the Western Wall was completely destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. The site of the Prophet's ascendence to heaven, Jerusalem is the third holiest city for Muslims. And for Christians, this is where Christ preached, was crucified, and resurrected.

Jerusalem, Al Quds, Yerushalayam- call it what you will, this is a fascinating city. Old as time (well, older than a lot of other cities, at any rate), and combining within it east and west in a blend which is very easy to like. Olive groves, cypresses, old walls, golden stone and history- all of these make Jerusalem what it is. It is a land that grips the imagination of Jews, Christians and Muslims alike and incites them to religious passion. None of this, however, has stopped many people around the world from wishing they could visit this city to delve into its sacred past. Jerusalem isn’t a very large

city- which makes it very easy to wander through.

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Your visit to Jerusalem should only be for one reason- to sightsee the walls of the Old City. It is the most important historical and religious site in Jerusalem.

Browse through a local fruit-and-veg market; buy beautiful hand painted tiles; eat mouth-watering shawerma at the Al Quds restaurant- or just sit yourself down at a roadside café and see Jerusalem go by!

Historically Speaking

Jerusalem was the plateau on which Abraham, Patriarch of the Jews, was said to have offered his son as a sacrifice to God. David the Israelite king captured Jerusalem in 997 BC and made it his capital. His son Solomon built the First Temple on this site. When Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylonia in 586 BC, destroyed the Temple the Jews suffered their first exile.

The Persians took over from the Babylonians and allowed the Jews to return and construct the Second Temple. The Greeks replaced the Persians, and then came the Romans in 63 BC. Herod the Great ruled the area that included Jerusalem, then known as the Kingdom of Judea, when Jesus was born. Pontius Pilate administered Jerusalem at that time and has gone down in history as the person who ordered the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

The Jews openly revolted (the First Revolt) against the Romans in 66AD and in revenge the Romans destroyed the Second Temple in 70 AD. There was another revolt (the Second Revolt) against the Romans in 132 AD, after which the Jews were expelled from Jerusalem and all of Palestine. The Jews scattered north to Babylon and west to Europe,

across northern Africa to Spain, creating the diaspora, which, according to Jewish myth, remained in exile till the creation of the State of Israel.

The course of history was changed with the conversion to Christianity of Constantine the Byzantine Emperor in 331 AD. With the spread of Christianity all over Europe, there was an attempt to rebuild the Holy City of Jerusalem, along with the buildings, churches and monasteries on the sites associated with the life of Jesus.

Jerusalem fell to the Persians in 638 AD. It came to be known as the Holy City of Islam because according to the Muslims, Prophet Mohammed ascended to heaven from what is now known as the Haram ash-Sharif. For some centuries the Jews, Christians and Muslims all were allowed to visit Jerusalem. In the 10th century, the persecution of non-Muslims began prompting Pope Urban II to call for the retaking of Jerusalem, 'the most sacred and beloved city in Christendom'. The speech sparked off the Crusades and Jerusalem was retaken by the crusaders in July 1099. In 1187 the Saracen leader Saladin captured Jerusalem and kept the city's gates open to people of all faiths.

In 1517 AD, the Ottoman Turks conquered Jerusalem and made it a part of their growing empire. Jerusalem was under the Turks who ruled from Istanbul for the next four centuries. With the First World War, the Ottoman Empire broke up and the Mandate of Palestine, which included the city of Jerusalem, passed to the British under the aegis of the League of Nations.

During the 1930s, Jerusalem became a heated centre of Arab-Jewish nationalist conflicts. After the Second World War, the British recommended that the city be made an international enclave, which resulted in the UN Partition Plan of 1947. This was rejected by the Jews and the Arabs. In the 1948 Arab-Israeli War East Jerusalem was gained by Jordan. It was captured by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War. Jerusalem came to be divided between the Arabs and the Jews (the Arabs got the Old City and East Jerusalem, while the Jews obtained the western and newer parts of the city).

Neither the Jews nor the Palestinians have given up their claims to Jerusalem. The Israelis have declared Jerusalem as theirs, while the Arabs, especially the Palestinians, reject their claims. In the wake of the Intifada Jerusalem has become a site for much violence, not the kind of spontaneous upwelling that caused the Western Wall riots of 1929, but an organised political agenda playing itself out.

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