UNDERSTANDING
Jerusalem
Facts
By
the Institute for Public Affairs & Americans Allied for an Undivided Jerusalem
CBN.com
– * The Jewish claim to Jerusalem is rooted in more than 3,000 years
of history. Jerusalem has been at the center of Jewish consciousness for over
3,000 years, even before King David made it the capital of his kingdom in 1004
BCE. Abraham's binding of Isaac and the dream of Jacob's ladder took place in
Jerusalem, according to the Bible. No other city has played such a prominent role
in the history, culture, and religion of a people, as has Jerusalem for the Jews.
* Throughout the Jewish Diaspora, Jerusalem has always remained foremost
in the thoughts of the Jewish people as they turn to Jerusalem three times a day
in prayer. No wedding or other celebration is without references to the Jewish
people for their ancient capital. Jerusalem is mentioned in everyday prayers and
on holidays and festivals. At the end of the Passover Seder and the Yom Kippur
Services, Jews proclaim, "Next Year in Jerusalem." * Jewish independence
in the land of Israel, which ended in 70 CE and was renewed in 1948, marks the
longest period of sovereignty over Jerusalem by any nation. No other nation can
claim such a long political existence in the recorded history of this unique city.
Jerusalem was never the capital of any other state. * Throughout all the
periods of foreign rule over Jerusalem (Roman, 70CE 324; Byzantine, 324 614;
Persian, 614 640; Arab 640 1099; Crusader, 1099 1291; Mamluk, 1291 1516;
and Ottoman Turk, 1516 1918) Jews were persecuted, massacred, and subject to
exile. Even so, the Jewish presence in Jerusalem remained constant and enduring.
* Jews have always chosen to settle in Jerusalem. Since 1840, Jews constituted
the largest ethnic group in this city and have held an uninterrupted majority
in Jerusalem since the 1860s. * No other nation or state which gained political
sovereignty over the area had ever made Jerusalem a capital city. Both the Arab
and Mamluk empires chose to rule from Damascus, while the Ottoman ruler resided
in Constantinople. None of these empires even granted Jerusalem the status of
district capital. When Israel reunited the city in 1967, she found Jerusalem in
a state of ruin and destruction, badly neglected by those who formerly had jurisdiction
over Jerusalem. * The liberation and reunification of Jerusalem occurred
in 1967 during the Six Day War. The only time the city was divided was between
the years of 1948 and 1967, the result of unprovoked attack followed by unrecognized
annexation by Jordan: - On May 14, 1948, upon the termination of the British Mandate,
Israel proclaimed its independence. Immediately, the surrounding Arab countries
attacked the fledgling state and besieged the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem's Old
City. - On May 28, 1948, the Arab Legion overran the Jewish Quarter in eastern
Jerusalem while Israel held onto the Jewish populated western neighborhoods of
the city. Jerusalem was divided for the first time in its history. - In 1950,
Transjordan annexed the West Bank and Jerusalem in an act which was neither recognized
by the world community nor by the Arab states. * On June 5, 1967, an unprovoked
Arab attack was launched on the Jewish-populated western neighborhoods of Jerusalem.
Indiscriminate artillery bombardment damaged religious sites, hospitals, and schools
across the 1949 armistice line. The UN headquarters south of Jerusalem was seized,
and enemy troops began to enter nearby Jewish neighborhoods. * On June
7, the IDF retook the Old City, reuniting Jerusalem. The barbed wire and concrete
barriers which had divided Jerusalem were finally torn down, and Israeli law,
jurisdiction, and administration was extended to the eastern neighborhoods of
the city. * Jerusalem is and has always been an undivided city except for
this 19-year period. There is no justification for this short period to be viewed
as a factor in determining the future of this city and to negate over 3,000 years
of unity. * There is no basis in international law for the position supporting
the status of the separate entity for the city of Jerusalem. This concept originated
in a proposal contained in the UN General Assembly resolution 181 of November
1947, which dealt with the partition of the British Mandate of Palestine. This
was a non- binding proposal and never materialized. It was rendered irrelevant
when the Arab states rejected the UN resolution and invaded Israel. * Immediately
following the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967, Jerusalem's Arab residents were
offered full Israeli citizenship, though most declined to accept it. Those who
chose not to accept it still retain the rights to participate in municipal elections
and enjoy all economic, cultural, and social benefits afforded Israeli citizens
including health benefits, and social security, among others. * In 1949,
Prime Minister David Ben Gurion acted to reconstitute the seat of government in
Jerusalem and the Knesset was reconvened in the city in December of that year.
* Following the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967, together with the extension
of Israeli jurisdiction and administration over East Jerusalem, the Knesset passed
the `Preservation of the Holy Places Law of 1967', which ensured protection and
freedom of access to all holy sites of the city to members of all faiths. *
In 1980, the Knesset legislated `Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel' which
restates the position that "Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of
Israel" and the seat of its main governing bodies. This law reiterates Israel's
commitment to protecting the holy places and to developing the city. *
There has always been a national consensus in Israel on the status of Jerusalem.
Since the reunification of the city in 1967, all Israeli governments had declared
their policy that united Jerusalem, Israel's eternal capital, is one indivisible
city under Israeli sovereignty. * On May 28, 1995, then Prime Minister
Yitzchak Rabin stated, "In 1980, the Knesset passed the Jerusalem law. All the
governments of Israel, including the present government, have been fully confident
that what was determined in 1967, what was legislated in 1980 transforming Jerusalem
into a unified city under Israeli sovereignty, the capital of Israel, the heart
of the Jewish people these are facts that will endure for eternity." (Communicated
by the Institute for Public Affairs & Americans Allied for an Undivided Jerusalem)
Book
review excerpt of Mark Twain's The Innocents Abroad; or, The New Pilgrims'
Progress, from The Mirriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature, April
1, 1995: "A humorous travel narrative by Mark Twain, published in 1869
and based on Twain's letters to newspapers about his 1867 steamship voyage to
Europe, Egypt, and the Holy Land. The Innocents Abroad sharply satirized tourists
who learn what they should see and feel by reading guidebooks. Assuming the role
of a keen-eyed, shrewd Westerner, Twain was refreshingly honest and vivid in describing
foreign scenes and his reactions to them. He alternated serious passages--history,
statistics, description, explanation, argumentation--with risible ones. The humor
itself was varied, sometimes in the vein of the Southwestern yarn spinners, sometimes
in that of contemporaneous humorists such as Artemus Ward and Josh Billings, who
chiefly used burlesque and parody and other verbal devices." Order
your copy of Mark Twain's The Innocents Abroad: Or, the New Pilgrims Progress
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