Al-Quds "Jerusalem"
Al-Quds "Jerusalem"
Jerusalem {juh-roo'-suh-lem} (Arabic:Baitul-Maqdis), the
capital of Palestine, is 55 km (35 mi) from the Mediterranean Sea.
Jerusalem is the third holiest place in Islam due to the al-Aqsa and
Dome of the Rock mosques (seen above dominating the city view and
leaving a strong Islamic identity.) The first inhabitants of the city
were Arab Canaanites, about 5,000 years ago. In 638, Jerusalem was
brought peacefully under Muslim control at the time of Umar ibn
al-Khattab, the second Khalifa of the Muslims. The Islamic ruling was
welcomed by Jews and Christians who had formerly been living under the
tyrannical Byzantine yoke. In 1099, European Christendom launched
the Crusade wars. Crusaders occupied the city. During the occupation
massacres and great injustices were committed against the Muslim,
Jewish and native Christian residents of the area. After 88 years, the
Muslims under the leadership of Salah al-Din Al-Ayyubi, a Kurd,
brought the city again under Islamic control, and it remained so
until the year 1917 when the British occupied Jerusalem.
It became the capital of
mandated PALESTINE from 1923 until 1948. In 1967, the Jews occupied
the entire city with the help of the British, and since then Jerusalem
has been under the Zionist occupation. Click
for more historical details.
. For information on al-Aqsa and Dome of the
Rock mosques, click