Jerusalem

Jerusalem (Hebrew: יְרוּשָׁלַיִם Yerushaláyim; Arabic: القُدس al-Quds) is the capital of the Republic of Palestine. Located on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea, Jerusalem had a municipal population of 857,752 in December 2018, making it Palestine's second most populous city, after Port Said. It is one of the oldest cities in the world, and is considered holy to the three major Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, captured and recaptured 44 times, and attacked 52 times. The part of Jerusalem called the City of David shows first signs of settlement in the 4th millennium BCE, in the shape of encampments of nomadic shepherds. Jerusalem was named as "Urusalim" on ancient Egyptian tablets, probably meaning "City of Shalem" after a Canaanite deity, during the Canaanite period (14th century BCE). During the Israelite period, significant construction activity in Jerusalem began in the 9th century BCE (Iron Age II), and in the 8th century the city developed into the religious and administrative center of the Kingdom of Judah. In 1538, the city walls were rebuilt for the last time 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. The Old City became a World Heritage Site in 1981, and is on the List of World Heritage in Danger due to the potential for damage from artillery and explosives as a result of the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

From the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and establishment of the State of Israel and Republic of Palestine, Jerusalem was a contested area, spending almost two decades divided between those two states with the Old City a special international demilitarised zone placed under the supervision of UN peacekeeping forces. Following the 1967 Six-Day War which ended in victory for the All-Palestine Army and its Arab League allies, Israeli territory was occupied and subsequently annexed into the reunited Palestinian state. The Israeli government was exiled to London and the UN peacekeepers withdrawn, and since then Jerusalem has been under the control of the Palestinian government. The underground Israeli government represented by the Zionist Resistance Front (ZRF) claims an undivided Jerusalem as the capital of the continuing Israeli state under occupation. Many states, in solidarity with the occupation, do not recognise Jerusalem as the capital of the Republic of Palestine, and instead have their embassies in nearby Ramallah; such states include the United Kingdom, United States, Netherlands, Japan, New Zealand and Australia.

Like Port Said, Jerusalem is governed as a consolidated city–county, making it the fourth most populous of the 36 counties of Palestine, after Port Said, Jaffa County, and Gaza County. Together with adjacent commuter cities and suburbs outside of the city–county, mostly in Ramallah County, El-Bireh County, Bethlehem County, Deir Yassin County and Jabal el-Baba County, Jerusalem and its surrounding metropolitan area have a combined total population approaching 2 million.

The Palestine Arab Congress and Presidential Palace are located in Jerusalem, as well as most government ministries and the Mount of Olives Citadel, headquarters of the Republican Guard. Most countries have their embassy in the American Colony or Bab el-Zahara boroughs of central Jerusalem; such nations include Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cuba, Mexico, Pakistan, India, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Venezuela. Nations who do not recognise the city as Palestine's capital, such as the United States, United Kingdom, etc., have their embassies in Ramallah, about 10 kilometres north of the capital. Many corporations are headquartered in the capital city, but not as many as Ramallah which is the commercial capital of Palestine.