Modern Period of Jerusalem

During World War I (1914-1918), the British swept the Ottomans out of Jerusalem and took control of the city in 1917. They captured a city that had spread well beyond the Old City walls but was still poor and underdeveloped.

The British became the legal administrators of Jerusalem under the terms of a League of Nations mandate in 1922.

In order to preserve the historical character of the area, the British immediately developed plans for its growth, which they tried to direct away from the area adjacent to the Old City walls.

As the neighborhoods outside the Old City grew, a pattern of separation pervaded, with Jews and Palestinian Arabs exhibiting a preference for self-segregation when possible, as they had in the Old City.

The Jewish-Arab struggle for control of Palestine grew in intensity, and the friction among residents of Jerusalem increased as well.

Jews and Arabs both sought to gain control in Jerusalem based on feelings of historical, political, and religious rights.

In 1947 the UN recommended that the British mandate of Palestine be divided into a Jewish state and a Palestinian state, and that Jerusalem be made an international city.

Violence erupted between Jews and Arabs in Jerusalem, and the UN plan was rejected by the Palestinian Arabs.

During the first Arab-Israeli war (1948-1949), called the War of Independence by Israel and al naqba, or “the disaster,” by Palestinians, forces from the Kingdom of Jordan pushed into the area to fight against Israel.

Jordanian forces succeeded in occupying the eastern side of Jerusalem, including all of the Old City.

The Jewish residents and forces were compelled to withdraw, and at the conclusion of the fighting, Jerusalem was divided; the new state of Israel had control of West Jerusalem, and Jordan controlled East Jerusalem.

The dividing line was subsequently fortified, fenced, and set with land mines, and the city remained divided in this manner until 1967. During this period, the Jewish side of the city grew as Israel developed its national government and built up the institutional life of the city.

In 1950 Israel proclaimed Jerusalem its capital. The area of the city controlled by Jordan languished, however, since Jordan directed its resources to the growth of its capital, Amman.

Jewish and Christian property in the Old City was heavily damaged by a combination of looting, neglect, and destruction.

Early in the Six-Day War of 1967, Jordanian forces in Jerusalem began to shell the Jewish side of the city. In the ensuing warfare, Israel gained control of all of Jerusalem and the adjacent West Bank territory.

The boundaries of the city were redrawn to expand its size by more than 200 percent, and in 1980 the Knesset passed a law declaring reunited Jerusalem to be Israel’s eternal capital.

The new municipal boundary added a number of Palestinian villages and the Atarot airport.

Palestinian residents of the city were offered Israeli citizenship, but the offer was largely declined.

Since many Palestinians retained Jordanian citizenship, the city took on a new political reality, with Palestinians and Israelis voting in the same municipal elections, but in different national elections (Jordanian and Israeli, respectively).

Functionally, the city operated as a unit, with shared infrastructure, services, and taxation. Nevertheless, deep social divisions remained.

After the Six-Day War, the urban development of Jerusalem was designed to promote homogeneous ethnic neighborhoods, with buffers separating Arabs and Jews. The pattern grew more complicated as new neighborhoods for Israeli Jews were constructed in the area that prior to 1967 had been dominated by Arabs.

By 1990 West Jerusalem remained almost exclusively Jewish, and East Jerusalem had nearly equal populations of Arabs and Jews.

The Old City continued to have a non-Israeli majority, but the Jewish Quarter was restored and repopulated, and it quickly became a focal point of tourist and cultural activity.

Since the Israeli residential and business sectors outside the Old City have been the target of development support from the government, many new neighborhoods, modern structures, and services have been created. Clear gaps exist between the development of Arab and Jewish areas.

Politically, the city continues to be disputed. Israel claims sovereignty over all of Jerusalem, but Palestinians claim at least the eastern half, including the Old City and all of its holy sites.

The complex historical and religious significance of Jerusalem has led to widespread demands for a negotiated settlement of its future political status.

Repartition of the city or shared Palestinian-Israeli rule are among the options, and the difficulty of resolving the Jerusalem question has repeatedly derailed Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and peace talks.

Alongside the violence that plagues Jerusalem, the city continues to grow and modernize, further shifting the balance from old to new, and creating an even greater need for political stability.