Jerusalem Day 2023
Jerusalem is and has been at the center of global focus before the appearance of Jesus Christ. I have lived in Jerusalem in the neighborhood of Kiryat Ha Yovel and it was during this time that I got to visit and identify with key places especially the Old City which hosts the temple mount. The Temple Mount is where the temple stood which makes it a place of high relevance to the religion and governance of Israel and the Jewish people. It is my most favorite place in Israel, there is an unwritten immersive vibe about this great city perhaps from the rich history which includes several conquests as empires sort to establish their influence. The Temple Mount is part of the old city of Jerusalem complete with walls which host 12 gates, this was one of my highlights while living in Jerusalem, I mean you can’t make this stuff up. Additionally, the temple mount is where the 2nd temple is believed to have stood before being destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D with remains of the destruction evident as with the current western wall also known as the prayer wall. The remains of the 2nd temple are best visible from an aerial view
This article will explore the origins of the Jerusalem day which was commemorated annually and was celebrated this year on the 19th of May 2023.
According to the Britannica the city’s human habitation dates back to 3000 B.C, south of the Temple Mount. The Jewish virtual library records that habitation of Jerusalem was about 3500 BC with the first houses built around 2500 B.C and the first wall coming up in 1800 B.C. Biblically, we are most conversant of David’s conquest of the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem and what followed was David establishing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in 1000 B.C which was later to be divided as Israel was divided into 2 kingdoms, Judah and Israel representing the Northern Kingdom. David’s conquest of Jerusalem paved way for his son Solomon building the Temple in 960 B.C. What followed Solomon’s death is a series of empire conquests by Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, Byzantine and Islamic caliphate. It is during the Islamic reign in the city that the dome of the rock on the temple mount was built in 691 A.D. further assuming the ‘3rd holiest site’ in Islam. These events have eternal ramifications that are significant to this very day, as I will be discussing later, the1967 war reunified a divided Jerusalem.
Fast forward to the 20th century as empires took turn to reign over Israel and Jerusalem, the turn for the British empire came through a mandate over the land which was by then known as Palestine. Several sources denote that the word Palestine is Greek derived from Philistia meaning the land of the philistines and perhaps those who dwelt northeast of Egypt and were closely related to the Greeks, according to the Jewish Virtual Library. They would later conquer the same land where Israel sits in 12th century B.C. It is noted that the word Palestine was first discovered in Greek literature in the 15th Century B.C. Through different conquests the land’s name fluctuated only to be revived by the Roman empire in the 2nd century AD according to Britannica. The British took over the land including recapturing Jerusalem from the Ottoman empire in 1917 through a conquest, the ottoman empire had captured Jerusalem in 1517. A projected British plan was to establish a Jewish homeland in the same land dominated by the Ottomans. British rule over Palestine was officially mandated in 1922 through the league of nations. When this mandate expired in 1947, the United Nations adopted a resolution to divide the land however, Israel was declared a nation the following year by key Jewish leaders residing in Israel led by David Ben Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel. The Holocaust was a key enforcer of establishment of modern-day Israel as persecuted Jewish populations fled Europe.
The establishment of modern-day Israel on May 14th 1948 provoked Arab populations both within and without Israel to war against the newly established nation commonly known as the 1948 war of Independence. Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iraq all rallied behind the Arab population in Israel in the war. The end of this war saw armistice lines formed and Israel now controlling most of the land that was under the British mandate over Palestine. Tension and war undertones between Israel and her Arab neighbors continued with another culmination in 1967. The 1967 war is central to the reunification of Jerusalem celebration and significant land expansion for Israel. Israel regained back the old city of Jerusalem, Gaza strip from Egypt, Golan Heights, Judea and Samaria otherwise known as the west bank and the Sinai Peninsula.
The recapturing of the Old City in Jerusalem in 1967 where the Temple Mount stands to date was extremely significant since it meant that a focal point of Jewish and Christian faith was now back in the hands of the Jewish nation. This is why there is great significance around this day, the place where the old city stands is on Mt. Zion and the biblical reference is undeniable. The armistice lines drawn at the end of the 1948 Arab – Israeli war had locked out Israel from possession of Jerusalem since according to the lines it was under Jordanian control. This is why to date the day is commemorated with great reference to the past and the coming future of this great city.
Thank you.
njeriyvon@erezafrica.com, erezafricaconsult@gmail.com.
