East Jerusalem
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East Jerusalem

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East Jerusalem

East Jerusalem (Arabic: القدس الشرقية, romanizedal-Quds ash-Sharqiya; Hebrew: מִזְרַח יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, romanizedMizraḥ Yerushalayim) is the portion of Jerusalem that was held by Jordan after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to West Jerusalem, which was held by Israel. Captured and occupied in 1967, this area was unilaterally annexed by Israel in 1980. The United Nations and other intergovernmental organizations consider East Jerusalem a part of the Palestinian territories according to international law, and under illegal occupation by Israel. Many states recognize East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine (such as Brazil, China, Russia, and all 57 members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation), whereas other states (such as Australia, France and others) assert that East Jerusalem "will be the capital of Palestine", while referring to it as "an occupied territory". In 2020, East Jerusalem had a population of 595,000 inhabitants, of whom 361,700 (61%) were Palestinian Arabs and 234,000 (39%) were Jewish Israelis. Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem are illegal under international law and in the eyes of the international community.

Jerusalem was envisaged as a separate, international city under the 1947 UN partition plan. It was, however, divided by the 1948 war that followed Israel's declaration of independence. As a result of the 1949 Armistice Agreements, the city's western half came under Israeli control, while its eastern half, containing the famed Old City, fell under Jordanian control, at the exception of Mount Scopus enclave. Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War; since then, the entire city has been under Israeli control. The 1980 Jerusalem Law declared unified Jerusalem the capital of Israel, formalizing the effective annexation of East Jerusalem. Palestinians and many in the international community consider East Jerusalem to be the future capital of the State of Palestine. The status of Jerusalem has been described as "one of the most intractable issues in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict", with conflicting claims to sovereignty over the city or parts of it, and access to its holy sites.

Israeli and Palestinian definitions of East Jerusalem differ. Following the 1967 Six-Day War, Jerusalem's municipal boundaries were extended totaling an area three times the size of pre-war West Jerusalem. This includes several West Bank villages to the north, east and south of the Old City that are now considered neighborhoods of the city, as well as eight suburban neighborhoods that were built since then. The international community considers these neighborhoods illegal settlements, but the Israeli government disputes this. The Israeli position is based on the extended municipal boundaries, while the Palestinian position is based on the 1949 Agreements.

East Jerusalem includes the Old City, which is home to many sites of seminal religious importance for the three major Abrahamic religionsJudaism, Christianity, and Islam, including the Temple Mount / Al-Aqsa, the Western Wall, the Dome of the Rock and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Arab residents of East Jerusalem are increasingly becoming integrated into Israeli society, in terms of education, citizenship, national service and other aspects.[needs update][better source needed]

On 27 June 1967, Israel expanded the municipal boundaries of West Jerusalem so as to include approximately 70 km2 (27.0 sq mi) of West Bank territory today referred to as East Jerusalem, which included Jordanian East Jerusalem (6 km2 or 1,500 acres) and 28 villages and areas of the Bethlehem and Beit Jala municipalities 64 km2 (25 sq mi).

East Jerusalem is the familiar term in English. Arabs largely use the term Arab Jerusalem for this area in official English-language documents, emphasizing the predominance of the Arabic-speaking Palestinian population while Israelis call the area East Jerusalem because of its geographic location in the east of the expanded Jerusalem.

The area of East Jerusalem has been inhabited since 5000 BCE, with settlement beginning in the Chalcolithic period. Tombs are attested by the Early Bronze Age, around 3200 BCE. In the late second millennium BCE, settlement concentrated around the City of David, which was chosen because of its proximity to the Gihon Spring. Massive Canaanite constructions were undertaken, with a water channel excavated through rock drawing water to a pool inside the citadel, the wall of which was seven metres (23 ft) thick, built from rocks weighing up to three tonnes.

In 1934, the British Mandatory authorities divided Jerusalem into 12 wards for electoral purposes. The mapping was criticized by those who believed it was drawn to ensure a Palestinian majority on the Jerusalem city council. The actual mapping suggests otherwise, according to Michael Dumper, who states that the peculiar "hook" on the western electoral borders was a gerrymander made to include as many new Jewish neighbourhoods on that side as possible, while keeping outside of the boundaries Arab villages. To the east, the city's border ended at the Old City walls, in order to exclude the contiguous Arab neighbourhood of Silwan, Ras al-Amud and At-Tur and Abu Tor. These boundaries defined the municipality down to 1948. By 1947 Palestinian Arabs constituted a majority overall in the Jerusalem district, but Jews predominated within the British municipal boundaries, 99,000 to 65,100 Arabs. The Jewish presence in eastern Jerusalem was concentrated to the Old Quarter, with a scattering also present in Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah.

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