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West Jerusalem orWestern Jerusalem (Hebrew:מַעֲרַב יְרוּשָׁלַיִם,Ma'aráv Yerushaláyim;Arabic:القدس الغربية,al-Quds al-Ġarbiyyah) refers to the section ofJerusalem that was controlled byIsrael at the end of the1948 Arab–Israeli War. As the city was divided by theGreen Line (Israel's erstwhilede facto border, established by the1949 Armistice Agreements), West Jerusalem was formally delineated as the counterpart toEast Jerusalem, which was controlled byJordan.[1] Though Israel has controlled the entirety of Jerusalem since the1967 Arab–Israeli War, the boundaries of West Jerusalem and East Jerusalem remain internationally recognized asde jure due to their significance to the process of determining thestatus of Jerusalem, which has been among the primary points of contention in theArab–Israeli conflict and theIsraeli–Palestinian conflict. With certain exceptions, undivided Jerusalem is not internationally recognized as the sovereign territory of either Israel or theState of Palestine.[2][3] However, recognition of Israeli sovereignty over only West Jerusalem is more widely accepted as a plausible diplomatic position, as theUnited Nations regards East Jerusalem as part of theIsraeli-occupied West Bank.[4]
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The earliest Jewish settlements outside the city walls wereMea Shearim andYemin Moshe.
In 1918William McLean laid out the first civic plan for expansion of Jerusalem westwards and southwards.[5]
By the 1920s theHebrew speaking Jewish community had formed a "Jewish Colony" around the area later known as the Downtown Triangle ofJaffa Road,Ben Yehuda Street andKing George Street.[6]
Prior to the1948 Palestine war, the area of West Jerusalem included one of the wealthiest Arab communities, numbering some 28,000 people, in the region. By the end of hostilities, only approximately 750 non-Jews remained in the area's Arab sector, mostly Greeks in theGreek colony neighborhood.[7] Following the war, Jerusalem was divided into two parts: the western portion, from which it is estimated 30,000 Arabs had fled or been evicted, came under Israeli rule, whileEast Jerusalem came under Jordanian rule[1][8] and was populated mainly byPalestinianMuslims andChristians. The Jordanians expelled a Jewish community of some 1,500 from the Old City.[9]Moshe Salomon, a commander with theEtzioni Brigade’s Moriah Battalion, described the massive looting that took place in the Arab middle-class quarter ofQatamon:
“Everyone was swept up, privates and officers alike …. The greed for property encompassed everyone. Every home was scoured and searched, and people found in some cases produce, in others valuable objects. This rapaciousness attacked me as well and I could almost not hold myself back …. It’s hard to imagine the great riches that were found in all the homes …. I got control of myself in time and shackled my desire …. The battalion commander, his deputy, they all failed in this regard.”[10]
After this widespread looting, Israeli institutions managed to gather in around 30,000 books, mostly in Arabic, dealing with Islamic law,Qur’anic exegesis and translations of European literature, together with thousands of works from the holdings of churches and schools. Many were taken from the homes of Palestinian writers and scholars in Qatamon,Bak'a andMusrara.[11]
TheUnited Nations Partition Plan for Palestine planned a "corpus separatum" forJerusalem and its environs as an international city.[12][13] In December 1949, it was officially decided to transfer the institutions of theGovernment of Israel to Jerusalem.[13]
Arabs living in such western Jerusalem neighbourhoods asKatamon orMalha were forced to leave; the same fate befell Jews in the eastern areas, including theOld City of Jerusalem andSilwan. Almost 33% of the land in West Jerusalem in the pre-mandate period had been owned by Palestinians, a fact which made it hard for the evicted Palestinians to accept Israeli control in the West. TheKnesset (Israeli Parliament) passed laws to transfer this Arab land to Israeli Jewish organizations.[2]
The only eastern area of the city that remained in Israeli hands throughout the 19 years of Jordanian rule wasMount Scopus, where theHebrew University of Jerusalem is located, which formed anenclave during that period and therefore is not considered part of East Jerusalem.[citation needed]
Israel established West Jerusalem as its capital in 1950.[2] The Israeli government needed to invest heavily to create employment, building new government offices, a new university, theGreat Synagogue and the Knesset building.[14] West Jerusalem became covered by theLaw and Administrative Ordinance of 1948, subjecting West Jerusalem to Israeli jurisdiction. United States PresidentDonald Trump's administration announcedrecognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital on 6 December 2017.[15] On 6 April 2017, Russia officially recognized West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.[16] On 6 December 2017, theCzech Republic recognized Jerusalem as the capital.[17] On 15 December 2018,Australia officially recognized West Jerusalem as Israel's capital,[18] before withdrawing it again on 17 October 2022.[19][20]
During theSix-Day War in June 1967, Israel captured the eastern side of the city[21] and the wholeWest Bank. Over the following years, their control remained tenuous, the international community refusing to recognise their authority and the Israelis themselves not feeling secure.[21]
In 1980, the Israeli government annexed East Jerusalem andreunified the city, but the international community disputed this.[1] The population of Jerusalem has largely remained segregated along the city's historical east–west division.[22] The larger city contains two populations that are "almost completely economically and politically segregated... each interacting with its separate central business district", supporting analysis that the city has retained a duocentric, as opposed to the traditional monocentric, structure.[22]
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Major commercial centres of Jewish West Jerusalem include: theDowntown Triangle,[23]Mamilla Mall,[24][25]Emek Refaim,[26] andMahane Yehuda Market.
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One of twoHadassah hospitals in Jerusalem is located in the West Jerusalem suburb ofEin Karem. The hospital synagogue contains the famousChagall Windows byMarc Chagall.[27]
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These includeTeddy Stadium[28] and Cinema City.[29]
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These include theJerusalem Great Synagogue[30] and theHeichal Shlomo.[31]
What, then, is Israel's status in west Jerusalem? Two main answers have been adduced: (a) Israel has sovereignty in this area; and (b) sovereignty lies with the Palestinian people or is suspended.
As we have noted previously the international legal status of Jerusalem is contested and Israel's designation of it as its capital has not been recognized by the international community. However its claims of sovereign rights to the city are stronger with respect to West Jerusalem than with respect to East Jerusalem.
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West Jerusalem travel guide from Wikivoyage| International | |
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| Geographic | |
31°46′55″N35°13′10″E / 31.78194°N 35.21944°E /31.78194; 35.21944
