HOME WEB NEWS IMAGES CLASSIFIEDS YELLOW PAGESPOLLS - SURVEYS WIKI COUNTRIES PHOTOS US UK INDIA
Cities Stocks Weather Movies Coupons Travel Blogs Health Horoscope Maps ASIA EUROPE Classifieds Yellow Pages
|
 2
|
For other uses, see Jerusalem (disambiguation).
"al-Quds" redirects here. For other uses, see al-Quds (disambiguation).
| Jerusalem | |||
 Jerusalem, viewed from the Mount of Olives | |||
| |||
| Hebrew | יְרוּשָׁלַיִם (Yerushalayim) | ||
| (Standard) | Yerushalayim | ||
| Arabic | commonly القـُدْس (Al-Quds); officially in Israel أورشليم القدس (Urshalim-Al-Quds) | ||
| Name Meaning | Hebrew: (see below), Arabic: "The Holy" | ||
| Government | City | ||
| District | Jerusalem | ||
| Population | 732,10040th Anniversary of the Reunification of Jerusalem. Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2007-05-16). Retrieved on 2007-05-19. (2007) | ||
| Jurisdiction | 125,156 dunams (125.2 km²) | ||
| Mayor | Uri Lupolianski | ||
| Website | www.jerusalem.muni.il[i] | ||
Jerusalem (Hebrew: יְרוּשָׁלַיִם (audio) , Yerushaláyim; Arabic: القُدس (audio) , al-Quds)[ii] is the capital[iii] and largest city of IsraelLargest city:
Jerusalem has been the holiest city in Judaism and the spiritual center of the Jewish people since the 10th century BCE.Since the 10th century BCE:[iv]
The walled area of Jerusalem, which constituted the entire city until the 1860s, is now called the Old City, and was added to the List of World Heritage Sites in danger in 1982.List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The site of Jerusalem was nominated in 1981 by Jordan. Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls The Old City has been traditionally divided into four quarters, although the names used today—the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters—were only introduced in the early 19th century.Ben-Arieh, Yehoshua (1984). Jerusalem in the 19th Century, The Old City. Yad Izhak Ben Zvi & St. Martin\'s Press, 14. ISBN 0312441878. Despite having an area of only 0.9 square kilometer (0.35 square mile),Kollek, Teddy (1977). "Afterword", in John Phillips: A Will to Survive - Israel: the Faces of the Terror 1948-the Faces of Hope Today. Dial Press/James Wade. “about 225 acres” the Old City is home to several sites of key religious importance: the Temple Mount and its Western Wall for Jews, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Christians, and the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque for Muslims.
Modern Jerusalem has grown up around the Old City, with its civic and cultural hub extending westward toward Israel\'s urban center in Gush Dan. The Arab population resides in clusters in the North, East and South. Today, Jerusalem remains a bone of contention in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Israel\'s annexation of East Jerusalem (captured in the 1967 Six-Day War) has been particularly controversial, as Palestinians view this part of the city as the capital of a potential Palestinian state.Segal, Jerome M. (Fall 1997). Negotiating Jerusalem. The University of Maryland School of Public Policy. Retrieved on 2007-02-25.Møller, Bjørn (November 2002). "A Cooperative Structure for Israeli-Palestinian Relations" (pdf). Working Paper No. 1. Centre for European Policy Studies. Retrieved on 2007-04-16. The status of a "united Jerusalem" as Israel\'s "eternal capital"The Status of Jerusalem. Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1999-03-14). Retrieved on 2007-02-12.Ben-Gurion, David (1949-12-05). Statements of the Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion Regarding Moving the Capital of Israel to Jerusalem. The Knesset. Retrieved on 2007-04-02. has not been officially recognized by the international community. Although some countries maintain consulates in Jerusalem, and two maintain embassies in Jerusalem suburbs, all embassies are located outside of the city proper, mostly in Tel Aviv.Embassies and Consulates in Israel. Israel Science and Technology Homepage. Retrieved on 2007-05-03.Kellerman, Aharon (January 1993). Society and Settlement: Jewish Land of Israel in the Twentieth Century. State University of New York Press, 140. ISBN 0791412954. “[Tel Aviv] also contains most embassies, given the nonrecognition by many countries of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.”
Contents |
 Jerusalem |
|---|
| |
Although the precise origin of the Hebrew name for Jerusalem, Yerushalayim remains uncertain, scholars have come up with a variety of interpretations. Some say it means "legacy of peace" — a portmanteau of yerusha (legacy) and shalom (peace). "Shalom" is a cognate of the Hebrew name "Shlomo," i.e., King Solomon," the builder of the First Temple.Bethune, George Washington (1845). The Fruit of the Spirit. Mentz & Rovoudt, 93. “is the New Jerusalem, or "heritage of peace."” Allen, Joseph Henry (1879). Hebrew Men and Times: From the Patriarchs to the Messiah. Roberts Brothers, 125. “name it Jerusalem, the "heritage of Peace."” Alternatively, the second part of the portmanteau could be Salem (Shalem literally "whole" or "in harmony"), an early name for JerusalemElon, Amos (1996-01-08). Jerusalem. HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. ISBN 0006375316. Retrieved on 2007-04-26. “The epithet may have originated in the ancient name of Jerusalem—Salem (after the pagan deity of the city), which is etymologically connected in the Semitic languages with the words for peace (shalom in Hebrew, salam in Arabic).” that appears in the Book of Genesis.From the King James Version: "And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God." (Genesis 14:18) Others cite the Amarna letters, where the Akkadian name of the city appears as Urušalim, a cognate of the Hebrew Ir Shalem. Some believe there is a connection to Shalim, the beneficent deity known from Ugaritic myths as the personification of dusk.Jerusalem, the Old City. al-Quds University. Retrieved on 2007-01-12.
A Midrashic interpretation in Genesis Rabba explains that Abraham came to the city that was then called Shalem after rescuing Lot.Landau, Yehezkel (1996). "Sharing Jerusalem: The Spiritual And Political Challenges". Service International De Documéntation Judéo-Chrétienne 29 (2–3). Retrieved on 2007-01-14. “I will share another meta-midrash...believers in the One Supreme God.” Upon arrival, he asked the king and high priest Melchizedek to bless him, and Melchizedek did so in the name of God (indicating that he, like Abraham, was a monotheist). This encounter between Melchizedek and Abraham was commemorated by renaming the city in their honor: the name Yeru (derived from Yireh, the name Abraham gave to the Temple Mount) was combined with Shalem, producing Yeru-Shalem, meaning the "city of Shalem," or "founded by Shalem." If shalem means "complete," or "without defect, " Yerushalayim would mean the "perfect city," or "the city of he who is perfect".Sitchin, Zecharia, The Cosmic Code, Avon 1998 The ending -im indicates the plural in Hebrew grammar and -ayim the dual, leading to an interpretation of the name as representing two facets of the city, such as two hills.Wallace, Edwin Sherman (August 1977). Jerusalem the Holy, 16. ISBN 0405102984. “A similar view was held by those who give the Hebrew dual to the word” Smith, George Adam (1907). Jerusalem: The Topography, Economics and History from the Earliest Times to A.D. 70. Hodder and Stoughton, 251. “The termination -aim or -ayim used to be taken as the ordinary termination of the dual of nouns, and was explained as signifying the upper and lower cities” (see here) The pronunciation of the last syllable as -ayim appears to be a late development, which had not yet appeared at the time of the Septuagint.
A city appears in ancient Egyptian records called Rushalimum, which many scholars believe to be the first reference to the modern day city of Jerusalem.
Ceramic evidence indicates the occupation of Ophel, within present-day Jerusalem, as far back as the Copper Age, c. 4th millennium BCE,Freedman, David Noel (2000-01-01). Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing, 694-695. ISBN 0802824005. with evidence of a permanent settlement during the early centuries of the Early Bronze Age, c. 3000-2800 BCE. Ann Killebrew has shown how Jerusalem was a large and important walled city in the MB IIB and IA IIC (ca. 1800-1550 and 720-586 BCE), during the intervening Late Bronze (LB) and IA I and IIA/B Ages Jerusalem was a small and relatively insignificant and unfortified town.Killebrew Ann E. "Biblical Jerusalem: An Archaeological Assessment" in Andrew G. Vaughn and Ann E. Killebrew, eds., "Jerusalem in Bible and Archaeology: The First Temple Period" (SBL Symposium Series 18; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2003) The earliest written references to the city are probably in the Berlin and Brussels groups of Execration Texts (c. 19th century BCE) (which refer to a city called Roshlamem or Rosh-ramen) and the Amarna letters (c. 14th century BCE).Vaughn, Andrew G.; Ann E. Killebrew (2003-08-01). "Jerusalem at the Time of the United Monarchy", Jerusalem in Bible and Archaeology: the First Temple Period, 32–33. ISBN 1589830660. Shalem, Yisrael (1997-03-03). History of Jerusalem from Its Beginning to David. Jerusalem: Life Throughout the Ages in a Holy City. Bar-Ilan University Ingeborg Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies. Retrieved on 2007-01-18. Some archaeologists, including Kathleen Kenyon, believe Jerusalem as a city was founded by West Semitic people with organized settlements from around 2600 BCE. According to tradition the city was founded by Shem and Eber, ancestors of Abraham. The Biblical account portrays the Jebusites as having control of the city, inhabiting the area around the present-day city until the late 11th century BCE when David is said to have invaded and conquered their city, Jebus, and established it as the capital of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah (c. 1000s BCE).Greenfeld, Howard (2005-03-29). A Promise Fulfilled: Theodor Herzl, Chaim Weizmann, David Ben-Gurion, and the Creation of the State of Israel. Greenwillow, 32. ISBN 006051504X. Timeline. City of David. Ir David Foundation. Retrieved on 2007-01-18.[iv] Recent excavations of a large stone structure are interpreted by some archaeologists as lending credence to the biblical narrative.
Artist\'s depiction of the First Temple, according to Biblical descriptions
According to the Hebrew Bible, David reigned until 970 BCE, when his son Solomon became king of Israel.Michael, E.; Sharon O. Rusten, Philip Comfort, and Walter A. Elwell (2005-02-28). The Complete Book of When and Where: In The Bible And Throughout History. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 20–1, 67. ISBN 0842355081. Within a decade, Solomon began to build the Holy Temple on Mount Moriah inside the city. Solomon\'s Temple (later known as the First Temple), went on to play a pivotal role in Jewish history as the repository of the Ark of the Covenant.Merling, David (1993-08-26). Where is the Ark of the Covenant?. Andrew\'s University. Retrieved on 2007-01-22. The next four centuries, up until the destruction of Solomon\'s Temple (c. 586 BCE), are known in history as the First Temple Period.Zank, Michael. Capital of Judah I (930–722). Boston University. Retrieved on 2007-01-22. Upon Solomon\'s death (c. 930 BCE), the ten northern tribes split off to form the Kingdom of Israel. Under the leadership of the House of David and Solomon, Jerusalem remained the capital of the Kingdom of Judah.Zank, Michael. Capital of Judah (930–586). Boston University. Retrieved on 2007-01-22. When the Assyrians conquered the Kingdom of Israel in 722 BCE, Jerusalem was strengthened by a great influx of refugees from the northern kingdom. The First Temple period ended around 586 BCE, as the Babylonians conquered Judah and Jerusalem, and laid waste to Solomon\'s Temple. However, many claims of the Fall of Jerusalem are gathered from the Ptolemaic records, in which some dates have been found to be erroneous. Some religions (JWs, Bible students and several others) claim that Jerusalem fell in 606-607 BCE; however, no historical evidence supports that the 18th or 19th year of Nebuchadrezzar was in the year 607 BCE, and Zecharias 7:1-5 establishes the year 587 BCE for the complete and final attack on Jerusalem by the Babylonians.
In 538 BCE, after fifty years of Babylonian captivity, Persian King Cyrus the Great permitted the Jews to return to Judah to rebuild Jerusalem and their holy temple. Construction of the Second Temple, was completed in 516 BCE, during the reign of Darius the Great, seventy years after the destruction of the First Temple.Sicker, Martin (2001-01-30). Between Rome and Jerusalem: 300 Years of Roman-Judaean Relations. Praeger Publishers, 2. ISBN 0275971406. Zank, Michael. Center of the Persian Satrapy of Judah (539–323). Boston University. Retrieved on 2007-01-22. Jerusalem resumed its role as capital of Judah and center of Jewish worship. When Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire, Jerusalem and Judea fell under Macedonian control, eventually falling to the Ptolemaic dynasty under Ptolemy I. In 198 BCE, Ptolemy V lost Jerusalem and Judea to the Seleucids under Antiochus III. The Seleucid attempt to recast Jerusalem as a Hellenized polis came to a head in 168 BCE with the successful Maccabean revolt of Mattathias the High Priest and his five sons against Antiochus Epiphanes, and their establishment of the Hasmonean Kingdom in 152 BCE with Jerusalem again as its capital.Schiffman, Lawrence H. (1991). From Text to Tradition: A History of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism. Ktav Publishing House, 60–79. ISBN 0-88125-371-5.
As Rome became stronger it installed Herod as a Jewish client king. Herod the Great, as he was known, devoted himself to developing and beautifying the city. He built walls, towers and palaces, and expanded the Temple Mount, buttressing the courtyard with blocks of stone weighing up to 100 tons. Under Herod, the area of the Temple Mount doubled in size.Har-el, Menashe. This Is Jerusalem. Canaan Publishing House. Zank, Michael. The Temple Mount. Boston University. Retrieved on 2007-01-22. In 6 CE, the city, as well as much of the surrounding area, came under direct Roman rule as the Iudaea ProvinceCrossan, John Dominic (1993-02-26). The Historical Jesus: the life of a Mediterranean Jewish peasant, Reprinted ed., San Francisco: HarperCollins, 92. ISBN 0060616296. “from 4 BCE until 6 CE, when Rome, after exiling [Herod Archelaus] to Gaul, assumed direct prefectural control of his territories” and Herod\'s descendants through Agrippa II remained client kings of Judea until 96 CE. Roman rule over Jerusalem and the region began to be challenged with the first Jewish-Roman war, the Great Jewish Revolt, which resulted in the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. In 130 CE Hadrian Romanized the city, and renamed it Aelia Capitolina.Lehmann, Clayton Miles. Palestine: People and Places. The On-line Encyclopedia of the Roman Provinces. The University of South Dakota. Retrieved on 2007-04-18. Jerusalem once again served as the capital of Judea during the three-year rebellion known as the Bar Kochba revolt. The Romans succeeded in recapturing the city in 135 CE and as a punitive measure Hadrian banned the Jews from entering it. As a result the city became entirely pagan (non-Jewish). Hadrian proceeded to rename the entire Iudaea Province to Syria Palaestina after the Biblical Philistines in an attempt to thwart future rebellion and to de-Judaize Judea.Lehmann, Clayton Miles (2007-02-22). Palestine: History. The On-line Encyclopedia of the Roman Provinces. The University of South Dakota. Retrieved on 2007-04-18.Cohen, Shaye J. D. (1996). "Judaism to Mishnah: 135–220 C.E", in Hershel Shanks: Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism: A Parallel History of their Origins and Early Development, 196. Enforcement of the ban on Jews entering Aelia Capitolina continued until the 4th century CE.
Capture of Jerusalem during the First Crusade, 1099 (from a medieval manuscript)
17th century drawing of Jerusalem by a German traveler
In the five centuries following the Bar Kokhba revolt, the city remained under Roman then Byzantine rule. During the 4th century, the Roman Emperor Constantine I constructed Christian sites in Jerusalem such as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Jerusalem reached a peak in size and population at the end of the Second Temple Period: The city covered two square kilometers (0.8 sq mi.) and had a population of 200,000Har-el, Menashe. This Is Jerusalem. Canaan Publishing House. From the days of Constantine until the Arab conquest in 638, Jews were banned from Jerusalem,Zank, Michael. Byzantian Jerusalem. Boston University. Retrieved on 2007-02-01. but were allowed back into the city by Muslim rulers.Gil, Moshe (February 1997). A History of Palestine, 634-1099. Cambridge University Press, 70-71. ISBN 0521599849. By the end of the 7th century, an Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik had commissioned and completed the construction of the Dome of the Rock over the Foundation Stone.Hoppe, Leslie J. (August 2000). The Holy City: Jerusalem in the Theology of the Old Testament. Michael Glazier Books, 15. ISBN 0814650813. In the four hundred years that followed, Jerusalem\'s prominence diminished as Arab powers in the region jockeyed for control.Zank, Michael. Abbasid Period and Fatimid Rule (750–1099). Boston University. Retrieved on 2007-02-01.
In 1099, Jerusalem was besieged by the First Crusaders, who killed most of its Muslim and Jewish inhabitants, apart from many Christians.Hull, Michael D. (June 1999). "First Crusade: Siege of Jerusalem". Military History. Retrieved on 2007-05-18. That would be the first of several conquests to take place over the next four hundred years. In 1187, the city was taken from the Crusaders by Saladin.Main Events in the History of Jerusalem. Jerusalem: The Endless Crusade. The CenturyOne Foundation (2003). Retrieved on 2007-02-02. Between 1228 and 1244, it was given by Saladin\'s descendant al-Kamil to the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. Jerusalem fell again in 1244 to the Khawarizmi Turks, who were later, in 1260, replaced by the Mamelukes. In 1517, Jerusalem and its environs fell to the Ottoman Turks, who would maintain control of the city until the 20th century. This era saw the first expansion outside the Old City walls, as new neighborhoods were established to relieve the overcrowding. The first of these new neighborhoods included the Russian Compound and the Jewish Mishkenot Sha\'ananim, both founded in 1860.Eylon, Lili (April 1999). Jerusalem: Architecture in the Late Ottoman Period. Focus on Israel. Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved on 2007-04-20.
General Edmund Allenby enters the Jaffa Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem on December 11, 1917
In 1917 after the Battle of Jerusalem, the British Army, led by General Edmund Allenby, captured the city.Fromkin, David (2001-09-01). A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East, 2nd reprinted, Owl Books e, 312–3. ISBN 0805068848. The League of Nations, through its 1922 ratification of the Balfour Declaration, entrusted the United Kingdom to administer the Mandate for Palestine and help establish a Jewish state in the region.Mendelsson, David. British Rule. Department for Jewish Zionist Education. The Jewish Agency for Israel. Retrieved on 2007-02-02. The period of the Mandate saw the construction of new garden suburbs in the western and northern parts of the cityTamari, Salim (1999). "Jerusalem 1948: The Phantom City" (Reprint). Jerusalem Quarterly File (3). Retrieved on 2007-02-02. Eisenstadt, David (2002-08-26). The British Mandate. Jerusalem: Life Throughout the Ages in a Holy City. Bar-Ilan University Ingeborg Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies. Retrieved on 2007-02-10. and the establishment of institutions of higher learning such as the Hebrew University, founded in 1925.History. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Retrieved on 2007-03-18.
Eric H. Cline, author of Jerusalem Besieged, notes that Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, attacked an additional 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times.Do We Divide the Holiest Holy City?. Moment Magazine. Retrieved on 2008-03-05.
As the British Mandate for Palestine was expiring, the 1947 UN Partition Plan (Part III) recommended "the creation of a special international regime in the City of Jerusalem, constituting it as a corpus separatum under the administration of the United Nations."Considerations Affecting Certain of the Provisions of the General Assembly Resolution on the "Future Government of Palestine": The City of Jerusalem. The United Nations (1948-01-22). Retrieved on 2007-02-03. The international regime was to remain in force for a period of ten years, whereupon a referendum was to be held in which the residents of Jerusalem were to decide the future regime of the city. (Jerusalem had a Jewish majority both in 1948 and in 1958.)David Storobin. The Legal Status of East Jerusalem Under International Law. Global Politician. However, this plan was not implemented as the Haganah and the Jordanian Arab Legion fought for control of the city. On May 28, the Arab Legion gained control over the Old City; all of its Jewish inhabitants were either taken prisoner or handed over to the Red Cross to be permanently transferred to Israeli-controlled areas.Brewer, Sam Pope. "11 Day Fight Over", The New York Times, 1948-05-29. Retrieved on 2008-03-08.
At the end of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Jerusalem found itself divided between Israel and Jordan (then known as Transjordan). The ceasefire line established through the Armistice Agreement of 1949 between Israel and Jordan, cut through the center of the city from 1949 until 1967, during which time West Jerusalem was part of Israel and East Jerusalem was part of Jordan. In 1949, Israel designated West Jerusalem as its capital. Contrary to the terms of the Armistice Agreement of 1949 between Jordan and Israel, Israelis were denied access to Jewish holy sites, many of which were desecrated, and only allowed extremely limited access to Christian holy sites.By Martin GilbertMitchell Bard. Myths & Facts Online: Jerusalem. Jewish Virtual Library.
Following the 1967 Six-Day War Israel captured East Jerusalem, asserted sovereignty over the entire city, and later in 1980 declared Jerusalem, "complete and united", to be the capital of Israel.Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel. Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1980-07-30). Retrieved on 2007-04-02. However, East Jerusalem has been seen by the Palestinian Arabs as a possible capital of a proposed Palestinian state."No Mid-East advance at UN summit", BBC, 2000-09-07. Retrieved on 2007-02-03. Khaled Abu Toameh. "Abbas: Aim guns against occupation", The Jerusalem Post, 2007-01-11. Retrieved on 2007-02-03. They also refer to Security Council resolution 252, which considers invalid expropriation of land and other actions that tend to change the legal status of Jerusalem.United Nations Security Council Resolution 252. Jewish Virtual Library (1968-05-21). Retrieved on 2007-05-23. The status of the city and of its holy places remains disputed to this day.
View of Jerusalem Forest from Yad Vashem
Jerusalem is situated around on the southern spur of a plateau in the Judean Mountains, which include the Mount of Olives (East) and Mount Scopus (North East). The elevation of the Old City is approximately 760 m.Cabrera, Enrique; Jorge García-Serra (1998-12-31). Drought Management Planning in Water Supply Systems. Springer, 304. ISBN 0792352947. “The Old City of Jerusalem (760 m) in the central hills” The whole of Jerusalem is surrounded by valleys and dry riverbeds (wadis), although those to the north are less pronounced than those on the other sides.
Three of the most prominent valleys in the region, the Kidron, Hinnom, and Tyropoeon Valleys, intersect in an area just south of the Old City of Jerusalem.Bergsohn, Sam (2006-05-15). Geography. Cornell University. Retrieved on 2007-02-09. The Kidron Valley runs just to the east of the Old City and separates the Mount of Olives from the city proper. Along the southern side of old Jerusalem is the Valley of Hinnom, a steep ravine associated in Biblical eschatology with the concept of Gehenna or hell.Walvoord, John; Zachary J. Hayes, Clark H. Pinnock, William Crockett, and Stanley N. Gundry (1996-01-07). "The Metaphorical View", Four Views on Hell. Zondervan, 58. ISBN 0310212685. A third valley commenced in the northwest near the present-day location of Damascus Gate, ran south-southeasterly through the center of the Old City down to the Pool of Siloam, and divided the lower part into two hills, the Temple Mount to the east, and the rest of the city to the west (the lower and the upper cities described by Josephus). Today, this valley, the Tyropoeon Valley, is mostly hidden from view due to the amount of debris that has accumulated within the ravine over the past few millennia.
Jerusalem is 60 kilometers (37 mi)Rosen-Zvi, Issachar (June 2004). Taking Space Seriously: Law, Space and Society in Contemporary Israel. Ashgate Publishing, 37. ISBN 0754623513. “Thus, for instance, the distance between the four large metropolitan regions are—39 miles” east of Tel Aviv and the Mediterranean Sea. On the opposite side of the city, approximately 35 kilometers (22 mi)Federman, Josef. "Debate flares anew over Dead Sea Scrolls", AP via MSNBC, 2004-08-18. Retrieved on 2007-02-09. away, is the Dead Sea, the lowest body of water on Earth. Neighboring cities and towns include Bethlehem and Beit Jala to the south, Abu Dis and Ma\'ale Adumim to the east, Mevaseret Zion to the west, and Ramallah and Giv\'at Ze\'ev to the north.Introduction. The Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Expedition. Bar Ilan University. Retrieved on 2007-04-24. (Image located here)Map of Israel. Eye On Israel. Retrieved on 2007-04-25. (See map 9 for Jerusalem)""One more Obstacle to Peace" – A new Israeli Neighborhood on the lands of Jerusalem city", The Applied Research Institute -- Jerusalem, 2007-03-10. Retrieved on 2007-04-24. (Image located here)
The city is characterized by a Mediterranean climate, with hot, dry summers, warm spring and autumn, and mild, wet winters. Significant snowfall occurs every couple of winters, with trace snow in 4 out of 5 winters on average. January is the coldest month of the year, with an average monthly temperature of 8 °C (46 °F). July and August are the hottest months, with an average monthly temperature of 23 °C (73 °F).Monthly Averages for Jerusalem, Israel. The Weather Channel. Retrieved on 2007-02-07. Temperatures vary widely from day to night, and Jerusalem evenings are typically cool even in summer. The average annual precipitation is close to 590 millimetres (23 in) with rain occurring mostly between October and May.
| Weather averages for Jerusalem | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
| Average high °C (°F) | 12 (53) | 13 (56) | 16 (61) | 21 (70) | 25 (77) | 28 (82) | 29 (84) | 29 (84) | 28 (82) | 25 (77) | 19 (66) | 14 (57) | |
| Average low °C (°F) | 4 (39) | 4 (40) | 6 (43) | 9 (49) | 12 (54) | 15 (59) | 17 (63) | 17 (63) | 16 (61) | 14 (57) | 9 (49) | 6 (42) | |
| Precipitation mm (inch) | 142.2 (5.6) | 114.3 (4.5) | 99.1 (3.9) | 30.5 (1.2) | 2.5 (0.1) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 22.9 (0.9) | 68.8 (2.7) | 109.2 (4.3) | |
| Source: The Weather ChannelMonthly Averages for Jerusalem, Israel (English). The Weather Channel Interactive, Inc. Retrieved on May 23, 2007. | |||||||||||||
Most of the air pollution in Jerusalem comes from vehicular traffic, especially in East Jerusalem.Ma\'oz, Moshe; Sari Nusseibeh (March 2000). Jerusalem: Points of Friction-And Beyond. Brill Academic Publishers, 44-6. ISBN 9041188436. Many main streets in Jerusalem were not built to accommodate such a large volume of traffic, leading to traffic congestion and more carbon monoxide released into the air. Industrial pollution inside the city is sparse, but emissions from factories on the Israeli Mediterranean coast can travel eastward and settle over the city.Rory Kess. "Worst ozone pollution in Beit Shemesh, Gush Etzion", The Jerusalem Post, Septem
