Jerusalem

Symbols are powerful. They can unite people of a common faith. They can also transform them into an impulsive mob. Sometimes symbols get attached to places, to cities that are considered sacred. Some cities wash away sins. Some are the birthplaces of Gods and some serve as the headquarters of a religion. But no city in the world has ever played a greater role in the history of a religion as Jerusalem has for Judaism, for Christianity, and for Islam.

They call it the City of Peace yet Jerusalem today and has been throughout history a city of conflict. It has been destroyed twice, fought over 16 times, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times and traded hands on many more occasions. Jerusalem has divided people. It has also united them in reverence as a Holy Land, what makes the city so special yet so complex.

Judaism, Christianity and Islam: the Abrahamic religions, religions that view Abraham as a common forefather, a patriarch who is mentioned in all three of their Holy Books, the Torah, the Bible and the Quran. Jews and Christians trace their roots to Abraham's second son Isaac. Muslims trace their roots to his elder son Ishmael. Their belief in ancestry divides them but Jerusalem has been that one unifying force in Hebrew it's called Yerushalayim, the spiritual homeland of the Jewish people.

Temple Mount in Jerusalem is where two biblical Jewish temples stood thousands of years ago. The western wall within temple mount is said to be the last remnant of those temples today. It is considered to be the holiest site. When Jews pray, they face the western wall in Jerusalem just like Muslims face the Kaaba in Mecca. Jerusalem is also holy for Muslims in Arabic it is known as Al-Quds the holy sanctuary home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Madina.

And on top of Temple Mounts, it's the Dome of the Rock. This is where Muslims say Prophet Muhammad ascended to the Heavens. And lastly in Christianity, Jerusalem is mentioned as salim in the Bible, an ancient Hebrew name that was preserved in its current name, Jerusalem. For Christians this city is home to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This is where Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected. So for all of these three, Christians Muslims and Jews, Jerusalem holds a sacred and important place.

But who owns it, and this is where things get complicated. Jerusalem belongs to everyone and no one. Every religion has marked this city and almost every major empire has controlled it but in the words of Winston Churchill, it is the Jews that made Jerusalem famous.

Romans drove Jews out of Jerusalem in 135 C.E. and renamed their kingdom, Judea to Palestina, a Greek name meant to break the Jewish connection to this land all Jews were barred from setting foot in Jerusalem.

After their Exodus from Judea, the Jews got scattered across the Roman Empire which is present in Europe. but they were persecuted wherever they went. In the 11th century, the Jews were slaughtered by the crusaders who considered them to be the killers of Jesus Christ. In the 14th century, they were scapegoated as the cause of Black Death, accused of poisoning the wells of Christians and slaughtering in the Rhine and Rhone region.

Their persecution went on till the 19th,century and this is when some Jews joined forces to protect their identity they launched what is called Zionism, a religious political and ideological movement which had two aims. One was to put an end to the centuries of persecution and Two, to take jews back to their Ancient Homeland, that being Jerusalem.