The many conquerors of Jerusalem

ABE KATZ SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN

Jerusalem is at least 4,000 years old. It would appear that it was founded about 2177 BCE by a Canaanite king, Melchitzedek, and was called Salem, meaning "peace." From an historical point of view, no name could be more unsuited to its fortunes, as no other city on earth has undergone so constant and so terrible a succession of sufferings as Jerusalem.

Jerusalem was not the first capital of Israel. That distinction belonged to a city called Shiloh, where the Ark of the Covenant was kept under the watchful eye of the high priest, Eli. The Philistines were a constant menace to the Israelites and were the cause of two major calamities in Israel; the loss of the ark in a devastating battle at Aphek and, many years later, the death of Israel's first king, Saul, on the field of battle with the Philistines. Shiloh is today an archeological ruin.

David succeeded Saul and set about unifying the tribes of Israel and reducing the military threat that the Philistines posed. In one of his final battles with them, David was victorious and recaptured the ark, which was returned to Shiloh. He now turned his attention to capturing another city that he coveted and was well fortified and secure for keeping the holy ark. This city was Jerusalem – the abode of a clan called the Jebusties. Even at that time, Jerusalem was considered a holy city as the strategic hill upon which it was built culminated in a summit like a slab of rock called Moriah, the traditional site where Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his son, Isaac.

David knew from the oral tradition of his people that Jerusalem figured prominently in the lives and travels of the Hebrew patriarchs. The towering shrine of the holy rock at Jerusalem, where Abraham faced the greatest challenge that God could have given him, was more than worthy of becoming the sacred citadel of Yahweh, Hashem or El Elyon. David planned a very careful strategy to capture the city and he succeeded brilliantly. He rebuilt part of it and it became known as the City of David. As well, a suitable site was found for the Ark of the Covenant to be kept. This occurred in about 1010 BCE and, for the next 80 years, the city was ruled first by David and then by Solomon, who built the First Temple.

The time period between David establishing Jerusalem as his capital and the Islamic conquest in 636 AD was about 1,650 years. During the intervening years, there was a succession of five conquering nations: the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks and the Romans. From the death of King Solomon in 930 BCE to the occupation by Nebuchadnezzar in 536 BCE, Jerusalem was the Jewish capital, even when the country split into the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel and was ruled by various kings. It was never the capital city of any Arab conqueror or any other conqueror, for that matter.

Despite all the cruelty, suffering and deprivation that the Jewish people had to endure during the 1,100-year rule by these conquering nations, there was always a Jewish presence in the city. The last Jewish revolt against a foreign power was led by Bar Kochba against the Romans in 134, but this was crushed at Betar while the Romans themselves were driven out by the emerging, all-powerful religious Islamic surge to power and global conquest in 636.

The first Islamic conquest lasted for 462 years (interrupted by the Crusades for a period of 88 years). Mohammed, the founder of Islam, was born in 570 and died in 632. At the time of his death, he had almost single-handedly bonded the disparate idol-worshipping factions that made up the Arab population at that time and welded them into a powerful fighting force. This he achieved in Medina as he had to flee the wrath of the inhabitants of Mecca in 622, which was where he wrote the Koran.

Mohammed returned to Mecca in triumph in 630 but died shortly afterwards. It is important to note that Mohammed never visited Jerusalem and, for this reason, the only two cities that are mentioned in the Koran are Mecca and Medina. By contrast, Jerusalem is mentioned no fewer than 714 times in the Chumash and in Jewish daily, weekly and festival prayer books. Furthermore, Jews always face Jerusalem when in prayer while the Muslims face Mecca, even while praying in Jerusalem.

The Muslims lost Jerusalem to the Crusades in 1099 but regained it under the Kurdish warrior Saladin in 1187. The Mameluke dynasty from Egypt ran the city from Damascus until 1516 then Ottoman Turks ruled it from 1517 to 1917, when it was captured by the British during the First World War. From then, it was ruled by the British until the state of Israel came into existence in May 1948. East Jerusalem however, was lost to the Jordanians and Jerusalem became a divided city. The Jews were debarred from their holy sites, especially the Western Wall.

Synagogues, yeshivot and Jewish homes were destroyed and memorial stones from cemeteries were used as paving stones in the vicinity of the Dome of the Rock. Since June 1967, the city has been reunited and Jews, Muslims and Christians have free and unfettered access to their holy sites. In religious terms, therefore, it is a multidenominational city.

Jerusalem was never of great political importance to the Arabs during any of their occupations. In 661, while at the height of their power, one of their caliphs, Muyawiya, who was the head of the Umayyad Dynasty, moved his capital from Medina to Damascus, not Jerusalem. Medina was found to be too distant in terms of the new Muslim empire that had been created, while Damascus was ideally located.

History repeated itself between May 1948 and June 1967. During these 19 years, while East Jerusalem and the West Bank were in Jordanian hands, no attempt was made to create a Palestinian state and East Jerusalem was never considered as a capital for such a state. This area was administered from Amman. Taking out a bank loan, subscribing to a telephone service or registering a postal package, to name but a few services, required a special trip to Amman.

During this period, while West Jerusalem grew and prospered, East Jerusalem remained a stagnant backwater. A former Israeli foreign minister, Abba Eban, summed up Arab attitudes very succinctly when he said, "The Arabs have never lost an opportunity to lose an opportunity."

This is the bare bones of the history of Jerusalem. No other city in the world has had such a volatile and traumatic past, and the Jewish link with this great and historic city is strong. One encyclopedia states:

"Jerusalem has had an influence on the religion and thoughts of mankind which is out of all proportion to its size or position. The attachment and yearning of the of the Jewish people for this one city, is unparalleled in the history of the world."

Abe Katz is a South African now living in Vancouver.

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