User:Tariqabjotu/Jerusalem
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Jerusalem (help·info), Yerushaláyim or Yerushalaim; Arabic: القُدس (help·info), al-Quds, "the Holiness")[2] is Israel's capital[3] and largest city both in population[4] and area, with a population of approximately 724,000 (as of 2006)[5] in an area totaling 123 square kilometers (47 sq mi).[6]
Located in the Judean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea, Jerusalem is considered holy to the three Abrahamic religions — Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Jerusalem has been the holiest city in Judaism and the spiritual homeland of the Jewish people since the 10th century BCE.[7] The city is widely considered the third-holiest in Sunni Islam and contains a number of significant and ancient Christian landmarks. Thus, while the city has a large Jewish majority, a wide range of national, religious, and socioeconomic groups are represented. The walled area of Jerusalem, which until the late 19th century formed the entire city, is now called the Old City and was added to the list of World Heritage Sites in 1982.[8] It consists of four ethnic and religious sections — the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters. Barely one kilometer square,[9] the Old City is home to several of Jerusalem's most important and contested religious sites, including the Western Wall and Temple Mount for Jews, the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque for Muslims, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Christians.
Surrounding the Old City are more modern areas of Jerusalem. The civic and cultural center of modern Israel extends from western Jerusalem toward the country's other urban areas to the west, while areas populated by a Palestinian majority dominate north, east and south of the Old City. Today, Jerusalem remains central to the Arab-Israeli conflict; Israel's annexation of the primarily Arab neighborhoods that form East Jerusalem has been particularly controversial, as Jerusalem has been claimed by Palestinians as the capital for a future Palestinian state. Thus, the status of united Jerusalem as Israel's "eternal capital"[10] is not widely recognized by the international community, and most countries locate their embassies in Tel Aviv.
Although the precise origin of the name remains uncertain, the Hebrew Yerushalayim may be understood as "Heritage of Peace" — a portmanteau of yerusha ("heritage") and shalom ("peace").[11][12][13] Alternatively, the second part of the portmanteau may instead be Salem (Shalem literally "whole" or "in harmony") as the name in reference to the city of Jerusalem in the first book of the Torah, Genesis.[14] Similarly, the Amarna letters call the city the Akkadian Urušalim, a cognate of the Hebrew Ir Shalem ("city of Salem"). Some consider a connection between the name and Shalim, the deity known from Ugaritic myths as personifying dusk.[15] The ending -ayim or -im has the appearance of the Hebrew dual, leading some scholars to argue that Jerusalem represents the fact that the city lies on two hills. However, the treatment of the ending as a suffix makes the rest of the name incomprehensible in Hebrew.
A Midrashic interpretation comes from Genesis Rabba, which explains that Abraham came to the city that was then called Shalem after rescuing Lot.[16] 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). According to exegeses, God immortalizes this encounter between Melchizedek and Abraham by renaming the city in honor of them: the name Yeru (derived from Yireh, the name Abraham gives to the Temple Mount) is placed in front of the contemporary name of Shalem.[16]
Archaeological findings indicate the existence of development within present-day Jerusalem as far back as the 4th millennium BCE,[17] but the earliest written records of the city come in the Execration Texts (c. 19th century BCE) and the Amarna letters (c. 14th century BCE).[18][19] According to Biblical accounts, the Jebusites, a Canaanite tribe, inhabited the area around the present-day city (under the name Jebus) until the late 11th century BCE. At that point (c. 1000s BCE), the Israelites, led by King David, invaded and conquered the city, expanded it southward, established it as the capital of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah (the United Monarchy), and renamed it to its present-day name of Yerushalayim (Jerusalem).[20][21][22]
David's reign ended around 970 BCE, at which point his son Solomon became the new king.[23] Biblical sources state that within a decade Solomon had proceeded to build what would become the first of two Holy Temples within city limits. The location of Solomon's Temple (or simply the First Temple) remains a significant site in Jewish history (and to some extent the history of Christianity) as the last known location of the Ark of the Covenant[24] and a focal point of worship for Jews.
The next four centuries — until the destruction of Solomon's Temple (c. 586 BCE) — would later become known as the First Temple Period.[25] This period was marked by the division of the United Monarchy, which occurred at the time of Solomon's death (c. 930 BCE) when the ten northern tribes originally part of the Monarchy split off to form the Kingdom of Israel. Under the leadership of the bloodline of David and Solomon, Jerusalem continued as the capital of the southern product of the split, the Kingdom of Judah.[26] Later, with the Assyrian conquest of the Kingdom of Israel in 722 BCE, Jerusalem became the center of a Judah strengthened by the great number of Israeli refugees. However, in approximately 586 BCE the Kingdom of Judah, including the city of Jerusalem, also met its demise at the hands of the Babylonians.[26] With that, the First Temple Period came to a close and a gap in Jerusalem's prosperity began.
In 538 BCE, after fifty years of Babylonian captivity, the Jews were given permission from Persian King Cyrus the Great to return to Judah so they could rebuild Jerusalem and its central temple (known as the Second Temple).[27][28] Jerusalem resumed its role as capital of Judah and center of Jewish worship for another four centuries, with a considerable portion of that period under Hasmonean rule. By 19 BCE, the Temple Mount was elevated[29] and construction began on an expansion of the Second Temple under Herod the Great, a Jewish client king under Roman rule.[23] In 6 CE, the city, as well as much of the surrounding Palestine, came under direct Roman rule as the Iudaea Province.[30] Still, the unchallenged Roman rule over Jerusalem and the region came to an end with the first Jewish-Roman war, the Great Jewish Revolt, which resulted in the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. Jerusalem once again served as the national capital for the people of the region during the three-year rebellion known as Bar Kokhba's revolt. The Romans succeeded in sacking and recapturing the city in 135 CE; as a punitive measure, the Jews were banned from Jerusalem. For over eighteen centuries, until the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Jerusalem did not serve as the national capital of any independent state.
In the five centuries following Bar Kokhba's revolt, the city remained under Roman and Byzantine rule. With the city controlled by Roman Emperor Constantine I during the 4th century, Jerusalem was transformed into a center for Christianity, with the construction of sites such as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. For most of the time between Constantine's rule until the arrival of the Muslim forces in 638, Jews were banned from Jerusalem.[31] From that point, the rights of the non-Muslims under Islamic territory were governed by the Pact of Umar, and Christians and Jews living in the city were granted autonomy in exchange for a required poll tax (jizya).[32] When Caliph Umar first came to the city, he requested that Sophronius, the reigning Patriarch of Jerusalem, guide him and his associates to the site of the Jewish Holy Temple, whereupon he later decided to build a mosque. By the end of the 7th century, a subsequent caliph, Abd al-Malik, had commissioned and completed the construction of the Dome of the Rock over the Foundation Stone.[33] In the four hundred years that followed, Jerusalem's prominence diminished as Arab powers in the region jockeyed for control.[34]
In 1099, Jerusalem was sieged by the First Crusaders, who killed most of its Muslim and Jewish inhabitants. That would be the first of several conquests to take place over the next five hundred years. In 1187, the city was taken from the Crusaders by Saladin.[35] 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.[35]
In 1917 after the Battle of Jerusalem, the British Army, led by General Edmund Allenby, captured the city.[36] The League of Nations, through its 1922 ratification of the Balfour Declaration, entrusted the United Kingdom to administer the Mandate of Palestine and help establish a Jewish state in the region.[37] The period of the Mandate saw the construction of new garden suburbs in the western and northern parts of the city[38][39] and the establishment of institutions of higher learning such as the Hebrew University, founded in 1925.[40]
As the British Mandate of 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."[41] However, this plan was never implemented and 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 1949 Armistice Agreements 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 1950, Israel designated West Jerusalem as its capital.
Ever since Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel has administered and asserted sovereignty over the entire city. Israel's 1980 Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel declared Jerusalem to be the "eternal, undivided" capital of Israel,[42] while East Jerusalem has been claimed as the intended capital of a future Palestinian state.[43][44] The status of the city and of its holy places remains disputed to this day.
Jerusalem is situated around 31°47′N 35°13′E on the southern spur of a plateau in the Judean Mountains, which include the Mount of Olives and Mount Scopus. The elevation of the Old City section is approximately 760 meters (2,500 ft) above mean sea level.[45] 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 city of Jerusalem.[46] The Kidron Valley runs just to the east of the Old City and separates the Mount of Olives from the city proper. Along the western side of Jerusalem is the Valley of Hinnom, known within Biblical eschatology for its association with the concept of hell.[47] A third valley commenced in the northwest near the present-day location of Damascus Gate, ran south-southeasterly down to the Pool of Siloam, and divided the lower part into two hills (the lower and the upper cities of 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.[46]
Jerusalem is sixty kilometers (39 miles)[48] east of Tel Aviv and the Mediterranean Sea. On the opposite side of the city, approximately thirty-five kilometers (20 miles)[49] 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 Adummim to the east, Mevaseret Zion to the west, and Giv'at Ze'ev to the north.
Residing at a latitude just north of the Tropic of Cancer and located close to the Mediterranean Sea, Jerusalem, like much of the rest of Israel, is characterized by a Mediterranean climate. The city is subtropical and remains mild even during the winter months, although snowfall is not too rare and usually occurs at least once a year. During January, the coldest month of the year, the average high temperature is 12°C (53°F), while the average high temperature during July and August, the warmest months of the year, is 29°C (84°F).[50] The average annual precipitation is close to 590 millimetres (23 in.) although rain seldom falls during the summer months between May and September.[50]
Most of the air pollution in Jerusalem comes from vehicular traffic, which is especially concentrated in East Jerusalem.[51] Many main streets in Jerusalem are not built to accommodate the increasing amount of traffic, meaning drivers are forced to spend greater amounts of time in traffic and release greater amount of carbon monoxide into the air. Industrial pollution from within the city is sparse, but emissions from factories on the Israeli Mediterranean coast can travel eastward and settle over the city.[51]
Since the time of the British Mandate, building codes have stated that all new structures in Jerusalem are to be built of Jerusalem stone.[39] Although these codes increase building costs somewhat, Jerusalem stone gives the city a distinct, antiquated look.
In May 2006, Jerusalem had a population of 724,000, of whom 65% were Jewish, 32% were Muslim, and 2% were Christian.[5] In 2005, Jerusalem received 2,450 immigrants, with nearly three quarters of them arriving from the United States, France, and former members of the Soviet Union. Within Israel, the number of people moving into Jerusalem has been far lower than that of people moving out of Jerusalem. Even though over ten thousand Israelis migrated to Jerusalem in 2005, over sixteen thousand left during the same time period.[5] Ultimately, the population of Jerusalem continues to rise due to high birth rates, especially from the Arab and Haredi Jewish communities (whose birth rates are higher than the Israeli national average). Total fertility rates in Jerusalem, consequently, are far higher than those of comparable cities in the region; with a total fertility rate of 4.02, Jerusalem's is more than twice that of Tel Aviv (with 1.98) and well above the Israeli national average of 2.90.[5] Similarly, the average size of Jerusalem's 180,000 households is 3.8 people.[5]
During 2005, the total number of residents in Jerusalem grew by approximately thirteen thousand (1.8%) — also well above the Israeli national average. However, as the city has continued to grow, the religious and ethnic composition of Jerusalem has proceeded to shift. Although Jews account for the majority of people in Jerusalem, they only account for thirty-one percent of the children under age fifteen.[5] This recent data corroborates the observation that the Jewish percentage within Jerusalem has been declining over the past four decades. In 1967, the year of the Six-Day War, Jews accounted for seventy-four percent of the population, nine percentage points more than during 2006.[52] One possible source of the change may be the increasing level of conservatism in the city. Many of those leaving the city are younger and follow less conservative branches of Judaism; as a result, they have begun to seek out more secular lifestyles in the coastal Israeli cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa.[53]
Statistics regarding the demographics of Jerusalem refer to the unified and expanded Israeli municipality, which includes the pre-1967 Israeli and Jordanian municipalities as well as several additional Palestinian villages and neighborhoods to the northeast. Some of the Palestinian villages and neighborhoods have already been relinquished to the West Bank de facto by way of the Israeli West Bank barrier,[54] but their legal statuses have not been reverted. Demographics and the Jewish-Arab population split continue to play a major role in carving the outcome of the dispute over Jerusalem. In 1998, the chairman of the Jerusalem Development Authority even proposed expanding city limits to the west so as to include more areas heavily populated with Jews.[53]
The Jerusalem City Council has thirty-one elected members, of whom one is the mayor (currently Uri Lupolianski) and six are the mayor's deputies.[55] The remaining members, unlike those in the top seven positions, serve on the City Council voluntarily, without payment. Most debates and conferences among members of the council are held in private, but the Jerusalem City Council holds meetings each month that are open to the public.[55] Within the city council, religious political parties form an especially powerful faction, accounting for the majority of its seats.[56] The city falls under the Jerusalem District, with Jerusalem as the district's capital.
Israel proclaimed Jerusalem as its capital in 1950 and since then all branches of the Israeli government — legislative, judicial, and executive — have resided there.[57] At the time of the proclamation, Jerusalem was divided between Israel and Jordan and thus only West Jerusalem was considered Israel's capital. Immediately after the 1967 Six-Day War, however, Israel incorporated East Jerusalem into its country as well as its Jerusalem District, making it a de facto part of the Israeli capital. Israel enshrined the status of the "complete and united"[58] Jerusalem — west and east — as its capital, in the 1980 Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel.[58]
However, the non-binding United Nations Security Council Resolution 478 declared that this law was "null and void and must be rescinded forthwith" and advised member states to withdraw their diplomatic representation from the city as a punitive measure. Most of the few countries with embassies in Jerusalem complied with the resolution by relocating them to Tel Aviv, which was already home to most embassies prior to Resolution 478. Currently, only two members of the United Nations — Costa Rica and El Salvador — have their embassies located within the city limits of Jerusalem, although there are embassies in Mevaseret Zion, a suburb of Jerusalem, and four consulates within the city itself.[59] However, in August 2006, both Costa Rica and El Salvador stated their intentions to relocate their embassies to Tel Aviv.[60][61] The United States has committed to moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem since the passing of its Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995,[62] but construction on the new diplomatic mission has been repeatedly postponed.
Despite the absence of embassies within the city, Israel's most prominent governmental institutions, including the Knesset,[63] the Supreme Court,[64] and the houses of the President and Prime Minister, remain in Jerusalem.
Prior to the creation of the State of Israel, Jerusalem served as the capital of the British Mandate of Palestine, which included present-day Israel and Jordan.[65] From 1949 until 1967, only West Jerusalem was considered part of the Israeli capital, but since then, the whole of Jerusalem has been under Israeli control. According to the Oslo Accords, the final status of Jerusalem should be determined by peaceful negotiation, although the Palestinian National Authority asserts that the capital of a future Palestinian state will be situated in East Jerusalem.[66] As of now, the most notable official Palestinian presence in the city is the Orient House, which was the headquarters of the Palestinian Liberation Organization during the late 20th century.[67]
Although Jerusalem is known around the world for its religious significance, the city is also home to many artistic and cultural venues. The Israel Museum, Jerusalem's premier art museum, annually attracts nearly one million visitors, with about a third coming from outside Israel.[68] The twenty-acre (80,000-m2)[68] Museum complex is comprised of several artistic institutions that primarily focus on archaeology, sculptures, and traditional artwork from around the world. Among some of the Israel Museum's most notable artifacts are the Dead Sea scrolls, discovered in the mid 20th century not far from Jerusalem; they are located in the Museum's Shrine of the Book.[69] The Museum also plays a major role in educating children in the region, with one hundred thousand children visiting the Museum's Youth Wing each year.[68] The Israel Museum owns three additional art institutions within the city of Jerusalem — the Rockefeller Archaeological Museum (formerly the Palestine Archaeological Museum), Ticho House, and the Paley Center of Art. Since its opening in 1938, the Rockefeller Museum, located in East Jerusalem, has hosted artifacts recovered in the first half of the twentieth century.[70][71] The Ticho House is located in downtown Jerusalem and primarily houses art by Israeli Anna Ticho.[72]
Another prominent cultural institution and attraction within the city is Yad Vashem, the city's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. Within Yad Vashem is the world's largest[73] library of information related to the Holocaust, containing an estimated one hundred thousand books and articles.[74] The complex contains a 4200-m2 (45,000-ft.2) museum recounting the Holocaust from the Jewish perspective and another museum containing artwork made by those who endured the event.[74] In addition to the museums are several traditional memorials dedicated to victims of the Holocaust; each year these sites host commemorative events for Holocaust Martyrs' Remembrance Day. As a result, Yad Vashem is both a research and educational institution and a location where visitors can reflect upon the events of the Holocaust.
One of the city's most prominent orchestras is the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, which has been operating since the 1940s.[75] The Orchestra has not only held performances in the city of Jerusalem, but also in cities around the world, including Vienna, Frankfurt, and New York City.[75] Within walking distance of the Old City is a cultural district which includes the Khan Theatre, the only repertoire theater in the city,[76] as well as the Jerusalem Centre for the Performing Arts, which hosts over 150 concerts annually.[77] Other prominent facilities for the performing arts include the Jerusalem Music Center,[78] The Palestinian National Theatre, founded in 1984, was originally the only artistic and cultural institution in the East Jerusalem[79] and today remains at the forefront of presenting art from the Palestinian perspective.[80] The nationwide Israel Festival,[81] with international artists and street performers, has been occurring each summer since 1961. In the past quarter-century, Jerusalem has taken a more active role in organizing the event, hosting the majority of the Festival's performances.
Jerusalem plays an important role in the three Abrahamic religions — Judaism, Christianity, and Islam — as well as in a number of smaller religious groups. The 2000 Statistical Yearbook of Jerusalem revealed there were, at the time, 1204 synagogues, 158 churches, and 73 mosques within the city.[82] However, while Jerusalem has harbored peaceful religious coexistence, it has also caused controversy and dispute, especially over the Temple Mount.
Since the 10th century BCE, Jerusalem has been considered the holiest city in Judaism[7] as it was the site of Solomon's Temple and the Second Temple. Today, the Western Wall, a remnant of the Second Temple, is the holiest site in the Jewish religion aside from the Temple Mount itself.[83] Due to the importance of the site, synagogues around the world have their walls opposite the entrances (or, less commonly, the entrances themselves)[84] facing the "Holy of Holies" in Jerusalem.[85] As prescribed in the Shulchan Aruch, prayer is also supposed to be performed facing the city.[85][86]
Christianity reveres Jerusalem not only for its role in the Old Testament but also for its significance in the life of Jesus. According to Biblical accounts, Jesus was brought to the city of Jerusalem not long after his birth[87] and later in his life cleansed the Second Temple.[88] The Cenacle, site of Jesus' Last Supper, is located on Mount Zion close to the Tomb of King David.[89][90] Another prominent Christian site in Jerusalem is Golgotha, the location where Jesus was crucified. The Gospel of John merely describes the site as being located outside Jerusalem,[91] but recent archaeological evidence suggests Golgotha is located not far from the Old City walls, within the present-day confines of the city.[92] The land currently occupied by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is considered one of the top candidates for Golgotha and thus has been a Christian pilgrimage site for the past two thousand years.[92][93][94]
Jerusalem is usually considered the third-holiest place in Islam.[95][96][97] Before it was permanently switched to the Kabaa in Mecca, the qibla (direction of prayer) for Muslims was Jerusalem.[98] The city's lasting place in Islam, however, is primarily due to Muhammad's Night of Ascension (c. 620 CE). Muslims believe Muhammad was miraculously transported one night from Mecca to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, whereupon he ascended to Heaven to meet previous prophets.[99][100] The first verse in the Qur'an's Surat al-Isra notes the destination of Muhammad's journey as al-Aqsa (the farthest) mosque,[101] in reference to the location in Jerusalem. Today, the Temple Mount is topped by two Islamic landmarks intended to commemorate the event — al-Aqsa Mosque, derived from the name mentioned in the Qur'an, and the Dome of the Rock, which Muslims believe stands over the stone from which Muhammad ascended to Heaven.
The two most popular sports in Jerusalem and Israel are football (soccer) and basketball.[102] Beitar Jerusalem Football Club is a very popular team in Israel, with many several former and current political figures known for attending its games.[103] Jerusalem's other major football team, and one of Beitar's top rivals, is Hapoel Jerusalem Football Club. However, whereas Beitar has been Israel State Cup champion five times (1976, 1979, 1985, 1986, and 1989),[104] Hapoel has only won the Cup once (in 1973). Similarly, Beitar plays in Israel's more prestigious Ligat ha'Al, while Hapoel plays in the secondary Liga Leumit. In basketball, however, Hapoel Jerusalem has the upper-hand. In a league dominated by Maccabi Tel Aviv it has never won a championship. Nevertheless, Hapoel Jerusalem has been able to win three Israeli Cups (1996, 1997 and 2007) and one European ULEB Cup (in 2004).[105] Since it opened in 1989, Teddy Kollek Stadium has served as Jerusalem's primary football stadium, with 21,000 seats.[106]
Historically, Jerusalem's economy was supported almost exclusively by religious pilgrims, as it was located far from the major ports of Jaffa and Gaza.[107] Jerusalem's religious landmarks today remain the top draw for foreign visitors, with the majority of tourists visiting the Western Wall and the Old City,[5] but in the past half-century it has become increasingly clear that Jerusalem's providence cannot solely be sustained by its religious significance.[5]
Since 1967, although many statistics indicate economic growth in the city, the mostly Palestinian East Jerusalem has lagged behind the development of West Jerusalem.[107] Nevertheless, the percentage of households with employed persons is higher for Arab households (76.1%) than for Jewish households (66.8%).[5] The unemployment rate in Jerusalem (8.3%) is slightly better than the national average (9.0%), although the civilian labor force accounted for less than half of all persons fifteen years or older — lower in comparison to Tel Aviv (58.0%) and Haifa (52.4%).[5] Poverty in the city has increased dramatically in recent years; between 2001 and 2007, the number of people below the poverty threshold increased by forty percent.[108] In 2006, the average monthly income for a worker in Jerusalem was NIS5,940 (US$1,410), NIS1,350 less than that for a worker in Tel Aviv.[108]
To preserve the unique religious significance of the city, heavy industry in Jerusalem is discouraged; only about 2.2% of Jerusalem's land is assigned to "industry and infrastructure". In comparison, industry and infrastructure use more than twice that percentage of land in Tel Aviv and more than seven times that percentage in Haifa.[5] Although Tel Aviv remains Israel's financial center, Jerusalem is beginning to see an increasing number of global high tech corporations. Northern Jerusalem's Har Hotzvim region in particular is beginning to see a variety of large companies, including Intel, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, and ECI Telecom, crop up. When completed, the industrial park will contain over one hundred businesses, a fire station, and a school, encompassing 530,000 m² (130 acres).[109]
Since the establish of the State of Israel, the national government has remained a major player in Jerusalem's economy. The government, centered in Jerusalem, not only provides a large number of jobs for those in the region but also offers subsidies and incentives to potential businesses.[107]
The closest major airport to Jerusalem was Atarot Airport until it was closed and put under the control of the Israel Defense Forces in 2001 due to conflict in Ramallah and the West Bank. Air traffic to the region now goes through Ben Gurion International Airport, which serves both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. As one of only two international airports in the country, Ben Gurion is Israel's busiest airport, serving nine million passengers annually.[110] Domestic intercity travel is accommodated by Malha train station, which resides at the terminus of an Israel Railways line to Tel Aviv.[111][112] Israel Railways, the country's government-owned rail line, transports 1.8 million people each month[113] and is currently expanding to allow passengers to reach as far as Eilat in southern Israel. Although the train station also serves inter-city bus lines, Jerusalem's Central Bus Station is the main starting point for travel operated by Egged Bus Cooperative, the second-largest bus company in the world.[114] When completed in 2011,[115] a high-speed rail line from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem will terminate at the Central Bus Station[116] (and, later on, the Malha train station).
Begin Expressway is one of Jerusalem's major north-south thoroughfares; it runs on the western side of the city until it merges with Route 443, which goes toward Tel Aviv. Route 60 runs through the center of the city near the Green Line that, de facto, separates East Jerusalem from West Jerusalem. Plans have been made to construct a 35-km (22-mi.) ring road around the city, in the hope it will make the region wealthier by connecting suburbs to the city center.[117] The eastern half of the project was conceptualized decades ago, but reaction to the proposed highway is still mixed.[117] As of now, alternatives to personal automobiles are mostly limited to taxicabs and bus lines. However, this will change soon as a new rail-based transit system is currently being built. Light rail was chosen over a subway or monorail design due to its cheaper cost, minimal disruption, and preservation of the city center's aesthetics.[118] The first of eight lines in the Jerusalem Light Rail, which will transport an estimated 200,000 people daily, is scheduled to be completed in January 2009 with twenty-four stations.[115]
The campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem atop Mount Scopus
Jerusalem is home to several prestigious universities, offering courses in Israel's three most-commonly spoken languages — Hebrew, Arabic, and English. Founded in 1925, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem[119] remains arguably the most accomplished university in the city and all of Israel. The original Board of Governors included prominent Jewish intellectuals, including world-renowned scientists Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud.[40] The university has produced many Nobel laureates; recent winners associated with Hebrew University include Avram Hershko,[120] David Gross,[121] and Daniel Kahneman.[122] One of the university's biggest assets is the Jewish National and University Library, which includes over five million individual sources.[123] The library began operating in 1892, more than three decades before the university was established, and today stands as one of the world's largest sources of Jewish literature, the national library of Israel, and the university's central library.[124]
Al-Quds University is another major institution of higher learning in vicinity of Jerusalem, although it was founded more recently — in 1984.[125] The university is intended to serve as the region's flagship university for the Arab and Palestinian peoples as it considers itself "the only Arab university in Jerusalem".[126] Al-Quds University resides southeast of the city proper on a campus encompassing 190,000 sq. m (47 acres).[125] Other colleges and universities in Jerusalem include two art schools — the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance[127] and Bezalel Academy of Art and Design,[128] both of which are associated with the Hebrew University.
The Jerusalem College of Technology, founded in 1969, today combines education in engineering and other high-tech industries with Jewish education.[129] The college is one of many schools in Jerusalem — from the university level down to grade school — that integrate religion into the classroom. Yeshivot and other Jewish schools are common throughout the city, with the Mir yeshiva being the largest in the city and all of Israel.[130] There were nearly eight thousand twelfth-grade students in Hebrew-language schools during the 2003–2004 school year.[5] However, due to the large portion of the population attending Orthodox Jewish schools, only fifty-five percent of those students took matriculation exams (the Bagrut) and only thirty-seven percent of them were eligible to graduate accordingly.[5] Unlike public schools, most Orthodox schools do not prepare students to take standardized tests.
Schools for Palestinians in Jerusalem and much of Israel have been criticized for being of lesser quality than those for Jewish Israeli students.[131] Many schools in the heavily Arab East Jerusalem are filled to capacity, leaving between four and five thousand children without a proper education.[131] Because Palestinian students in public schools still need to pass the Bagrut exams, much of their curriculum parallels that of other Israeli schools. As a result, an emphasis is put on Judaism, even though most Arab and Palestinians students do not associate with the religion.[131]
