Wikipedia:Today's featured article/May 23, 2007



Jerusalem is Israel's capital, seat of government, and largest city, both in terms of population and area, with 732,100 residents in an area of 126 sq. km (49 sq. mi.). Located in the Judean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea, the city has a history that goes back as far as the 4th millennium BCE. 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 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1982. 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 the country's urban center in Gush Dan. 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 there are Palestinians who view this part of the city as the capital of a future Palestinian state. Thus, the status of a united Jerusalem as Israel's "eternal capital" has not been recognized by the United Nations and much of the international community. (more...)

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