JERUSALEM, ISRAEL

courtesy BBC

Jerusalem has been the capital of the nation of Israel for over 3000 years since the time of King David, probably making it the longest serving capital city in the world. 

In the years 70 and 135, the Romans destroyed the Jewish capital and after the second time, banned Jews from entering it. Except for two brief periods under the Byzantines in the 4^th century when it looked like the Temple was going to be rebuilt (it obviously never happened), and under the Persians in the early 7^th century, the ban remained in effect. After the conquest of Jerusalem by the Arabs, Jews were allowed back in but the city soon took on a Muslim aspect. The new Muslim Arab conquerors knew of the importance of the Temple Mount to the Jews, on which the Temple was built. This was due, at least in part, to an advisor to the caliph, Ka’b al Ahbar, a Jewish convert to Islam. According to Arab historian Mujir al-Din, when 'Abd al-Malik built the Dome of the Rock, “he employed ten Jewish families [from Tiberias], who were freed from all taxes…And among the servants of the sanctuary, too, was another company of Jews, who made the glass plates for the lamps and the glass lantern-bowls and glass vessels and rods. No poll-tax was demanded of them, nor from those that made wicks for the lamps." During this time, Jews were allowed to pray on the Mount while the Jewish festivals were proclaimed from the Mount of Olives, just across the valley to the east. According to tradition, a group of Karaite Jews – those who don’t follow the Talmud – had settled in Jerusalem in the 8^th century and founded a synagogue which they named after the founder of Karaism, Anan ben David. Since then, and until the coming of the Crusades, Jerusalem remained a Karaite stronghold.

In 1077, Jerusalem was conquered by the Seljuk Turks under whom, the Jews suffered, but their suffering paled in comparison to later events. In 1099, the Christian Crusaders, referred to as “Franks” by the Muslims, conquered Jerusalem and either massacred or expelled the Jews. The old Roman decree banning Jews from the city was revived and remained in effect (with just a few exceptions such as for brief visits) for as long as Jerusalem remained under Christian rule. The Dome of the Rock was immediately converted into a church. About the year 1140, Judah ha-Levi visited Jerusalem and was inspired, as legend says, to compose his "Zionide" before its walls. In 1173 Benjamin of Tudela visited Jerusalem. Pethahiah of Regensburg mentions only one Jew in Jerusalem, a certain R. Abraham the dyer, who had to pay a heavy tax for permission to remain. The Franks were defeated in 1187 by Saladin, a Kurd, who is said to have invited the Jewish refugees to return to Palestine and Jerusalem in particular. The Dome of the Rock was reconverted into a mosque.

In 1210 a certain Samuel b. Simon made a pilgrimage to Palestine as the forerunner of the 300 and more rabbis from the south of England and from France who went to the Holy Land in 1211. In 1250, the Mamelukes conquered Jerusalem and banned Jews from the Temple Mount.

In 1260 the Tatars under Hulaku Khan overran the whole land, and the Jews that were in Jerusalem had to flee to the neighboring villages.

On Aug. 12, 1267, Naḥmanides visited Jerusalem. He found there only two Jews, brothers, who were dyers, and who on Sabbaths and festivals gathered Jews from the neighboring villages. He reorganized the community, and on New-Year's Day, 1268, services were held in a new synagogue, called the Ramban (Nahmanides’ acronym).

By the 14^th century, the number of Ashkenazim in Jerusalem grew rapidly, and a certain Isaac ha-Levi (Asir ha-Tiḳwah) founded a yeshivah for them. In 1434 the plague broke out in the city and ninety Jews perished.

According to a letter from Rabbi Isaac Ẓarfati, it would seem that the report had been spread in Germany that the Jews had bought Mt. Zion, had destroyed the buildings upon it, and had also bought the Holy Sepulcher. To the Europeans, it was a seizure of Christian property and for this reason, Jews were not allowed on Venetian ships, but had to travel to Jerusalem by the land route. But the conditions in Jerusalem grew so bad that within six years more than 100 families left the city, among them that of R. Nathan Cohen Sholal. A contributing cause was another famine which in 1441 came upon the city. In addition to this, the Mameluke sultan Ḳa'it Bey (c. 1450) demanded of the Jews 400 ducats a year, besides the 50 ducats which they had to pay to the city authorities for the privilege of making wine. For the collection of this sum, a sort of "vice-nagid" was established in Jerusalem, who together with five others was responsible for the tax.

It is said that a woman out of spite had sold a piece of property near the synagogue to the Muslims who had built there a mosque and who desired to make a street leading directly to it. The Muslims wished to buy a courtyard for this purpose, but the Jews refused to sell. The rain had washed away part of the wall and disclosed a door in this courtyard west of the mosque. The matter was, therefore, carried before the sultan in Egypt. It was held that the synagogue was a new one and that therefore, according to the Pact of Omar, it had no right to exist. It was closed for a time, and though the Jews paid a large sum of money, it was pulled down by the fanatical religious leaders. The case was again brought before the sultan; the ringleaders were punished; and the synagogue was eventually rebuilt.

The expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Portugal in 1492 sent large numbers of Jews to the East. In a few years 130 families were added to those already in Jerusalem, and the community numbered 1,500 souls.

In 1516, Jerusalem and the rest of the Land of Israel was conquered by the Ottoman Empire. During the conquest, the Jews of Jerusalem, as well as in Hebron to the south, were subject to horrible pogroms from their Arab neighbors. After the conquest was consolidated, the situation stabilized. The Ottomans proved to be friendly to the Jews and gave them complete freedom in all aspects of life. In 1527 Sulaiman I began to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. He also improved the water-supply, bringing water from a distance into three basins near the area of the Temple Mount. The Tower of David was restored and by 1542, the walls were complete. Sulaiman gave the Jews permission to do whatever work they wished, and the Jewish accounts take cognizance of his action.

In 1586 trouble was occasioned by the Moslems: the mufti declared that the synagogue of Naḥmanides had previously been a mosque; and it had to be vacated. The Jews then built, what later came to be called, the Four Sephardic Synagogues (see above). In 1594 and 1599 the community was further depleted by plagues. Moses Alshech, rabbi in Safed, intervened and secured aid for the Jerusalem Jews from Venice and other places.

For a number of years no further complaints are met with; and in spite of the plague, which reappeared in 1618, the Jews prospered. In 1621 Isaiah Horowitz (Sheloh) went to Jerusalem as head of the Ashkenazim, who had become very important in the community. In 1625 Mohammed ibn Farukh became governor of Jerusalem; and he oppressed the people with such onerous taxes that they fled to the rocks and caverns around the city and had hardly sufficient clothing to cover themselves. His brother-in-law Ottoman Agha took Ibn Farukh's place for a short time while the latter went on a pilgrimage. It was Ottoman who imprisoned and tortured Horowitz and other prominent rabbis including Isaac Havillo, Moses Cordovero, and others and also demanded heavy ransoms. Ibn Farukh returned and did worse than before. Complaint was made to the authorities in Damascus and a cadi was sent to watch Ibn Farukh. Even this resulted in no change. The cadi of Jerusalem joined in the oppression. He extorted money by threatening to turn one of the synagogues into a mill. In 1627 Ibn Farukh was deposed. He extorted in all 50,000 piasters from the Jews. Rabbi Horowitz and his followers were forced to flee to Safed. An account of these persecutions, under the title "Ḥurvot Yerushalayim," was drawn up by the rabbis of Jerusalem, and sent to Venice. A special deputy was sent to Europe to collect funds in aid of the community.  

The messianic pretender Shabbethai Ẓevi, though in Palestine at this time, does not seem to have visited Jerusalem, but caused many bitter debates among the local rabbis. In 1700, a large number of Ḥasidim, at whose head was R. Judah he-Ḥasid of Shidliz near Grodno, came to Jerusalem.  and took up their abode in Dair Siknaji, today, the Hurva Synagogue. Judah, however, died three days after their arrival. They were so poor that, in order to meet the exactions of the authorities, they had to hypothecate all their buildings, and Moses ha-Kohen, head of the Ashkenazim, went, together with Isaac of Slutsk, to Europe to gather money in their behalf. Especially helpful were Samson Wertheimer and his son Wolf of Vienna, who not only sent large sums, but through court influence exercised through the Austrian representative at Constantinople tried to prevent the Jews in Jerusalem from falling still further into debt. Sometimes, they weren’t very successful.

In 1703 the Arabs of the city had revolted against the pasha and had shut the gates of the city upon him. His successor was allowed to enter only for the purpose of receiving the taxes; but in 1705-6 he put down the rebellion, and demanded much money from the richer Jews. Another pasha forbade the Jews to wear white garments on Sabbaths or iron in the soles of their shoes. Their turbans were to be large and black and on the street, Jews were always to pass on the left of Moslems. In 1721 the Moslems fell upon the synagogue of the Ashkenazim; burned all the woodwork and the books; took the Jews prisoners; and occupied all the dwelling-places in Dair Siknaji. Eventually, the Ashkenazim were expelled from the city, most, migrating to the northern cities of Safed and Tiberias.

In 1782 some trouble arose in regard to the burial-ground on the Mount of Olives, the site of which the Muslims wished to use. They were bought off with a large sum of money.

When Napoleon came to Palestine in 1799, the Arabs accused the Jews of assisting him, and were threatened with death. Led by Mordecai al-Gazi they assembled at the Wailing-Wall for prayer. Napoleon, however, did not come near the city; he eventually withdrew from Palestine, and the Jews in Jerusalem were spared. The condition of the Jews at this time was so bad that the chief rabbi, Yom-Ṭov al-Gazi, went to Europe in their behalf, returning in 1801.

Shortly thereafter, plague broke out in Safed and a number of Ashkenazi Jews came to Jerusalem, at times clothing themselves as Sephardim in order to escape the hatred of the Muslims. Two of them, R. Menahem Mendel and R. Abraham Solomon Zalman, founded the Edat Ashkenazim Perushim, consisting of about twenty persons but they were in continual dread that the taxes left unpaid by former Ashkenazim would be demanded of them, and an attempt was made in 1816 to settle the matter in Constantinople. The matter was settled in court and in the next year, they had a yeshivah of their own.

In 1825 Syria and Palestine revolted against Turkish rule, during which time, in 1827, British philanthropist Sir Moses Montefiore visited Jerusalem for the first time and began activities that were to lead to the Jewish modernization of the city, and the country as a whole. Occasional aid came through the European powers; e.g., in 1829, through an Austrian representative, Prokesch Osten, who had been sent from Vienna to look after the Austrian subjects, of which, many Palestinian Jews were. About the year 1830 there were no Karaites in Jerusalem; their dwellings had been appropriated by the other Jews; but the latter were forced by the Damascus Karaites to give them up again. In 1832, Palestine was taken by Mohammed Ali of Egypt.

In order to re-establish the Hurva Synagogue, Akiva Leeren of Amsterdam gave a certain sum of money to be used for this purpose to Rabbi Isaiah Bardaki. This produced a split in the Ashkenazic community but R. Abraham Solomon Ẓoref went to Egypt in order to obtain authority. He was helped by the Russian and Austrian consuls, and received the necessary permission. The new bet ha-midrash, called "Menaḥem Ẓiyyon," or popularly "Bet ha-Midrash ha-Yashen," was inaugurated in 1837.

The same year there was a slight earthquake in Jerusalem, which, however, was very severely felt in Safed and Tiberias. This caused many families to remove from these places to Jerusalem, where the anniversary of the event is still observed. The plague appeared in Jerusalem in 1838 and 1839, as many as fifteen persons dying in one day. The next year, the Ottoman Empire re-conquered the city.

The Damascus Affair of 1840 (a blood libel against the Jews of Damascus), by bringing French minister Adolphe Crémieux, Rothschild representative Albert Cohn, and Montefiore to Palestine, made the wretched condition of the Jerusalem Jews known to their brethren. The idea had arisen among the Ashkenazim and Sephardim of Jerusalem that it was necessary to induce the Jews to till the soil again.  

The Ḥasidim, mostly from Volhynia, had at their head Nissim Bak, who with the aid of Moses Montefiore was the first to establish a printing-press in the city. In 1854 the American Judah Touro gave $60,000 for the purpose of founding Jewish hospices. These were built on the road to Hebron, and were called Mishkenot Shaananim, or "Montefiore Homes," because the money was expended partly through that philanthropist and partly through the "North American Relief Society for the Indigent Jews of Jerusalem." At the same time, Albert Cohn gave his attention especially to the efforts of the missionaries and to the Ḥaluḳḳah system. He founded a hospital, a society of manual workers, a girls' school, and a loan society. In 1856 Montefiore, made it possible for 500 Jews to take up agriculture; he also laid the foundation for a hospital, and founded a girls' school, against which, however, a ḥerem was issued. The writer Ludwig August Frankl went from Vienna to Jerusalem to found the Frau Elise von Herz-Lämel School. A section of the community was violently opposed to this foundation, fearing that a modern school would be inimical to Orthodox observance. Placards were put on the houses, lamentations recited, and prayers offered up at the Wailing-Wall. Frankl, however, was successful, being assisted by the Austrian consul, Pizzamano, and by Kiamil, the pasha of Jerusalem and a Jewish convert to Islam.

The synagogue of the Ashkenazim (Ḥurbat R. Yehudah he-Ḥasid) was rebuilt about 1856, a man named Ezekiel of Bagdad contributing 100,000 piasters for the purpose.

In 1864 the Rothschilds of London established the Evelyn de Rothschild School for Girls. Also that year, the Ashkenazim established the Bet Yaacov Synagogue.

In 1865 there was an epidemic of cholera, and many Jews were victims. This led to the rebuilding of the city’s water-works, and water was brought to the city from 'En 'Eṭam and from the Pools of Solomon. In this year Montefiore made his fifth visit, and contributed £300 on condition that the water should be led into the Jewish quarter. A Jewish manual school was founded by Baron Franchetti of Turin. In 1867 Albert Cohn of Paris commenced the work later continued by the Paris Rothschilds and the Alliance Israélite Universelle, and laid the foundation for a Jewish library. In 1870 Prof. H. Grätz and M. Gottschalk Lewy of Berlin were in Jerusalem, and, seeing the sad plight of the orphans left by recent Jewish immigrants, founded the Verein zur Erziehung Jädischer Waisen in Palästina, the seat of which was in Frankfort-on-the-Main. In 1878 the hospital Misgav la-Dakh was founded for the Jews, without distinction of party. In 1879 the English Mission Society founded, specifically for Jews, a hospital, a pilgrim-house, and schools at an expense of £10,000 a year, but the results of these missionary efforts were inconsiderable. In the same year the village of Petaḥ Tiḳvah was founded by Jerusalem Jews, as well as an orphan asylum for the Ashkenazim, together with a school which was afterward joined to the Lämel School. A change for the better came with the Russian Jews (1881-91), who brought with them more modern ideas of life. It was impossible to find room for all in the old Jewish quarter between the traditional Zion and the Temple mount. New portions were built up north and west of the city, especially by building societies such as Maḥaneh Yehudah, Sha'are Ẓedeḳ, and Oholeh Mosheh. In 1882 the London Society for the Assistance of Persecuted Jews, founded by the Earl of Shaftesbury, bought a piece of property called "Abraham's Vineyard," in which Jews were employed. The School for Boys (Bet Sefer), founded by the Alliance, dates from 1882. Bokharian Jews commenced to settle in the city in the year 1893. The village of Artuf was bought by Jews in 1896.

On Nov. 1, 1898, the German emperor William II. visited Jerusalem in state. One of the three arches built on the Jaffa road was erected by the Jews, a deputation of whom was received by the emperor. On the following day a deputation of Zionists, with Dr. Theodor Herzl at the head, had an audience.  

By the time World War I broke out in 1914, the Ottoman Empire was rife with corruption and persecution. At the outbreak of the war, the Jews largely chose to ally themselves with the British. Their service was such that in November 1917, the British had no problem with issuing what became known as the Balfour Declaration promising Jews a national home in the ancient homeland. The next month, the British conquered Jerusalem and later, the rest of Palestine. A British mandate over the country was established in 1922 and lasted until Israeli independence in 1948. During that time, Jerusalem became a hotbed of Arab extremism and there were numerous riots against Jews resulting in the ethnic cleansing from some Jewish neighborhoods. By November 1947, the United Nations decided to partition the country into Jewish and Arab states with neither state receiving Jerusalem. The Arabs rejected this arrangement out of hand and embarked on a war of annihilation. At the end of the war in 1949, Israel had managed to consolidate its territory and then some including the western half of Jerusalem which was made the nation’s capital. The eastern half came under Arab occupation and 99% of Jewish buildings, and the Jewish cemetery, were destroyed. Jews were banned from entering the eastern half of the city and this remained in effect until the eastern half was liberated in 1967. Since then, the Jewish areas were rebuilt and Jews can today, once again, travel freely in the city with the exception of the Temple Mount.

The Biblical and ancient sites of Jerusalem include:

Judean Mountains and the Judean Desert which surround the city on all sides.
Valley of Rephaim
The Tyropoeon Valley begins near the Damascus Gate and runs south-southeasterly through the center of the Old City down to the Pool of Siloam and divided the Old City into two hills, the Temple Mount to the east, and the rest of the city to the west;
The Valley of Hinnom, along the southern side of the Old City, is equated in the Bible with Gehenna or Hell;
Tower of David
the tent erected by David for the Ark, which was supposed to be still in a place called "David's Temple," south of Mt. Moriah
the Pillar of Absalom
citadel of zion
A point of Jewish pilgrimages for centuries, when Jerusalem was divided, Mount Zion was the closest place to the Western Wall that Jews could go to since visits to the holy sites were prohibited by the Arab occupiers; the Cenacle is believed to be the site of Jesus' Last Super and also houses the Tomb of David. Since the 15^th century, the Catholic Church has tried to prevent Jewish pilgrimages to the Tomb; 
The Old City, which became a World Heritage Site in 1981, has been traditionally divided into four quarters – the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim. Since 1538, it has been surrounded by a wall which was built during the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. It contains 8 gates – the Damascus and Herod’s Gates from the north and the Lion’s, or Saint Stephen’s, Gate from the east which leads to the Muslim Quarter, the Golden Gate leading to the Temple Mount but has been permanently closed for many centuries, the Dung Gate to the Jewish Quarter, the Zion Gate from the south and the Jaffa Gate from the west to the Christian Quarter, and the New Gate to the Armenian Quarter; 
The Temple Mount, also called Mt. Moriah, this is the site where Abraham attempted to sacrifice his son Isaac as well as the site where King Solomon built the Temple. On the southwestern side of the Mount is the last remaining portion of Solomon’s Temple – the retaining wall of the Temple otherwise known as the Kotel, the Western Wall. Near the Wall is the site of Robinson’s Arch, named after the 19^th century American archaeologist who discovered it. This arch was part of King Herod’s designs to expand the Temple in the 1^st century. The holiest spot of Judaism, it is now occupied by the 2 mosques – the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque – both built in the 7^th century. Due to the traditional Zionist-Arab alliance, Jews have been prohibited from praying at their holiest spot and anyone caught doing so, will be arrested. On the other hand, the Zionists do allow Jews to pray at the Western Wall. In front of the Wall is a huge plaza to accommodate its thousands of annual visitors. This plaza used to be the site of the Moroccan Quarter, an Arab neighborhood from where, Jews would often be harassed on their way to the Wall; 
The Mount of Olives, separated from the Old City on the east by the Kidron Valley. This valley was also the site of ancient Jewish burials such as that of the Tombs of the Prophets, the Tomb of B’nei Hezir, the Tomb of Zechariah, the Tomb of Absalom, etc.; the Jewish Cemetery, the oldest, continuously used Jewish cemetery in the world, dating back over 3000 years. When it was under Arab occupation (1948-1967), its tombstones were desecrated, used for building roads and army latrines. Today, most tombstones have been restored but are still subject to Arab desecration from time to time; a section of the Mount, in ancient times, was called the "Viri Galilæ," because the Galileans who came to the festivals spread their tents here. 
Palace of Solomon
the house and stable of Solomon
The City of David, is a large archaeological site south of the Old City. It contains a few villages such as Shiloah (Silwan to the Arabs, Siloam to westerners), and Ophel where archaeologists believe Jerusalem was originally settled and where is now, an archaeological park. Opinion is divided over whether a Large Stone Structure in Ophel or a nearby Stepped Stone Structure may be identified with King David's palace or dates from a later period; The Siloam Tunnel, built of the slope of the City of David, was built by King Hezekiah. It begins at the Gihon Spring and ends at the Pool of Siloam and is decorated with ancient Hebrew inscription, known as the Siloam Inscriptions;
the Israelite Tower, remnants of ancient fortifications;
graves of the princes of the house of David
graves of the kings of Judah
the Broad Wall was a defensive fortification built in the 8th century BCE, by King Hezekiah;
Cave of Zedekiah 
cavern of Ben Sira, the grandson of Jeremiah
Palace of Herod.
Located north of the Old City, Givat haMivtar was founded in 1970; the Tomb of Abba, its inscription reads: "I, Abba, son of the priest Eleaz(ar), son of Aaron the high (priest), Abba, the oppressed and the persecuted, who was born in Jerusalem, and went into exile into Babylonia and brought (back to Jerusalem) Mattathi(ah), son of Jud(ah), and buried him in a cave which I bought by deed"
The neighborhood of Sanhedria lies in between Har Hotzvim and Givat haMivtar and has received its name from the Tombs of the Sanhedrin located in the neighborhood. The Tombs are an underground complex of 63 rock-cut tombs located in a public park and is the burial pace of the leaders of the ancient Sanhedrin;
The Shimon HaZadiq neighborhood was founded in 1876 by Jews who also lived in the adjacent Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood until they were expelled in the 1930s. Shimon HaZadiq is centered around, and received its name from, the area’s Tomb of Shimon HaZadiq, a place of Jewish pilgrimage for many centuries;  
The Four Sephardic Synagogues, a complex of 4 interconnected synagogues, said to be built on the site of the college of the 1^st century rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai but from the late 16^th to 18^th centuries and where the Chief Rabbi of Israel would officiate until the War of Independence in 1948 when the occupying Arabs destroyed the building. The synagogues of this complex were: the Yohanan ben Zakkai, the Istanbuli, the Eliahu haNavi, and the Emtsai.

Below are some of the newer sites in the city:

Jerusalem Trail was opened as a hiking trail that meanders throughout the city, beginning in Ein Handak on the western outskirts, and forming a large “loop”, ending at Sataf, also on the western outskirts and north of Ein Handak.
Mishkenot Shaananim is the earliest neighborhood outside the Old City and was founded in 1860; the Jerusalem Cinemateque in between Mishkenot and Mount Zion hosts the annual Jerusalem Film Festival in July;
Mea Shearim was established in 1875 by Hungarian and native-born Jews and is, today, a bastion of ultra-Orthodoxy. You’ll be going back in time as if to the shtetls of Eastern Europe. TIP: Respect their orthodox ways and you should have a pleasant experience;
South of Downtown, past the Nahlat Shiv’a neighborhood, is the Mamilla neighborhood, traditionally, a mixed Jewish and Arab neighborhood, founded in the late 19^th century; it is the location of the House of Yehuda Stern (now the Steimatsky Bookstore), built in 1877; nearby is Safra Square at the eastern end of Jaffa Road, bounded on the east by Shivtei Yisrael Street and forming a triangle with Tzahal Square and the walls of the Old City. It houses the Jerusalem City Hall; Mamilla is also the home of the Museum of Tolerance and Mamilla Pool;
Beit Yisrael, lying north of the Old City and south of Shimon HaZadiq, was built in the 1880s as an eastern extension of Mea Shearim; at the end of Shmuel HaNavi Street are the ruins of Mandelbaum Gate, named after the Mandelbaum House built in 1927 by Simcha Mandelbaum, a Jewish merchant. Destroyed in the War of Independence, it became the crossing point from west Jerusalem to Arab-occupied east Jerusalem until 1967 when the city was reunited;
Mahane Yehuda was founded in 1887 by 2 Jews and a German Protestant. A few years later, the Market was established and has become a popular residential and tourist destination ever since;
Yemin Moshe, founded in 1891, is just across from the Old City on the west side. It houses the Jerusalem Music Center and the Montefiore Windmill;
The Bukharim Quarter was established in 1893 by Bukharan Jews; at the southern tip of the Quarter on Hoshea Street is the Zion Blumenthal Orphanage. Built in 1900, it is the oldest operating orphanage in Israel;
Migrash Harussim (or the Russian Compound) was established in 1864 by the Russian government but purchased by the Israelis in the 1960s; the Ticho House on the north side of the Compound on HaRav Kook Street, houses the paintings of Anna Ticho and the Judaica collections of her husband, an ophthalmologist who opened Jerusalem's first eye clinic in this building in 1912.
Rehavia was founded in 1921 by middle-class Jerusalemites; the residences of the Prime Minister and President and Heichal Shlomo are located here;
Romema, located in the northwestern part of the city, was founded in 1921 on the highest hill in Jerusalem; some of the sites include the Israel Broadcasting Authority office, the offices of the Jerusalem Post, and the Central Bus Station on the southwestern edge of Romema; the Jerusalem Chords Bridge spanning Shazar Street and allows motorists to easily travel from Kiryat Moshe to the Central Bus Station;
Mount Scopus gives a sweeping view of most of Jerusalem. Between 1948 and 1967, it was an Israeli enclave located in the eastern part of the city and cut off from the rest of the city; it is the sites of the Hebrew University, Hadassah Medical Center, and the National Library;
About a mile and a half south of Mount Zion is the neighborhood of Armon HaNetziv a.k.a. Talpiyot Mizrah, founded in 1928 as an agricultural training farm; between this neighborhood and Jebel Mukaber on its northern border, the Tolerance Monument, an outdoor sculpture by Czeslaw Dzwigaj in 2008, was erected as a symbol of Jerusalem's quest for peace.
Givat Ram, next door to Rehavia on the west, was founded in 1949 with the Kiryat haMemshala section as an area for governmental institutions: the Knesset, the Supreme Court, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of the Interior, the Bank of Israel, and the National Headquarters of the Israel Police; outside Kiryat haMemshala is the newer Hebrew University campus built in 1953 because Mount Scopus was cut off from the rest of Jerusalem during the partition period of the city; it is also the home of the Israel Museum and the Shrine of the Book containing an exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls; next to that is a large model of the Temple; the Bible Lands Museum near the National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel which includes the Israel Antiquities Authority offices; the International Convention Center houses the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra;
Har haZikaron, located to the west of Givat Ram, is also known as Mount Herzl after Theodor Herzl, the founder of political Zionism, who was reinterred here in 1949, 45 years after his death. The area is located at the western side of the city near the Jerusalem Forest and serves as the national cemetery of Israel.
Musrara was founded by Christian Arabs in the late 19^th century but they fled after 1948. The neighborhood was repopulated by Jewish refugees from North Africa but they were exposed to daily attacks from Arabs from the occupied part of the city; today, it is home to many media outlets including Israel Radio, Channel 2, Channel 10, and part of BBC News;
Downtown Jerusalem to the east of Mahane Yehuda, is one of the city’s business and cultural centers; haPaamonim Shopping Center containing the Sbarro Restaurant, was the site of a 2001 suicide bombing which prompted the closing down of the PLO’s Orient House; the Gerard Behar Center (formerly Beit Ha'am) is also located here;
Gonen a.k.a. Katamon is home to the Hadar Mall;
Talbiya is a mixed Jewish and Arab neighborhood; it is the location of the Jerusalem Theater which hosts over 150 concerts a year, as well as theater and dance companies and performing artists from overseas.
South of Talbiya is the German Colony. It is the home of the online news venue, the Times of Israel;
About a mile and a half south of Givat Ram is Malha home of the Malha Mall; the Khan Theater, located in a caravanserai opposite the old Jerusalem train station, is the city's only repertoire theater and the site of music performances and the annual book fair; Malha is also the home of the Biblical Zoo and Technology Park;
Masudiyya on the south side of Beit Yisrael contains The Museum on the Seam, which explores issues of coexistence through art and is situated on the road dividing the eastern and western parts of Jerusalem.
Har Hotzvim is a high-tech park about a mile and a half northwest of the Old City and is home to the Israeli headquarters of Intel, Cisco, Teva Pharmaceuticals, IBM, Mobileye, Johnson and Johnson, and Medtronic.