Jerusalem is the holy city for every Abrahamic religion, and it has the site of conflicts for centuries. Countless kingdoms and conquerors ruled the most sacred city, since the first human settlements around 3500 B.C.
The Ottoman Empire ruled Jerusalem and much of the Middle East from about 1516 to 1917. After World War I, Britain took control of Jerusalem and surrounding regions, until Israel became a state in 1948 in a violent process that entailed the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. Israeli seized Palestinian territories of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza Strip, as well as the Syrian Golan Heights and the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula in 1967. Zionist forces expelled some 750,000 Palestinians from their homeland and destroyed their villages in the process.
Since the Arab–Israeli War, millions of Palestinians were expelled from their land, and they are facing the most prolonged military occupation in modern history. Their lives have been dictated by hundreds of military checkpoints, a color-coded permit system, and a Separation Wall that has divided families.
After the Israeli occupation, Christians and Muslims are not treated like Jews; they face all kinds of a disclination. The Muslims and christens lived peacefully, and that’s why the churches still exist; even Jews were protected under the Muslim rule. The Jerusalem municipality has charged churches with heavy taxes. They are buying more and more land in the city both legally and illegally to turn Arab areas into Jewish neighborhoods. Today there are thousands of families living in illegal settlements in Jerusalem.
Before the illegal occupation, there was a different Jerusalem that has been forgotten and only lives in photographs.
