ABSTRACT
The 1948 war ended with Israel controlling 78% of Palestine, including the western part of Jerusalem containing some of the pre-1948 Arab neighborhoods, stretched along 34 km2. Jordan controlled the West Bank including the Old City of Jerusalem and its close environs: Bab al-Sahira, Sheikh-Jarrah, Wadi Joz, Silwan and the Mount of Olives, comprising 6.5 km2. In December 1948, the Israeli Knesset declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel. East Jerusalem was annexed to the Kingdom of Jordan about one week thereafter, followed by the entire West Bank in May 1950. Jewish Jerusalem pined for the Old City and the Western Wall, while Palestinians in Jordanian Jerusalem viewed the city as incomplete without the neighborhoods they had lost and left behind in West Jerusalem. Following the 1967 war and Israel‘s occupation of Arab territories in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, the city of Jerusalem underwent dramatic changes.
