According to abbreviationfinder, Jerusalem is a city located in Israel and Palestine. It has 763,800 residents in an area of 125.1 square kilometers (if East Jerusalem is included). Situated in the Judean Mountains, between the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Dead Sea, it has spread well beyond the Old City limits.

• יְרוּשָׁלַיִם in Hebrew
• القُدس in Arabic

The status of the eastern part of the city, conquered by force in 1967 by Israel, is disputed, since in this sector – usually referred to as East Jerusalem or East Jerusalem, which includes the Old City – is where the Palestinian National Authority he claims to establish the capital of his State. The Israeli State, after the Six Day War, considered the city as a unified whole and a single municipality, declaring it as its “eternal and indivisible” capital by means of the “Jerusalem Law of 1980”. This annexation is not recognized by the majority of the international community, and, in protest of this unilateral act, the member states of the United Nations they moved their embassies to the coastal city of Tel Aviv.

Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities in the world, inhabited by the Jebusites before the invasion of the Hebrew tribes to Canaan at the beginning of the 13th century BC. n. and.

Jerusalem’s Old City was declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1981.

Etymological origin

The precise origin of the Hebrew name (יְרוּשָׁלַיִם Yerushalayim) is uncertain and scholars offer different interpretations. Some claim that it comes from the Hebrew words yeru (ירו), (house) and shalem or shalom (שלם ‘, peace), which is why Jerusalemliterally means “house of peace.” This may be because it is generally known as the land of God. Another interpretation says that it could refer to Salem, an ancient name of the city, which appears in the Book of Genesis.

Also, it is very likely that the name comes from the ancient pagan god of the peoples that inhabited that area, Salem “god of the setting sun”, where Jeru-Salem means “place of the God Salem”. After the Israelite conquest this name lost its original meaning. In the fourteenth century a. C., when the Hebrews appeared in Canaan, the name of Salem was confused by “Shalom” peace.

The Arabic name is Al-Quds (القدس), which means the sacred, or more rarely Bayt al-Maqdes (بيت المقدس), House of the Sacred. The State of Israel frequently uses as a denomination in Arabic the archaic name Urshalim (أورشليم), which has no use in the spoken language and very little in the written one, or the mixed form Urshalim Al-Quds’ (أورشليم القدس).

The gentilicio in Spanish of the resident of Jerusalem is Jerosolimitano or Hierosolimitano.

Holy places for Judaism, Christianity and Islam

Jerusalem is considered a holy city by the three great monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. For Judaism, it is there where King David established the capital of the Kingdom of Israel and the settlement of the Ark of the Covenant, and where his son Solomon built the Temple, where prayers should be directed; for Christianity it is there where Jesus preached and was crucified; Islam picks up from these religions the sacred character of the city, which the first Muslims looked at when praying, before going on to do so facing Mecca. See population of Israel.

According to the Muslim religion

• The Dome of the Rock: The most important Muslim temple in Jerusalem. Located in the center of the Temple Mount, it is a shrine – not a mosque – built between the years 687 and 691 by the ninth caliph, Abd al-Malik, around the rock on which Abraham was about to sacrifice his son. Ishmael and from which Muhammad by means of an ayah, ascended to the throne of God in the course of a night trip to the city from Medina.

According to the Jewish religion

• The Wailing Wall: This is the most important place for Jews. Last remnant of the Jewish temple built by Herod on the ruins of Solomon’s temple. It includes the Western Wall, the main section of the Wall, located in the Jewish neighborhood of the Old City; and the Little Wall, an extension of the Western Wall, located in an Arab neighborhood, is a place of prayer for Jews of different currents. The Temple was built on the site where, according to Jewish tradition, Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son, Isaac. The Temple Mount (where today the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque are located) is considered the most sacred place, since it was the Sanctosantorum, where the Tables of the Law were housed. Until 1967, while the city was under Arab rule, the Wailing Wall was used as the city’s garbage dump.

According to the Christian religion

• Church of the Holy Sepulcher: There is Calvary where Jesus was crucified, as well as the “Sepulcher of the Savior”. It is the holiest place in Christianity.
• Cenacle: Room on the upper floor where Jesus celebrated the Last Supper, and where he appeared to the apostles and where they received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
• Basilica of the Nations or of the Agony: Located on the Mount of Olives, where Jesus spent his last moments before being arrested.
• Dominus Flevit Church: From there, Jesus contemplated the holy city and wept for it on Palm Sunday.
• Church of the Our Father: Place where Jesus taught that prayer to the disciples.
• San Pedro in Gallicantu: Church that remembers the place where the house of Caiaphas was, where Jesus was tried and where he was denied by Peter.
• Lithostrotos: Pavement of the ancient Antonia Fortress of the Romans where Jesus was crowned with thorns and outraged by Roman soldiers.
• Via Dolorosa: The path that Jesus followed with the cross from the Antonia Fortress to Calvary. The stations are marked on it, the last being in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher.
• Hagia Maria or Dormition Abbey: It recalls the place where according to Christian tradition the Virgin died, surrounded by the apostles. In its crypt there is an image of the Reclining Virgin.
• Church of Santa Ana: In the place where it is found, according to Christian tradition, the Virgin Mary was born.
• Edicule of the Ascension: Place from which Jesus ascended to heaven.