Map Jerusalem

Jerusalem (Hebrew: יְרוּשָׁלַיִם‎ (audio) (help·info), Yerushaláyim; Arabic: القُدس (audio) (help·info), al-Quds) is the capital[iii] of Israel and its largest city in both population and area, with 732,100 residents in an area of 125.1 square kilometers (49 sq mi). Located in the Judean Mountains, between the Mediterranean Sea and the northern tip of the Dead Sea, modern Jerusalem has grown up around the Old City. Its Jewish neighborhoods, circled around its civic and cultural hub, extend westward toward Israel's urban core in Gush Dan (Tel Aviv region). Its Arab neighborhoods stretch from the Old City to the East, towards Ramallah in the North, and towards Bethlehem in the South.
The city has a history that goes back as far as the 4th millennium BCE, making it one of the oldest cities in the world. Jerusalem has been the holiest city in Judaism and the spiritual center of the Jewish people since the 10th century BCE, contains a number of significant ancient Christian sites, and is widely considered the third-holiest city in Islam. Despite having an area of only 0.9 square kilometer (0.35 square mile), 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. 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 World Heritage Sites in danger in 1982. The Old City has been traditionally divided into four quarters, although the names used today—the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters—were only introduced in the early 19th century.
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. Jerusalem has not been internationally recognized as Israel's capital, and no embassies are located in Jerusalem-proper. The United Nations and the International Court of Justice categorize East Jerusalem as occupied territory, and Palestinians foresee East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.