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Palestine Atlas

Old City of Jerusalem

Basic Information

Type
City
Governorate
Jerusalem
Region
Jerusalem

Overview

The Old City of Jerusalem is a 0.9 km² walled area within East Jerusalem that represents one of the oldest, most contested, and most significant urban spaces in human history. Its current walls were built by the Ottoman Empire from 1535 to 1542 under Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, and they define the boundary of the historic urban core. The city is traditionally divided into four quarters — Muslim, Christian, Armenian, and Jewish — though these divisions are colonial cartographic constructs from the 19th century that do not fully reflect the organic, mixed residential patterns that existed for centuries. The Old City contains sites held sacred by all three Abrahamic religions: the Haram al-Sharif (Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock) for Muslims, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Christians, and the Western Wall for Jews. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981 and listed as 'in danger' since 1982 due to Israeli occupation policies, settlement activity, and unilateral alterations. On June 10, 1967, just three days after occupying East Jerusalem, Israeli forces demolished the entire Mughrabi (Moroccan) Quarter — 135 homes, two mosques, and the 700-year-old al-Buraq Mosque — displacing approximately 650 Palestinian residents to create the Western Wall plaza. This act of ethnic cleansing erased a historic Palestinian neighborhood that had existed for centuries and remains one of the most egregious examples of post-1967 dispossession.

Historical Significance

The Old City stands on the site of ancient Jerusalem, with evidence of human habitation dating back over 5,000 years to the Bronze Age. It is sacred to Muslims as the site of Prophet Muhammad's Night Journey and Ascension (Isra' and Mi'raj), making the Haram al-Sharif the third holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina. For Christians, it contains the sites of Jesus' crucifixion, burial, and resurrection at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. For Jews, the Western Wall represents the last remnant of the Second Temple. The city's layered history encompasses Canaanite, Israelite, Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, early Islamic, Crusader, Ayyubid, Mamluk, Ottoman, and British periods — each leaving architectural and cultural imprints. Under international law, the Old City is occupied Palestinian territory where Israel, as the occupying power, has obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention to protect the civilian population and cultural heritage.

Sources and record limitations

Source detail varies by record. Some entries include document and page references; others supply source names only. Check the cited material and the record's limitations before relying on a specific claim.

  • UNESCO World Heritage Centre (Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls)
  • UN OCHA — United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
  • B'Tselem — Israeli Information Center for Human Rights
  • Ir Amim — Israeli NGO monitoring Jerusalem
  • ARIJ — Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem
  • PASSIA — Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs
  • Palestinian Jerusalem Governorate
  • Waqf Administration (Jordanian-controlled Islamic religious authority)
  • BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights

The Old City is occupied Palestinian territory under international law. The Mughrabi Quarter demolition in 1967 constitutes a war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention. Settler activity within the walls breaches international law.