Gravitas Plus: The Story of Jerusalem | Palki Sharma

symbols are powerful they can unite

people of a common faith they can also

transform them into an impulsive mob

sometimes symbols get attached to places

to cities

that are considered sacred some cities

wash away sins

some are the birthplaces of gods and

some serve

as the headquarters of a religion but no

city in the world has ever played a

greater role in the history of a

religion

as jerusalem has for judaism for

christianity

and for islam hello and welcome to

gravitas plus i'm palki sharma

they call it the city of peace yet

jerusalem today

and has been throughout history a city

of conflict

it has been destroyed twice fought over

16 times besieged 23 times

attacked 52 times and traded hands on

many more occasions

jerusalem has divided people it has also

united them

in reverence as a holy land what makes

the city so special

yet so complex let's break it down for

you i'll start with the history

jerusalem is old really old 440 years

or perhaps longer over the centuries of

its existence three major religions have

fought for its control

judaism christianity and islam

the abrahamic religions religions that

view abraham

as a common forefather a patriarch who

is mentioned in all three of their holy

books the torah the bible and the quran

jews and christians trace their roots to

abraham's second son isaac

muslims trace their roots to his elder

son ishmael

their belief in ancestry divides them

but jerusalem

has been that one unifying force

in hebrew it's called yerushalayim the

spiritual homeland of the jewish people

temple mount in jerusalem is where two

biblical jewish temples stood thousands

of years ago

the western wall within temple mount is

said to be the

last remnant of those temples today it

is considered to be the holiest site in

judaism

when jews pray they face the western

wall in jerusalem

just like muslims face the kaaba in

mecca

jerusalem is also holy for muslims in

arabic it is known as

al-quds the holy sanctuary home to the

al-aqsa mosque

the third holiest site in islam after

mecca and madina and on top of temple

mounts it's the dome of the rock

this is where muslims say prophet

muhammad ascended to the heavens

and lastly in christianity jerusalem is

mentioned as salim in the bible

an ancient hebrew name that was

preserved in its current name

jerusalem for christians this city

is home to the church of the holy

sepulchre this is where jesus was

crucified

buried and resurrected so for all of

these three

christians muslims and jews jerusalem

holds a sacred and important place

but who owns it and this is where things

get complicated

you see jerusalem belongs to everyone

and no one

every religion has marked this city and

almost

every major empire has controlled it but

in the words of winston churchill it is

the jews that made jerusalem famous

how did they do it let me take you

further back into history

to 135 ce to be exact when the romans

drove jews out of jerusalem and renamed

their kingdom

judea to palestina a greek name

meant to break the jewish connection to

this land all jews were barred from

setting foot in jerusalem but what about

the jews where did they go

after their exodus from judea they got

scattered across the roman empire which

is present in europe

but they were persecuted wherever they

went in the 11th century the jews were

slaughtered by the crusaders who

considered them

to be the killers of jesus christ in the

14th century they were scapegoated as

the cause of black death

accused of poisoning the wells of

christians and slaughtering in the rhine

and rhone region

their persecution went on till the 19th

century and this is when some jews

joined forces

to protect their identity they launched

what is called

zionism a religious political and

ideological movement

which had two aims one was to put an end

to the centuries of persecution and two

to take jews back to their ancient

homeland

the zionist believed that judaism was as

much a religion

as it was a nationality that the jews

deserved their own state

the same way the french deserved france

or the chinese deserve china

this movement is what brought jews back

to israel

today zionism is israel's national

ideology

towards the end of the 19th century

zionism led to a massive jewish

immigration to palestine

by 1903 at least 30 000 had

reestablished themselves in palestine

by 1914 40 000 more jews had resettled

there

then came the first world war the

ottoman empire collapsed the british and

french empires carved up west asia

with the british taking control of the

region under the british mandate for

palestine

at first they allowed jewish immigration

but as more jews arrived

tensions between jews and arabs grew

both sides committed

acts of violence both claiming to be the

victims so by the 1930s

the british began limiting jewish

immigration

things changed again after the rise of

nazi germany

6 million jews were killed in the

holocaust the remaining fled to the u.s

and palestine in large numbers

by 1944 the jewish population in

palestine had increased

to 33 percent of the total this

galvanized much of the western world

in support of a jewish state with much

of the arab world

against it in 1947 a sectarian violence

between the arabs and the jews grew

the united nations approved a plan to

divide british palestine

into two separate states one for jews

called israel

and one for arabs called palestine the

city of jerusalem was to become

a special international zone since it

housed the holy sites of both religions

this plan was a colossal failure the

british

first failed to prevent the violence and

then wash their hands of

all responsibility they left the land in

a mess

just as they left india and pakistan

after partition

the jews accepted the u.n plan on 14th

may 1948 they proclaimed independence

they formed a new state

the palestinians viewed this as theft

they accused jews of stealing their land

what followed was decades of endless

animosity between the jews and the arabs

in the last 70 years there have been

eight recognized wars

two palestinian intifadas or uprisings

and a series of armed conflicts

israel treated them as do-or-die battles

and with each conflict it gained more

control of palestine

it helps to look at a map to understand

this

this was israel's map in 1947 it changed

to this

after the arab israeli war of 1948

to this after the six day war of 1967

and as of 2020 it looked like this with

east jerusalem under israeli control

and palestinian territories reduced to

small ghettos

we are in 2021 now and the

israel-palestine conflict

has resurfaced jerusalem has once again

become a city under siege

in gaza buildings are shaking streets

are crawling with troops and flash bangs

are flying overhead

it's been called the most intense

hostility in years

the heaviest offensive since the 2014

gaza war

what explains these killings like always

a piece of land this time it's sheikh

jara

a predominantly palestinian neighborhood

in east jerusalem

you must know about this history too

after israel took control of this

neighborhood in 1967

settler groups launched legal bids they

staked claim

on jewish properties properties which

they said

had been lost in the 1948 arab israeli

war

israel passed a law to back these claims

to justify the takeovers

but only if the claimants could furnish

proof of their ownership

the latest case sought to remove four

more families

from this contested neighborhood the

verdict was expected to be delivered

this week but even before the verdict

some israelis had already started moving

in watch this

you are stealing my house and if i don't

steal it someone else is going to steal

it

no no one no one is allowed to steal it

if i don't steal it someone else will

this video was by far the biggest

catalyst in the ongoing conflict it

mobilized palestinians

who were already complaining of

unwarranted restrictions

on them during ramazan hamas a

palestinian militant group and the de

facto governing authority of the gaza

strip sensed an opportunity

to push the palestinian struggle back on

center stage

it launched rocket attacks on israel

israel responded in kind

it's been more than a week the violence

has not stopped

what will it take to end this violence

what will it take for peace to be

restored in jerusalem

five peace deals could not settle this

dispute eight wars could not bury the

differences

the palestinians say if they drop the

weapons they will lose more land

the israelis say if they drop the

weapons there will be no israel

so hamas shoots rockets and israel bombs

gaza as jerusalem

the city of peace struggles to live up

to its name

its symbolism lost in its reality