According to the Bible [the biblical version is being challenged by new Israeli historians since the 80s] Yerushalem was chosen by David in 1000BCE to be the capital of his kingdom and it was his son Solomon who built the First Temple. In 587 BC, Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the Temple and exiled the city’s inhabitants to Babylon. The second Temple, established in 516 BC after their return from exile, was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD who then banished them again from the city in 135 AD. Part of the foundations of the Temple –HaKotel (Western Wall or Wailing Wall) became the main holy place of Judaism. In 325, the adoption of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire transformed the city. The Anastasis (Holy Sepulchre), completed in 335, became the main holy place of Christianity. A small Jewish community moved back to Jerusalem. As minority they remained dependent on the powers that succeeded each other. In 638, Caliph Omar conquered Jerusalem. The Dome of the Rock (691) and Al Aqsa (715) were established on the Temple Mount (Haram al-Sharif, Esplanade of the Mosques) which became the third holiest site in Islam. The prohibition of Christian pilgrimage which was the origin of the Crusades, was culminated in 1099 with the capture of the city by the Crusaders. After many bloody wars, it passed under exclusive Muslim control in 1244. It was governed by the Turks until 1917, then under British Mandate until 1948.

According to the 1947 Partition Plan, Jerusalem was to constitute « a corpus separatum under special international regime. » But the first Arab-Israeli war led to its division following the Green Line. The eastern part (Old City and neighborhoods east of this line) was administered by Jordan after expulsion of Jewish residents and the western part (districts and surrounding villages) was annexed by Israel after the expulsion of Arab inhabitants. In 1967, the size of ​​West Jerusalem was 38 km2 against 6 km2 for East Jerusalem.

After the occupation of the Palestinian Territory in 1967, the eastern part of Jerusalem was annexed and administered as part of its territory by Israel. The Western Wall became again accessible to Jews after 19 years of prohibition. The Jewish Quarter of the Old City was extended on the adjacent Arab neighborhoods and settlers began to settle in East Jerusalem. Municipal boundaries were redefined according to demographic and political considerations to include maximum lands and minimum Palestinians. This annexation de facto was officially confirmed when the Israeli Parliament adopted, on 30 July 1980, a fundamental law proclaiming « reunified Jerusalem eternal capital of Israel« . First « Israeli » city, Jerusalem now covers 200 km2 with a population of 750,000 inhabitants.

East Jerusalem Palestinian inhabitants suffered evictions, destruction and occupation of houses, colonial buildings, of religious schools and monitoring infrastructure, omnipresence of military, police and armed civilians. They are also subject to multiple discriminations such as, withdrawal of residence permit, limited movements, denial of building permits, community facilities for exclusive use of settlers, economic marginalization, unjust fiscality and prohibition of association…

35% of the area of East Jerusalem has been expropriated within the General Interest. 50% is frozen or classified green zone. One out of three Palestinian houses are built without a permit, which is difficult to obtain and therefore around 93 000 residents run the risk of being displaced. Since 1967, 2,000 homes were destroyed by the Israeli authorities, 14,000 people had their Jerusalem residency status revoked and their property confiscated by the « Law on Absentee Property ». On the other hand, the use of the judicial system allows Israel to claim property that would have belonged to Jews before 1948 while these rights are denied to Palestinian refugees who have land in Israel. Israeli associations B’Tselem and Ir Amim also denounced the use of dubious means to buy land to Palestinian owners.

The Old City and the five Palestinian neighborhoods adjacent to Holy Basin, where the majority of historical and religious sites in Jerusalem are located. These places are particularly targeted by colonial policies aimed at destroying Palestinian influences by changing the geographical balance of the city. Several thousand Israeli settlers are settled there, protected by many private guards, police and military personnel. Holding both nationalist and traditionalist religious views, they are supported by the Israeli right and constitute a hidden arm of the State which, through various ministries and the municipality of Jerusalem, subsidizes and protects them legally and militarily. Some political and religious movements want the destruction of Al-Aqsa Mosque as a preamble to the rebuilding of the Temple.

The colonization of Silwan, a Palestinian neighborhood in the Holy Basin situated below Al Aqsa Mosque and Western Wall is emblematic. Since 1967, many properties were confiscated under the guise of the « Law on Absentee Property », colonial buildings have multiplied and the management of historical and archaeological heritage has been entrusted to right-wing settlers. Around 90 houses in the heart of the neighborhood are currently under threat of destruction to make way for housing reserved for settlers and the King’s Garden, an extension of the historical and religious park City of David. This colonization was denounced by the UN: « International law does not allow Israel to demolish Palestinian homes to build a garden, or anything else », it adds that the plan « must be considered in the context of Israeli persistent and systematic political expulsion of Palestinians from East Jerusalem ». The Israeli association Ir Amim (City of the People) expresses the fear that « the Jewish presence in the heart of Palestinian centers of East Jerusalem would establish grounds that could affect the possibility of a future peace agreement… »

Rabbis for Human Rights accused the settler organization Elad « to evict Palestinians from their properties, appropriating public spaces, to close these spaces and to deny entry to the local population … under the protection of private armed forces. » Elad is also accused of conducting archaeological excavations on Palestinian property and digging tunnels that dangerously weaken the building foundations of Esplanade of the Mosques and the Muslim part of the old City. In 2009, these tunnels have revealed a Roman cardo and a large room used formerly as a synagogue.

In Sheikh Jarrah, another Palestinian neighborhood of the Holy Basin, the Israeli urbanization plan includes the eviction of Palestinian inhabitants, the development of the religious center associated with the tomb of Shimon HaTzadik, Simon the Just (a high priest of the fourth century BC), the construction of reserved housing units, a community center and an annex of the Hebrew University Campus Glassman. Palestinian families of those neighborhoods are stripped of their property by the Justice and evicted from their homes to be replaced by armed settlers, protected by Israeli police.

270,000 Palestinians (of which 55 000 are separated from the urban center by the Wall) and 200,000 Israeli settlers live in East Jerusalem (of which 3500 in the Old City).

3.7 million Palestinians from Occupied Palestinian Territory can not come to Jerusalem without Israeli permission.