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

Channel: WION

Views: 2,012,785

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Id: Cj_Pr38vj8k

Length: 9min 35sec (575 seconds)

Published: Sat May 15 2021