Jerusalemite (Arabic : قدسي or Qudsi) is traditionally used to describe people whose ancestry can be traced back by the millenia to Jerusalem, and in particular to the Old City.^{[1] [2][3]} It has also been used to describe residents of Jerusalem's Old City or the wider Jerusalem area.^[4][5]

Jerusalemite can also be used to refer to buildings, or other inaminate objects, that are located in Jerusalem.

Jerusalemites are of varied national, ethnic and religious denominations and include European, Middle Eastern, and African Jews, as well as Palestinians, Muslim and Christian Arabs, and Greek, Armenian, Syrian, and Coptic Christians, among others.^[2]

Many of these groups were once immigrants or pilgrims that have over time become near indigenous populations and claim the importance of Jerusalem to their faith as their reason for moving to and being in the city.^[2]

Jerusalem's long history of conquests by competing and different powers has resulted in different groups living in the city many of whom have never fully identified or assimilated with a particular power, despite the length of their rule. Though they may have been citizens of that particular kingdom and empire and involved with civic activities and duties, these groups often saw themselves as distinct national groups.^[2]

There is no one specific definition for an indigenous Jerusalemite because of the cosmopolitan nature of the city. The common denominator for those who claim the identity of a Jerusalemite is that they are a resident of the city,^[2] or in the case of Palestinian refugees of Jerusalemite origin, that their family lineage extends back to Jerusalem.^[6]

The Ottoman millet system, whereby minorities in the Ottoman Empire were given the authority to govern themselves within the framework of the broader system, allowed these groups to retain autonomy and remain separate from other religious and national groups. For exmple, even after a millennium of residence in Jerusalem, groups such as the Armenians, still primarily identify with their own nation, though some do identify as Palestinian as well.^[2]

Palestinians from outside of Jerusalem recognize the "qudsi", or Old City Jerusalemite, as having the ability to maneuver about the alien cultures and quarters of the city.^[7]

Most Jerusalemite Christians share a socio-cultural world with Muslim Arabs and Jewish Arabs in Jerusalem.^[8] A small minority of Arab Jerusalemites supported the boundaries of the 1947 United Nations partition of Israel and Palestine which would have designated Jerusalem an international city. ^[9]

Israeli Jerusalemites and Palestinian Jerusalemites tend to have little in the way of social interaction with one another. Attempts to bridge the divide have been made and examples include the film project Occupied Minds which was conceived and executed with a bi-national design that includes co-writing, co-directing and co-editing by an Israeli Jerusalemite and a Palestinian Jerusalemite, both of whom now live in San Francisco.<ref name=Elana/

On 29 September 2000, in the early days of al-Aqsa Intifada, many Jerusalemites joined in the protests that swept the city. [1]

Jerusalemites of Palestinian origin face many barriers to their continued residency in the city. [2] Thousands of East Jerusalem identification cards have been confiscated by the Israeli authorities since 1967. Those Jerusalemites have lived abroad or in the West Bank for more than seven years, or those who travel abroad but do not possess re-entry visas, or those who apply for residency / citizenship elsewhere have had their status revoked. If a Jerusalemite marries a non-resident spouse from the West Bank or Gaza or from abroad they must endure a painful family reunification process. A Jerusalemite can register their children as residents only if the father holds a valid Jerusalem identification. [3][4]