((Short description|Section of Jerusalem that came under Israeli control after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War))
((redirect|W. Jerusalem|the Austrian philosopher|Wilhelm Jerusalem))
((pp-30-500|small=yes))
((use dmy dates|cs1-dates=ly|date=January 2021))
((use Oxford spelling|date=November 2022))

[[File:JerusalemEastAndWest.jpg|right|upright=1.15|thumb|Zones of control in [[Jerusalem]] between [[1948 Arab–Israeli War|1948]] and [[Six-Day War|1967]]]]

'''West Jerusalem''' or '''Western Jerusalem''' (((Lang-he|מַעֲרַב יְרוּשָׁלַיִם)), ((Transl|he|ISO|Ma'aráv Yerushaláyim)); ((Lang-ar|القدس الغربية)), ((lang|ar-Latn|al-Quds al-Ġarbiyyah))) refers to the section of [[Jerusalem]] that was controlled by [[Israel]] at the end of the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]]. As the city was divided by the [[Green Line (Israel)|Green Line]] (Israel's erstwhile ((Lang-la|de facto|label=none)) border, established by the [[1949 Armistice Agreements]]), West Jerusalem was formally delineated as the counterpart to [[East Jerusalem]], which was controlled by [[Jordan]].<ref name="BBC maps">((cite web |title=Key Maps |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/03/v3_israel_palestinians/maps/html/1967_and_now.stm |access-date=26 April 2013 |work=Jerusalem: Before 1967 and now |publisher=[[BBC News]]))</ref> Though Israel has controlled the entirety of Jerusalem since the [[Six-Day War|1967 Arab–Israeli War]], the boundaries of West Jerusalem and East Jerusalem remain internationally recognized as ((Lang-la|de jure|label=none)) due to their significance to the process of determining the [[status of Jerusalem]], which has been among the primary points of contention in the [[Arab–Israeli conflict]] and the [[Israeli–Palestinian conflict]]. With certain exceptions, undivided Jerusalem is not internationally recognized as the sovereign territory of either Israel or the [[State of Palestine]].((sfn|Dumper|1997|pp=35–36))<ref name="HirschHousen-Couriel1995">((cite book|author1=Moshe Hirsch|author2=Deborah Housen-Couriel|author3=Ruth Lapidot|title=Whither Jerusalem?: Proposals and Positions Concerning the Future of Jerusalem|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NUhGYFwhx-0C&pg=PA15|date=28 June 1995|publisher=Martinus Nijhoff Publishers|isbn=978-90-411-0077-1|pages=15|quote=What, then, is Israel's status in west Jerusalem? Two main answers have been adduced: (a) Israel has sovereignty in this area; and (b) sovereignty lies with the Palestinian people or is suspended.))</ref> However, recognition of Israeli sovereignty over only West Jerusalem is more widely accepted as a plausible diplomatic position, as the [[United Nations]] regards East Jerusalem as part of the [[Israeli occupation of the West Bank|Israeli-occupied West Bank]].<ref name="AkramDumper2010">((cite book|author-link=George Bisharat|first=George|last=Bisharat |editor1=Susan M. Akram|editor2=Michael Dumper|editor3=Michael Lynk|chapter=Maximizing Rights |title=International Law and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A Rights-Based Approach to Middle East Peace|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LBOsAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA311|date=23 December 2010|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-85098-1|pages=311|quote=As we have noted previously the international legal status of Jerusalem is contested and Israel’s designation of it as its capital has not been recognized by the international community. However its claims of sovereign rights to the city are stronger with respect to West Jerusalem than with respect to East Jerusalem.))</ref>

==History==
[[File:First Town Plan of Jerusalem, 1918, William McLean.jpg|thumb|[[William McLean (civil servant)|William McLean's]] 1918 plan was the first urban planning scheme for Jerusalem. It laid the foundations for what became West Jerusalem and [[East Jerusalem]].<ref name=efratallen>Elisha Efrat and Allen G. Noble, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/215090 Planning Jerusalem], Geographical Review, Vol. 78, No. 4 (Oct., 1988), pp. 387-404: "Modern planning began only after the British conquest of Palestine in World War I… In 1918 an engineer from Alexandria, William McLean, was commissioned to draft the first city plan… These provisions… caused the city to develop mainly to the west and southwest because of the restrictions on construction in the Old City and its immediate environs and the desire to retain the eastern skyline… McLean wanted Jerusalem to expand to the north, west, and south, with little development to the east because of climatic and topographical limitations. Thus almost from the onset of British colonial rule, development was encouraged in a generally westward direction, and this bias ultimately produced the initial contrasts that distinguished the eastern and western sectors of the city. McLean also adopted the principle of urban dispersal, and he proposed two main axes, one to the northwest and the other to the southwest of the Old City. His guidelines were repeated in most of the subsequent city plans."</ref>]]
[[File:Map illustrating Jewish proposals for Jerusalem Survey of Palestine.jpg|thumb|Map illustrating Jewish proposals for partition of Jerusalem, presented to the 1938 [[Woodhead Commission]].]]

===Pre 1948: the Jewish Colony===
((Expand section|date=June 2023))
The earliest Jewish settlements outside the city walls were [[Mea Shearim]] and [[Yemin Moshe]].

In 1918 [[William McLean (civil servant)|William McLean]] laid out the first civic plan for expansion of Jerusalem westwards and southwards.<ref name=efratallen />

By the 1920s the [[Hebrew]] speaking Jewish community had formed a "Jewish Colony" around the area later known as the Downtown Triangle of [[Jaffa Road]], [[Ben Yehuda Street (Jerusalem)|Ben Yehuda Street]] and [[King George Street (Jerusalem)|King George Street]].<ref>''[[Harmsworth's Universal Encyclopaedia]]'' vol. VII: Jerusalem entry includes map with Jewish Colony marked, Amalgamated Press, 1928 edition.</ref>

===1948 Arab–Israeli War===
Prior to the [[1948 Palestine war]], the area of West Jerusalem included one of the wealthiest Arab communities, numbering some 28,000 people, in the region. By the end of hostilities, only approximately 750 non-Jews remained in the area's Arab sector, mostly Greeks in the [[Greek Colony, Jerusalem|Greek colony]] neighborhood.((sfn|Amit|2011|)) Following the war, Jerusalem was divided into two parts: the western portion, from which it is estimated 30,000 Arabs had fled or been evicted, came under Israeli rule, while [[East Jerusalem]] came under Jordanian rule<ref name="BBC maps"/>((sfn|Dumper|1997|pp=30-31)) and was populated mainly by [[Palestinian people|Palestinian]] [[Muslim]]s and [[Christians]]. The Jordanians expelled a Jewish community of some 1,500 from the Old City.<ref>((Cite book|last=Tessler|first=Mark A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3kbU4BIAcrQC|title=A History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict|date=1994|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-20873-6|pages=329|language=en))</ref>
Moshe Salomon, a commander with the [[Etzioni Brigade]]’s Moriah Battalion, described the massive looting that took place in the Arab middle-class quarter of [[Katamon|Qatamon]]:
<blockquote>“Everyone was swept up, privates and officers alike …. The greed for property encompassed everyone. Every home was scoured and searched, and people found in some cases produce, in others valuable objects. This rapaciousness attacked me as well and I could almost not hold myself back …. It’s hard to imagine the great riches that were found in all the homes …. I got control of myself in time and shackled my desire …. The battalion commander, his deputy, they all failed in this regard.”<ref>[[Benny Morris]], [http://www.haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page/.premium.HIGHLIGHT.MAGAZINE-was-israeli-looting-in-48-part-of-a-broader-policy-to-expel-arabs-1.9873157 'Was Israeli looting in '48 part of a broader policy to expel Arabs?,'] [[Haaretz]] 3 June 2021.</ref></blockquote>

After this widespread looting, Israeli institutions managed to gather in around 30,000 books, mostly in Arabic, dealing with Islamic law, [[Qur'an|Qur’anic]]  exegesis and translations of European literature, together with thousands of works from the holdings of churches and schools. Many were taken from the homes of Palestinian writers and scholars in Qatamon, [[Baka, Jerusalem|Bak'a]] and [[Musrara, Jerusalem|Musrara]].((sfn|Amit|2011|pp=7, 9))

===Division in 1949===
[[File:PikiWiki Israel 20755 The Palmach.jpg|thumb|[[Palmach]] soldiers attack Arab positions at [[Simeon (Gospel of Luke)|St Symeon]] ("San Simon") Monastery in Katamon, Jerusalem, April 1948 (battle reconstruction)]]
The [[United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine]] planned a "[[Corpus separatum (Jerusalem)|corpus separatum]]" for [[Jerusalem]] and its environs as an international city.<ref>((cite news |last=Greenway |first=H.D.S. |title=Explainer; The 3000 years of battling over Jerusalem |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/685765341.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jul+23%2C+1980&author=H.D.S.+Greenway+Globe+Staff&pub=Boston+Globe+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=EXPLAINER%3B+%3B+THE+3000+YEARS+OF+BATTLING+OVER+JERUSALEM&pqatl=google|access-date=27 April 2013 |newspaper=[[Boston Globe]]|date=23 July 1980))</ref><ref name="Selzer 2021">((cite journal |last=Selzer |first=Assaf |date=January 2021 |title=Building the capital: Thoughts, plans, and practice in the process of making West Jerusalem the capital city of the State of Israel, 1948–1967 |editor1-last=Kedourie |editor1-first=Helen |editor2-last=Kelly |editor2-first=Saul |journal=[[Middle Eastern Studies (journal)|Middle Eastern Studies]] |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |volume=57 |issue=1 |pages=57–71 |doi=10.1080/00263206.2020.1831472 |s2cid=227257542 |eissn=1743-7881 |issn=0026-3206 |lccn=65009869 |oclc=875122033))</ref> In December 1949, it was officially decided to transfer the institutions of the [[Government of Israel]] to Jerusalem.<ref name="Selzer 2021"/>

Arabs living in such western Jerusalem neighbourhoods as [[Katamon]] or [[Malha]] were forced to leave; the same fate befell Jews in the eastern areas, including the [[Old City (Jerusalem)|Old City of Jerusalem]] and [[Silwan]]. Almost 33% of the land in West Jerusalem in the pre-mandate period had been owned by Palestinians, a fact which made it hard for the evicted Palestinians to accept Israeli control in the West. The [[Knesset]] (Israeli Parliament) passed laws to transfer this Arab land to Israeli Jewish organizations.((sfn|Dumper|1997|pp=35–36))

The only eastern area of the city that remained in Israeli hands throughout the 19 years of Jordanian rule was [[Mount Scopus]], where the [[Hebrew University of Jerusalem]] is located, which formed an [[enclave]] during that period and therefore is not considered part of East Jerusalem.((Citation needed|date=April 2013))

===Capital of Israel (1950)===
Israel established West Jerusalem as its capital in 1950.((sfn|Dumper|1997|pp=35–36)) The Israeli government needed to invest heavily to create employment, building new government offices, a new university, the [[Great Synagogue (Jerusalem)|Great Synagogue]] and the Knesset building.((sfn|Dumper|1997|pp=20–21)) West Jerusalem became covered by the [[Israeli land and property laws#Area of Jurisdiction and Powers Ordinance, 5708-1948|Law and Administrative Ordinance]] of 1948, subjecting West Jerusalem to Israeli jurisdiction. United States President [[Donald Trump]]'s administration announced [[United States recognition of Jerusalem|recognition of Jerusalem]] as Israel's capital on 6 December 2017.<ref>((Cite news| last = Landler| first = Mark| title = Trump Recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's Capital and Orders U.S. Embassy to Move| work = The New York Times| access-date = 2017-12-11| date = 2017-12-06| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/06/world/middleeast/trump-jerusalem-israel-capital.html))</ref> On 6 April 2017, Russia officially recognized West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.<ref>https://archive.mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/-/asset_publisher/cKNonkJE02Bw/content/id/2717182</ref> On 6 December 2017, the [[Czech Republic]] recognized Jerusalem as the capital.<ref>https://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Czech-Republic-announces-it-recognizes-West-Jerusalem-as-Israels-capital-517241</ref> On 15 December 2018, [[Australia]] officially recognized West Jerusalem as Israel's capital,<ref>((cite web |date=15 December 2018 |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/australia-recognizes-west-jerusalem-as-the-capital-of-israel/ |title=Australia recognizes west Jerusalem as the capital of Israel |work=CBS News))</ref> before withdrawing it again on 17 October 2022.<ref>((Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/oct/17/australia-quietly-drops-recognition-of-west-jerusalem-as-capital-of-israel|title=Australia quietly drops recognition of West Jerusalem as capital of Israel|date=17 October 2022|website=the Guardian))</ref><ref>((Cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/australia-drops-recognition-of-west-jerusalem-as-israeli-capital-20221017-p5bqic.html|title=Australia drops recognition of west Jerusalem as Israeli capital|first=Matthew|last=Knott|date=17 October 2022|website=The Sydney Morning Herald))</ref>

===Capture of East Jerusalem (1967)===
((Main|Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem))

During the [[Six-Day War]] in June 1967, Israel captured the eastern side of the city((sfn|Dumper|1997|p=22)) and the whole [[West Bank]]. Over the following years, their control remained tenuous, the international community refusing to recognise their authority and the Israelis themselves not feeling secure.((sfn|Dumper|1997|p=22))

In 1980, the Israeli government annexed East Jerusalem and [[Reunification of Jerusalem|reunified the city]], but the international community disputed this.<ref name="BBC maps"/> The population of Jerusalem has largely remained segregated along the city's historical east–west division.<ref name=urbanstructure>((cite journal|last=Alperovich|first=Gershon|author2=Joseph Deutsch |title=Urban structure with two coexisting and almost completely segregated populations: The case of East and West Jerusalem|journal=Regional Science and Urban Economics|date=April 1996|volume=26|issue=2|pages=171–187|doi=10.1016/0166-0462(95)02124-8))</ref> The larger city contains two populations that are "almost completely economically and politically segregated... each interacting with its separate central business district", supporting analysis that the city has retained a duocentric, as opposed to the traditional monocentric, structure.<ref name=urbanstructure/>

==Commercial hubs==
((Expand section|date=June 2023))
Major commercial centres of Jewish West Jerusalem include: the [[Downtown Triangle (Jerusalem)|Downtown Triangle]],<ref name=triangle>((cite web|url=http://jerusalem.com/articles/jerusalem/the_jerusalem_triangle-a4166|title=The Jerusalem Triangle|publisher=Jerusalem.com|date=5 July 2013|access-date=24 November 2013|archive-date=3 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203140622/http://jerusalem.com/articles/jerusalem/the_jerusalem_triangle-a4166|url-status=dead))</ref> [[Mamilla Mall]]<ref>((cite web |url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/the-jewish-planet/jerusalem/locations/mamilla-mall/|title=Mamilla Mall: Jerusalem's upscale outdoor shopping mall|work=[[The Times of Israel]]|year=2014|access-date=18 October 2014))</ref><ref name=chabad>((cite web |url=http://www.collive.com/show_news.rtx?id=27862|title=Chabad to Light Up Mamilla Mall|date=27 November 2013|access-date=16 October 2014|publisher=COLLive))</ref> and [[Emek Refaim]].<ref>[https://israelinsideout.com/jerusalem/hanging-out-in-emek-refaim.html Emek Refaim, ''Israel Inside Out'' Retrieved June 22, 2023]</ref>

==Leisure facilities== 
((Expand section|date=June 2023))
These include [[Teddy Stadium]]<ref>((cite web|url=https://www.beitarfc.co.il/%D7%90%D7%99%D7%A6%D7%98%D7%93%D7%99%D7%95%D7%9F-%D7%98%D7%93%D7%99/|title=Beitar Jerusalem Official Website))</ref> and Cinema City.<ref>[https://www.itraveljerusalem.com/lobby/cinema-city Cinema City, iTravel Jerusalem, Retrieved June 22, 2023]</ref>

==Religious centres==
((Expand section|date=June 2023))
These include the [[Jerusalem Great Synagogue]]<ref>((cite web |url= http://www.inn.co.il/News/News.aspx/197709 |script-title=he:רב בית הכנסת הגדול בירושלים הלך לעולמו |author=Uzi Baruch |date=11 December 2009 |publisher= IsraelNationalNews |access-date=2009-12-12 |language=he))</ref> and the [[Heichal Shlomo]].<ref>[http://opusdei.org/en-uk/article/benedict-xvi-in-israel/ Text of Pope Benedict XVI's Address to Chief Rabbis of Jerusalem]</ref>

==Mayors of West Jerusalem==
((Main|Mayor of Jerusalem))
*[[Dov Yosef]] (military governor) (1948–1949)<ref>[http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/archive-of-jerusalem-s-1949-wartime-governor-for-sale-in-u-s.premium-1.491120 Archive of Jerusalem's 1949 wartime governor for sale in U.S], [[Haaretz]]</ref>
*[[Daniel Auster]] (1949–1950)<ref>((Cite web|url=https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/48F99307DEA1E9DC85256AF5006050D3|title=Summary record of a meeting between the committee on Jerusalem and Mr. Daniel Auster, Mayor of Jerusalem (Jewish sector)))</ref><ref name=cityweb>((cite web|title=Former Mayors of Jerusalem 1948–2008|url=http://www.jerusalem.muni.il/jer_sys/publish/HtmlFiles/1616/results_pub_id=22251.html|publisher=City of Jerusalem website|access-date=27 April 2013))</ref>
*[[Zalman Shragai]] (1951–1952)<ref name=cityweb/><ref>((cite news|title=Shlomo Zalman Shragai, 96, a former mayor of Jerusalem and...|url=http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1995-09-04/news/1995247011_1_jerusalem-massive-immigration-immigration-department|access-date=27 April 2013|newspaper=[[Baltimore Sun]]|date=4 September 1995))</ref>
*[[Yitzhak Kariv]] (1952–1955)<ref name=cityweb/><ref>((cite book|last=Eisenberg|first=Ronald L.|title=The Streets of Jerusalem: Who, What, Why|year=2006|publisher=Devora Publishing Company|isbn=978-1-932687-54-5 |page=217 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yqXXD_74yAEC))</ref>
*[[Gershon Agron]] (1955–1959)<ref name=cityweb/><ref>((cite web|title=Biography: Gershon Agron|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Agron.html|work=[[Jewish Virtual Library]]|access-date=27 April 2013))</ref>
*[[Mordechai Ish-Shalom]] (1959–1965)<ref name=cityweb/><ref>((cite news|title=Mordechai Ish-Shalom, Jerusalem Ex-Mayor, 90|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/23/obituaries/mordechai-ish-shalom-jerusalem-ex-mayor-90.html|access-date=27 April 2013|newspaper=[[New York Times]]|date=23 February 1991))</ref>
*[[Teddy Kollek]] (1965–1993)<ref name=cityweb/><ref>((cite news | last = Wilson | first = Scott | title = Longtime Mayor of Jerusalem Dies at 95 | pages = 2 | newspaper = [[The Washington Post]] | date = 2 January 2007 | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/02/AR2007010200139.html | access-date = 2 January 2007))</ref>
*[[Ehud Olmert]] (1993–2003)<ref name=cityweb/><ref>((cite news |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3876530,00.html |first=Eli |last=Senyor |title=Olmert cited as 'senior official' in Holyland affair |publisher=Ynetnews.com |date=15 April 2010 |access-date=2012-02-14))</ref>
*[[Uri Lupolianski]] (2003–2008)<ref name=cityweb/><ref>((cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/16/international/middleeast/16lupolianski.html |title=An Ultra-Orthodox Mayor in an Unorthodox City |first=Steven |last=Erlanger |date=16 July 2005|work=The New York Times))</ref>
*[[Nir Barkat]] (2008–2018)<ref>((cite news|title=Secularist 'wins Jerusalem vote'|work = [[BBC News]]|date = 2008-11-11|url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7721298.stm))</ref>
*[[Moshe Lion]] (2018–present)<ref>((cite news|title=Moshe Lion elected Jerusalem Mayor in dramatic finish|url=https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-moshe-lion-elected-jerusalem-mayor-in-dramatic-finish-1001260573|date=14 November 2018|access-date=24 January 2021|first=Tal|last=Schneider|newspaper=[[Globes (newspaper)|Globes]]))</ref>

==See also==
((Portal|Israel))
*[[Jerusalem District]]
*[[Positions on Jerusalem]]

==Citations==
((Reflist))

==Sources==
((refbegin|35em))
*((Cite journal| title =Salvage or Plunder? Israel's "Collection" of Private Palestinian Libraries in West Jerusalem
 | last =  Amit |first =Gish
 | journal =[[Journal of Palestine Studies]]
 | volume = 40
 | issue =4
 | date = Summer 2011
 | pages = 6–23
| jstor =  10.1525/jps.2011.xl.4.6 | doi =  10.1525/jps.2011.xl.4.6 ))
*((cite book | title=The politics of Jerusalem since 1967
 | last=Dumper | first=Michael
 | publisher=[[Columbia University Press]]
 | year=1997
 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Os3pePtpyUwC
 | isbn=978-0-231-10640-5
))
*((cite journal |last=Krystall |first=Nathan |title=The De-Arabization of West Jerusalem 1947-50 |journal=Journal of Palestine Studies |volume=27 |issue=2 |date=1998 |pages=5–22 |doi=10.2307/2538281 |jstor=2538281))
((refend))

==External links==
*((wikivoyage-inline|Jerusalem/West|West Jerusalem))

((Authority control))
((coord|31|46|55|N|35|13|10|E|display=title))
[[Category:Geography of Jerusalem]]
[[Category:Jerusalem in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict|*]]