Dome of the Rock & Al-Aqsa Mosque
Jerusalem {juh-roo'-suh-lem} (Arabic:Baitul-Maqdis), the capital of Palestine, is 55 km (35 mi) from the Mediterranean Sea. Jerusalem is the third holiest place in Islam due to the al-Aqsa and Dome of the Rock mosques (seen above dominating the city view and leaving a strong Islamic identity.) The first inhabitants of the city were Arab Canaanites, about 5,000 years ago. In 638, Jerusalem was brought peacefully under Muslim control at the time of Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second Khalifa of the Muslims. The Islamic ruling was welcomed by Jews and Christians who had formerly been living under the tyrannical Byzantine yoke. In 1099, European Christendom launched the Crusade wars.
Al-Aqsa Mosque
Crusaders occupied the city. During the occupation massacres and great injustices were committed against the Muslim, Jewish and native Christian residents of the area. After 88 years, the Muslims under the leadership of Salah al-Din Al-Ayyubi, a Kurd, brought the city again under Islamic control, and it remained so until the year 1917 when the British occupied Jerusalem. It became the capital of mandated PALESTINE from 1923 until 1948. In 1967, the Jews occupied the entire city with the help of the British, and since then Jerusalem has been under the Zionist occupation....obtained from Islamic Association for Palestine