Jerusalem the Eternal Capital of the Jewish People

Jerusalem is not a “mere” city. He stated, “It holds the central spiritual and physical place in the history of the Jews as a people.”

If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither, let my tongue cleave to my palate if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy (Psa. 137:5-6).

The Eternal City of God Given to the Jewish People

Martin Gilbert, the famed Churchill biographer and Jewish historian, once wrote that Jerusalem is not a “mere” city. He stated, “It holds the central spiritual and physical place in the history of the Jews as a people.” Jerusalem and the Jewish people are eternally intertwined. Even in the Diaspora, Jews have always called Jerusalem their home and have yearned and prayed three times a day for the return to their ancestral city in their ancestral homeland. 

King David pronounced it as the capital of Israel in 1004 BCE and paid the Jebusites a sum of money to purchase it and avoid a conflict. And as Eli E. Hertz observes, “For over 3,000 years the Jewish people looked to Jerusalem as their spiritual, political, and historical capital, even when they did not physically rule over the city and it was occupied by various nations.” 

The Lord also sees the intrinsic spiritual value of Jerusalem (i.e., a city holy and special to Him, see Psalm 87:1-3); He commands the Jewish people to go to the city three times a year—for specific feasts—to worship the Lord (Ex. 23:14-17; 34:18-23). The Almighty says He will put His name on the city (1 Kings 11:36). Psalm 132:13-14 states, “For the LORD has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling place: ‘This is My resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it.’”

The Spiritual leaders of the Nation of Israel speaks of the city as representing the whole of Israel and the Jewish people (Matt. 23:37-39). God foretells a restoration of Jerusalem (Jer. 3:17). Likewise, the prophets speak of a time when all nations in the world go up to Jerusalem to worship God (Micah 4:2, Zech. 14:16, Isa. 2:3).   

THE JERUSALEM COVENANT

We have gathered together in Zion, national leaders and heads of our communities everywhere, to enter into a covenant with Jerusalem, as was done by the leaders of our nation and all the people of Israel upon Israel's return to its Land from the Babylonian exile; and the people and their leaders will dwell in Jerusalem, the Holy City.

Once again, 'our feet stand within your gates, O Jerusalem - Jerusalem built as a city joined together' which 'unites the people of Israel to one another', and 'links heavenly Jerusalem with earthly Jerusalem.'

We have returned to the place that the Lord vowed to bestow upon the descendants of Abraham, Father of our Nation; to the City of David, King of Israel; where Solomon, son of David, built a Holy Temple; a Capital City which became the Mother of all Israel; a metropolis for justice and righteousness and for the wisdom and insights of the ancient world; where a Second Temple was erected in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. In this city the prophets of the Lord prophesied; in the City the Sages taught Torah; in this City the Sanhedrin convened in session in its stone chamber. 'For there were the seats of Justice, the Throne of the House of David', 'for out of Zion shall go forth Torah, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.'

Today, as of old, we hold fast to the truth of the words of the Prophets of Israel, that all the inhabitants of the world shall enter within the gates of Jerusalem: 'And it shall come to pass at the end of days, the mountain of the House of the Lord will be well established at the peak of the mountains and will tower above the hills, and all the nation shall stream towards it.' Each and every nation will live in it by its own faith: 'For all the nation will go forward, each with its own Divine Name; we shall go in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.' And in this spirit the Knesset of the State of Israel has enacted a law: The places holy to the peoples of all religions shall be protected from any desecration and from any restriction of free access to them.

Jerusalem - peace and tranquility shall reign in the city: 'Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; may those who love you be tranquil. May there be peace within your walls, and tranquility within your palaces.' Out of Jerusalem, a message of peace went forth and shall yet go forth again to all the inhabitants of the earth: 'And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation will not lift up sword against nation, nor shall they learn war anymore.' Our sages, peace be upon them, said. In the future, The Holy One, the Blessed, will comfort Jerusalem only with peace..

From this place, we once again take this vow: 'If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand lose its strength; may my tongue cleave to my palate if I do not remember you, if I do not raise up Jerusalem at the very height of my rejoicing.'

And with all these understandings, we enter into this Covenant and write: 'We shall bind you to us forever; we shall bind you to us with faithfulness, with righteousness and justice, with steadfast love and compassion.' We love you, O Jerusalem, with eternal love, with unbounded love, under siege and when liberated from the yoke of oppressors. We have been martyred for you; we have yearned for you, we have clung to you. Our faithfulness to you we shall bequeath to our children after us. Forevermore our home shall be within you.

Jerusalem the Eternal Capital of the Jewish People

The Jews have only Jerusalem, and only the Jews have made it their capital.

That is why it has so much deeper a meaning for them (the Jews) than for anybody else.

Jerusalem throughout its long and turbulent history, Jerusalem, more than any other city, has evoked the emotions, aspirations, yearnings and religious fervor of civilized Jewish mankind. Yet this homage of the world cannot overshadow the consuming and single-minded passion of one particular attachment: that of the Jewish people. For that people, as no other, Jerusalem is not just its one and only religious centre and source of spiritual life; from time immemorial it has been and, still is, the very heart and core of the people - the tangible embodiment of its nationhood, the lodestar in its wanderings, the theme of its prayers each day, the fulfillment of its dreams for the Return unto Zion and indeed the cornerstone of its continuity.

Many thousand of years ago, it was in Jerusalem that the priests would offer up daily sacrifices in the Temple on Mount Moriah. It was there in the Temple that the Sanhedrin, the great court of 71 Jewish sages, would sit in judgment. And three times a year on the harvest holy-days of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, the entire Jewish nation would make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. It is in the direction of Jerusalem that Jews face when they pray three times daily.

The Jewish prayers themselves contain numerous references to Jerusalem and Zion. In the Amidah, the Silent Devotion, God is praised as the Builder of Jerusalem. In many other places the prayers echo the messianic belief that God will restore the Jewish people to His holy city. On Passover and the Day of Atonement Jews conclude services with the fervent hope: "Next year may we be in Jerusalem!"

The Jewish connection to Jerusalem harks back to Biblical times. Jacob, encountering the site where the Temple would stand centuries later said: "How awe-inspiring is this place! It is the House of God! It is the gate to heaven!" (Gen. 28:17). Jerusalem was "the site that the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes, as a place established in His name. It is there that you shall go to seek His presence" (Deut. 12:3).

Jerusalem began to fulfill the function of a spiritual and national capital when King David conquered the city in the 10th century BCE. He made it his seat of judgment and brought the Ark of the Covenant to rest there. It was also David who conceived the idea of building a permanent house of God, a Temple, a plan eventually fulfilled by his son Solomon. DESTRUCTION & REBIRTH The story of the Jewish people and Jerusalem has been one of exile, destruction and rebirth.

Jerusalem in its over 3000 years of history the city was destroyed 17 times and 18 times reborn.

There always remained a Jewish presence in the city of Jerusalem, and the Jewish people as a whole celebrate holidays and fast days about Jerusalem, Jewish people always dreamt and prayed three times a day of returning en mass to Jerusalem and rebuilding their city with the holy Temple and the land of Israel.

When the Babylonians destroyed the city in 586 BCE, the Jewish exiles pledged that they would never forget their beloved Jerusalem: "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, and we wept, when we remembered Zion. Upon the willows in its midst we hanged up our harps. For there they that led us captive asked of us words of song, and our tormentors asked of us in mirth: 'Sing us one of the songs of Zion.' How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither. Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I remember thee not; if I set not Jerusalem above my chiefest joy" (Psalms 137:1-6).

The Jewish exiles did not forget their beloved city of Jerusalem. They were to return there and rebuild the Temple under the guidance of Ezra and Nehemiah. When the Seleucids took control over the Land of Israel and placed Greek idols in the Temple, the Jewish Maccabees revolted. They succeeded in recapturing Jerusalem and re-dedicating the Temple in 165 BCE. The Romans destroyed the Temple in 70 CE. When the Emperor Hadrian began planning to replace it with a shrine to Jupiter, a Jewish revolt known as the Bar Kochba Rebellion broke out.

For the last 2000 years, on the 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av, Jews everywhere have commemorated the destruction of their city and Temple with a 25-hour fast. They sit on low stools in their synagogues and recite Jeremiah's Lamentations. They recite elegies for the city which is "scorned without her glory".

During the periods of exile Jews throughout the world would be linked as they prayed together in their Hebrew tongue all facing in the same direction, maintaining their affinity with their eternal Jerusalem. Today Jerusalem flourishes once again as the heart and soul of Judaism. It boasts a full range of rebuilt and new synagogues, Talmudic academies and institutes of Jewish research. It is home to the Chief Rabbinate of Israel which administers the life cycle events of the nation's Jewish citizens. All varieties of Judaism are represented there. Nowhere else is the spiritual element of the Jewish people so visible as in this "place that the Lord has chosen".

Jerusalem the Jewish NATIONAL CAPITAL; Jerusalem was never the capital city of any of its conquerors.

Jerusalem as the Eternal Capital of the Jewish People
UN General Assembly Resolution 181 from 1947 (also known as the Partition Plan) did not undermine Israel's subsequent claims in Jerusalem. True, Resolution 181 envisioned that Jerusalem and its environs would become a corpus separatum, or a separate international entity for 10 years and after ten years its citizens can vote and pass a referendum that establishes the status of Jerusalem, which the Jewish people voted that Unified Jerusalem is The Capital of Israel. But Resolution 181 was only a recommendation of the General Assembly. It was rejected by the Arab states forcibly, who invaded the nascent State of Israel in 1948.

Ultimately, the UN's corpus separatum never came into being in any case, which makes that resolution null and void. The UN did not protect the Jewish population of Jerusalem from invading Arab armies. Given this history, it was not surprising that Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, announced on December 3, 1949, that Resolution 181's references to Jerusalem were "null and void," thereby anticipating Stone's legal analysis years later.8

There was also Prof. Elihu Lauterpacht of Cambridge University, who for a time served as legal advisor of Australia and as a judge ad hoc of the International Court of Justice in The Hague. 
Lauterpacht argued that Israel's liberation and reunification of Jerusalem in 1967 was legally valid. 9 He explained that the last state which had control and sovereignty as occupier over Jerusalem was the Ottoman Empire, which ruled it from 1517 to 1917.

After the First World War, the Ottoman Empire formally renounced its sovereignty over Jerusalem as well as all its former territories south of what became modern Turkey in the Treaty of Sevres from August 1920. This renunciation was confirmed by the Turkish Republic as well in the Treaty of Lausanne of 1923. According to Lauterpacht, the rights of sovereignty and control in Jerusalem were vested with the Principal Allied and Associated Powers, which transferred them to the League of Nations with instructions to reconstitute the Jewish National Home in Palestine (with no restrictions) as stated in the 1917 Balfour Declaration. There was no mention of a new Arab state in Palestine. The Arabs received over six million sq. mi. of territory after WWI. The British violated the treaty and allocated over 77% of Palestine to the Arabs as the new State of trans-Jordan, which is all the territory east of the Jordan River.

But with the dissolution of the League of Nations, and the British abandoning their responsibility and withdrawal from Mandatory Palestine, along with the failure of the UN to create a corpus separatum or a special international regime for Jerusalem for 10 years, as had been intended according to the 1947 Partition Plan, which was only a non-binding recommendation that the Arabs rejected. Lauterpacht concluded that sovereignty had been put in suspense or in abeyance. In other words, by 1948 there was what he called "a vacancy of sovereignty" in Jerusalem.

It might be asked if the acceptance by the pre-state Jewish Agency of Resolution 181 constituted a conscious renunciation of Jewish claims to Jerusalem back in 1947. However, according to the resolution, the duration of the special international regime for Jerusalem would be "in the first instance for a period of ten years." The resolution envisioned a referendum of the residents of the city at that point in which they would express "their wishes as to possible modifications of the regime of the city."10 The Jewish leadership interpreted the corpus separatum as an interim arrangement that could be replaced, which from a legal stand point is valid. They believed that Jewish residents could opt for citizenship in the Jewish state in the meantime. Moreover, they hoped that the referendum would lead to the corpus seperatum being joined to the State of Israel after ten years; and that is what occurred de-facto. 11

Who then could acquire sovereign rights in Jerusalem given the "vacancy of sovereignty" that Lauterpacht described? Certainly, the UN could not assume a role, given what happened to Resolution 181. Lauterpacht's answer was that Israel filled "the vacancy in sovereignty" in areas where the Israel Defense Forces had to operate in order to save Jerusalem's Jewish population from destruction and/or ethnic cleansing. The same principle applied again in 1967, when Jordanian forces opened fire on Israeli neighborhoods and the Israel Defense Forces entered the eastern parts of Jerusalem, including its Old City, in self-defense.

A fourth legal authority to contribute to this debate over the legal rights of Israel was Prof. Eugene Rostow, the former dean of Yale Law School and Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs in the Johnson administration. Rostow's point of departure for analyzing the issue of Israel's rights was that the Mandate for Palestine, which specifically referred to "the historic connection of the Jewish people with Palestine" providing "the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country."

These rights applied to Jerusalem as well, for the Mandate did not separate Jerusalem from the other territory that was to become part of the Jewish national home.

The announcement made by our President Donald Trump, in an official statement recognizes Jerusalem as The Capital of Israel.
It reiterates an existing U.S. Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 and meets the U.N. resolution below.

The consequence of the 1947 U.N. Resolution 181 to Jerusalem’s status in our time.

If you believe that the 1947 U.N. resolution 181 is valid, which it is not valid; since the U.N. can only recommend; which is non-binding with no legal standing?The United Nations Partition Plan of 1947

Resolution 181 (II). Future government of Palestine 

The United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was a proposal by the United Nations, which recommended a partition of Mandatory Palestine at the end of the British Mandate. On 29 November 1947, the UN General Assembly adopted the Plan as Resolution 181(II).

Jerusalem

D. DURATION OF THE SPECIAL REGIME of Jerusalem - The Statute elaborated by the Trusteeship Council on the aforementioned principles shall come into force not later than 1 October 1948. It shall remain in force in the first instance for a period of ten years, unless the Trusteeship Council finds it necessary to undertake a re-examination of these provisions at an earlier date. After the expiration of this ten year period the whole scheme shall be subject to re-examination by the Trusteeship Council in the light of the experience acquired with its functioning.

The residents of the City of Jerusalem shall be then free to express by means of a referendum their wishes as to possible modifications of the regime of the City.

Since majority of the population of Jerusalem is Jewish as has been since the early 1800’s, the vote of a referendum is for The Jewish people to take over the full control and sovereignty of Jerusalem. These terms are now in place and the U.N. or any other entity cannot change those terms. Therefore, any vote or statement by the U.N. or any of its administrative bodies that proposes to change those terms and facts are illegal and have no bearing or legal standing.

It might be asked if the acceptance by the pre-state Jewish Agency of U.N. Resolution 181 constituted a conscious renunciation of Jewish claims to Jerusalem back in 1947. However, according to the resolution, the duration of the special international regime for Jerusalem would be "in the first instance for a period of ten years." The resolution envisioned a referendum of the residents of the city at that point in which they would express "their wishes as to possible modifications of the regime of the city."10 The Jewish leadership interpreted the corpus separatum as an interim arrangement that could be replaced. They believed that Jewish residents could opt for citizenship in the Jewish state in the meantime. Moreover, they hoped that the referendum would lead to the corpus seperatum being joined to the State of Israel after ten years. 11

If the Arab countries truly, really and sincerely want to solve the Arab-Palestinian habitation problem once and for all.

Let the Arab nations take back the Arabs who entered Palestine aka The Land of Israel illegally and take them back where they belong.

After all the Arabs received over 13 million sq. km. of territory with a wealth of oil reserves after WWI which is currently over 70% vacant, and the Jewish people were allocated all of Palestine aka the historical Land of Israel which is about 118,000 sq. km. but received to date only about 21,000 sq. km. and the British gave away illegally over 77% of Jewish territory in Palestine to the Arabs east of the Jordan River. They also gave away land west of the Jordan River to the Arabs without authorization.

Add to these formula all the assets of the million Jewish families expelled from Arab countries (who were resettled in Israel) and all their assets confiscated by the Arabs, including, personal property, businesses, homes and over 120,000 sq. km. of Jewish owned land for over 2,600 years (which is 6 times the size of Israel); plus Jordan and now you have all the territorial options where to relocate the Arab-Palestinians.

YJ Draiman

The Jerusalem Pearl Hotel built by the Draiman family and opened in 1996




BEN-GURION’S DECLARATION ON THE EXCLUSIVE AND INALIENABLE JEWISH RIGHT TO THE WHOLE OF
THE LAND OF ISRAEL:
at the Basle Session of the 20th Zionist Congress at Zurich(1937)

(David Ben-Gurion was the first Prime Minister of Israel and widely hailed as the State's main founder).

No Jew has the right to yield the rights of the Jewish People in Israel -
David Ben Gurion
BEN-GURION’S DECLARATION ON THE EXCLUSIVE AND INALIENABLE JEWISH RIGHT TO THE WHOLE OF
THE LAND OF ISRAEL:
(David Ben-Gurion was the first Prime Minister of Israel and widely hailed as the State's main founder).

"No Jew has the right to yield the rights of the Jewish People in Israel.
No Jew has the authority to do so.
No Jewish body has the authority to do so.
Not even the entire Jewish People alive today has the right to yield any part of Israel.
It is the right of the Jewish People over the generations, a right that under no conditions can be cancelled.
Even if Jews during a specific period proclaim they are relinquishing this right, they have neither the power nor the authority to deny it to future generations.
No concession of this type is binding or obligates the Jewish People. Our right to the country - the entire country - exists as an eternal right, and we shall not yield this historic right until its full and complete redemption is realized."

(David Ben Gurion, Zionist Congress, Basel, Switzerland, 1937).

"No country in the world exists today by virtue of its 'right'.
All countries exist today by virtue of their ability to defend themselves against those who seek their destruction

The announcement made by our President Donald Trump, in an official statement recognizes Jerusalem as The Capital of Israel.
It reiterates an existing U.S. Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 and meets the U.N. resolution below.
The consequence of the 1947 U.N. Resolution 181 to Jerusalem’s status in our time.

If you believe that the 1947 U.N. resolution 181 is valid, which it is not valid; since the U.N. can only recommend; which is non-binding with no legal standing?
The United Nations Partition Plan of 1947
Resolution 181 (II). Future government of Palestine

The United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was a proposal by the United Nations, which recommended a partition of Mandatory Palestine at the end of the British Mandate. On 29 November1947, the UN General Assembly adopted the Plan as Resolution 181(II).
Jerusalem 
D. DURATION OF THE SPECIAL REGIME of Jerusalem - The Statute elaborated by the Trusteeship Council on the aforementioned principles shall come into force not later than 1 October 1948. It shall remain in force in the first instance for a period of ten years, unless the Trusteeship Council finds it necessary to undertake a re-examination of these provisions at an earlier date. After the expiration of this ten year period the whole scheme shall be subject to re-examination by the Trusteeship Council in the light of the experience acquired with its functioning. 
The residents of the City of Jerusalem shall be then free to express by means of a referendum their wishes as to possible modifications of the regime of the City. 
Since majority of the population of Jerusalem is Jewish as has been since the early 1800’s, the vote of a referendum is for The Jewish people to take over the full control and sovereignty of Jerusalem. These terms are now in place and the U.N. or any other entity cannot change those terms. Therefore, any vote or statement by the U.N. or any of its administrative bodies that proposes to change those terms and facts are illegal
and have no bearing.