ASIANOVERLAND.NET SYDNEY TO LONDON  DAY 134/295/46: JERUSALEM, PALESTINE

Following a local revolt, in 132CE Emperor Hadrian combined Iudaea Province with neighboring provinces under the name of Syria Palaestina, and rebuilt Jerusalem in the style of a Roman town. Jews and Jewish Christians were prohibited from entering the city on pain of death, except for one day each year.

During the 4th century, the Roman Emperor Constantine I converted to Christianity and ordered the construction of Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (pictured). Burial remains from the Byzantine era are exclusively Christian, so the population of Jerusalem in Byzantine times was mainly Christians.

In the 5th century, the Byzantine eastern continuation of the Roman Empire  maintained control of Jerusalem and ruled from Constantinople. Within a few decades, Jerusalem shifted from Byzantine to Persian rule, then back to Roman-Byzantine dominion.

In the Siege of Jerusalem of 614, after 21 days of relentless siege warfare, Jerusalem was captured. Byzantine chronicles relate that the Sassanid Iranians and Jews slaughtered tens of thousands of Christians in the city, and destroyed their monuments and churches, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The conquered city of Jerusalem remained in Sassanid (Iranian) hands for fifteen years until the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius reconquered it in 629.

The Islamization of Jerusalem began in the first year A.H. (623 CE), when Muslims were instructed to face Jerusalem while performing their daily prostrations and, according to Muslim religious edict, where Muhammad's ascension to heaven took place. After 13 years facing Jerusalem, the direction of prayer was changed to Mecca

Byzantine Jerusalem was conquered by Muslim Arab armies in 638 CE.

In 637 CE, the Arab armies  searched for the site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque ("The Farthest Mosque") that was mentioned in the  Quran according to Islamic beliefs. Contemporary Arabic and Hebrew sources say the site was full of rubbish, and that Arabs and Jews cleaned it. Caliph Abd al-Malik commissioned the construction of a shrine on the Temple Mount, now known as the Dome of the Rock, in the late 7th century.

A "Separated Body" (Corpus separatum) of Jerusalem was proposed in the UN Partition Plan in UN General Assembly Resolution 181 (II) of 29 November 1947:

"Independent Arab and Jewish States and the Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem ... shall come into existence in Palestine two months after the evacuation of the armed forces of the mandatory Power has been completed but in any case not later than 1 October 1948".

All Jerusalem residents would automatically become "citizens of the City of Jerusalem", unless they opted for citizenship of the proposed new Arab and Jewish States.

Our 1980 overland Trip Book records our punters' appreciation of the historical significance of my spiels:

“2 November, 1980

I spent the day in bed suffering extreme agony – due to alcohol. Saturday night out for Paiana, Marion, Teena and Sarah – great night – down to Jericho for a meal to find 5 Arabs awaiting our company.

Eventually arrived home at 2.30am - by a drunken Arab.

On arrival at Damascus Gate, 4 Israeli army officers playing SMART ARSES shined the spot light on our very tired persons & then offered the warmth of their clothes.

Marion and Sarah went for a luxurious drive back to Jericho & then presumably to the Dead Sea, only to be stopped by Israeli police & told to turn back, when we were 1km to our destination.”

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