The Short Answer
Jerusalem has been the spiritual center of Judaism for 3,000 years — the site of the First and Second Temples and the direction of Jewish prayer worldwide. It is also holy to Christians as the place of Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection, and to Muslims as the site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Since reuniting the city in 1967, Israel has guaranteed access to holy sites for all faiths.
A city sacred to three faiths
For Jews, Jerusalem is the city of King David and the site of the First and Second Temples. The Western Wall, a remnant of the Second Temple complex, is the holiest place where Jews can pray today, and Jews have faced Jerusalem in prayer for millennia.
For Christians, Jerusalem is where Jesus taught, was crucified and, according to Christian belief, rose from the dead; the Church of the Holy Sepulchre marks those events. For Muslims, the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount (Haram al-Sharif) are associated with the Prophet Muhammad's Night Journey, making it Islam's third-holiest site.
Access under Israeli sovereignty
Between 1948 and 1967, when Jordan controlled the Old City, Jews were barred from the Western Wall and many synagogues in the Jewish Quarter were destroyed. After Israel reunited the city in the 1967 Six-Day War, it protected access for all religions and left day-to-day administration of the Temple Mount mosques to the Jordanian-backed Islamic Waqf under the long-standing "status quo."
In 2018, the United States moved its embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing it as Israel's capital — a decision Israel and its supporters welcomed as recognition of historical reality.
Key Facts
- Jerusalem has been the Jewish people's capital since King David
- Jews were barred from the Western Wall from 1948 to 1967
- Israel maintains the Temple Mount "status quo"
- The U.S. Embassy moved to Jerusalem in May 2018
Sources & Further Reading
- Jerusalem — Encyclopaedia Britannica
- The Western Wall Heritage Foundation
- Status quo (Jerusalem and Bethlehem) — overview (Wikipedia)
- U.S. Embassy Jerusalem
This answer reflects publicly available information as of October 2026.