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Jerusalem, with its
abundant Muslim relics and monuments, has occupied a paramount
place in Arab and Muslim
glorious history since times immemorial.
Arab tribes have flooded
Palestine during successive waves of Semitic migration out of
the Arabian Peninsula
many Arab kingdoms flourished in the region before Christ.
After the advent of
Islam, Muslims were ordered to turn to Haram al-Sharif in
prayers before turning
to Mecca.
Prophet Muhammad
conducted, prior to the Islamic liberation of Palestine in 638, a
miraculous spiritual
nocturnal journey to al-Aqsa Mosque and his great vision of
ascension
to heaven from the third
shrine in Islam (al-Aqsa).
Recognizing Jerusalem
significance in Islam, all Arab and Muslim rulers gave the city a
prominence and every
attention it deserved as the first Qibla (where Muslims turned in
prayers before Mecca).
Consequently, the
crusaders were attacked and defeated by Saladin in 1187 and the city
retained its Muslim
façade. In December 12, 1516,
the Ottomans entered Jerusalem, and two weeks later (Jan. 1, 1517) Sultan Salim I
received the keys of Jerusalem.
Palestine remained under
the Muslim Ottoman rule up to the end of WWI and the beginning
of the British
occupation of Jerusalem in Dec. 1918.
A new chapter of
colonialism and Zionism started with the British occupation to
Jerusalem
and the rest of the
region. Many Palestinian revolts and mass rebellions erupted against
the new colonial and
Zionist invaders.
Meanwhile, in the
aftermath of organized Jewish immigration to Palestine under the
Patronage of British
occupation authorities, Palestinians started moving to Jerusalem--
mainly from Hebron-- to
protect the city from Zionist designs.
The internal movement of
the Palestinian population especially from Hebron towards
Jerusalem was a step in
the right direction for enhancing the place of the city as a proud
Muslim one.
This spontaneous step,
which started in the early 1920s, helped Jerusalem from loosing its
Arab and Muslim nature
in the face of frenzy Jewish settlement in the city after its
occupation by Israel in
1967 aggression.
At least 200,000 Arab
Palestinians, mostly Muslims from Hebron, are living within the Old
City and outside its
walls thus creating Arab demographic presence in a city Israel calls
its
capital. And for this
reason it surrounded it with a cauldron of new Jewish settlements to
be
added to the old ones.
Jerusalem is besieged currently with at least a dozen of Zionist
colonies and targeted by
steady Jewish colonization. With the absence of Arab military
and political power, the
steadfastness of Palestinians in East Jerusalem contributed to the
salvation of the city
from this Zionist plague. Henceforth, Jerusalem has become
under the custody of its Palestinian population, which most of them came from Hebron, a
proud Islamic city itself.
Concurrently, many
Palestinian researchers and historians consider the movement of
Muslims from Hebron
toward Jerusalem as a blessing from Islamic perspective. The
increased number of Arab
population in Jerusalem constitute the only remain guarantee to
safeguard Muslim
heritage in Eliya, which was called when Caliph Omar received its
keys
from Patriarch
Safronious and guaranteed safety to its residents, non of them was a
Jew.
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