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Jerusalem's Status Won't Be Easy to Settle. Here's Why.
(Washington Post) Brent E. Sasley - For Jews, Jerusalem is the site of some of the greatest moments in their religious and national history. The Temple Mount is where both temples were built. These were the center of Jewish political and religious life until the Second Temple was destroyed around 70 CE. The Western Wall is what's left of that structure, which held up the platform on which the temple stood - and is thus the holiest available site of Jewish prayer. During prayer services outside Jerusalem, Jewish congregations face toward Jerusalem. Jews end the Seder meal that's at the center of the holiday of Passover by saying, "Next year in Jerusalem!" And a community-wide day of mourning called Tisha B'Av commemorates different moments of disaster in Jewish history, including the destruction of both temples. Jerusalem is where David established the capital of his Jewish kingdom. His son Solomon maintained the city and built the First Temple. In 1980, the Knesset, Israel's parliament, passed a Basic Law: Jerusalem, which formally declared that "Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel." The writer is an associate professor of political science at the University of Texas at Arlington.