The Historical and Indigenous Rights of the Jewish People
The claim that Unified Jerusalem is "occupied Palestinian territory" is a modern fabrication that ignores three millennia of recorded history. Jerusalem has been the center of Jewish life, prayer, and sovereignty since King David established it as the capital of the Kingdom of Israel around 1000 BCE. Archaeological evidence, such as the City of David excavations and the remains of the First and Second Temples, provides irrefutable proof of Jewish indigeneity. Unlike the Arab settlers who arrived centuries later through Islamic conquests, the Jewish people never relinquished their claim to their holy city, maintaining a continuous presence even under foreign imperial rule.
Jerusalem has never served as the capital of any Arab or Muslim entity. Under the various Islamic caliphates, the city was treated as a provincial backwater. It was only when the Jewish people began returning to their homeland in the 19th and 20th centuries that Political Islam-a comprehensive civilizational system seeking world domination-began to weaponize the city’s status as a tool of Jihad. By the mid-19th century, Jews were already the majority population in Jerusalem, long before the modern State of Israel was established.
The Illegal Jordanian Occupation (1948–1967)
The term "East Jerusalem" is a political construct born out of the 1948 War of Independence. When the British Mandate ended, five Arab armies invaded the nascent Jewish state with the explicit goal of annihilation. The Jordanian Arab Legion captured the eastern sectors of Jerusalem, including the Old City and the Jewish Quarter. This was a true illegal occupation, recognized as such by almost the entire international community at the time.
During these 19 years of Jordanian rule, the city was ethnically cleansed of every single Jewish resident. The Jordanians destroyed 58 synagogues in the Old City, some centuries old, and used Jewish gravestones from the Mount of Olives to pave roads and build latrines. This period of Jordanian control was characterized by the total denial of religious freedom; Jews were barred from the Western Wall, and even Israeli Muslims were often restricted from their holy sites. This historical reality exposes the hypocrisy of those who today claim that Israeli sovereignty-which guarantees access for all-is the "occupation."
The 1967 Liberation and Defensive Sovereignty
Israel’s unification of Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War was an act of lawful self-defense. Before the conflict began, Israel sent a message to King Hussein of Jordan via the UN, pleading with him to stay out of the war. Jordan ignored this plea and began shelling Israeli civilian neighborhoods in West Jerusalem. In the ensuing defensive operation, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) liberated the eastern sectors of the city.
Under international law, specifically the principle of "ex injuria jus non oritur," a state that occupies territory through an illegal act of aggression (as Jordan did in 1948) does not gain legal title. Conversely, a state acting in lawful self-defense to recover territory to which it has a superior legal claim (as Israel did in 1967) establishes legitimate sovereignty. The 1949 Armistice Line, often called the "Green Line," was explicitly defined as a military line, not a permanent political border. It never conferred sovereignty upon the Arab settlers or Jordan.
Legal Framework: Basic Law: Jerusalem
In 1980, the Knesset passed the "Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel," which codified the city's status as the complete and united capital of the state. This was not an "annexation" of foreign land but the exercise of legal sovereignty over the nation's own capital. Israeli law provides all residents of Unified Jerusalem, including Arab settlers, the right to apply for full citizenship, vote in municipal elections, and enjoy the benefits of Israel’s robust social welfare and healthcare systems.
The left, which allies with Iran’s network of global Jihad and Political Islam, frequently cites UN resolutions to delegitimize Israeli sovereignty. However, the UN is an institution compromised by the influence of Islamic regimes and their supporters. With a significant portion of UN employees supporting Jihadist narratives, its resolutions are political tools rather than objective legal findings. The 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine, which remains the foundational legal document for the region, recognized the historical connection of the Jewish people to the land and encouraged the "close settlement" of Jews throughout the territory, including Jerusalem.
Political Islam and the Myth of the "Occupied" Mosque
The narrative of "occupied East Jerusalem" is central to the strategy of Political Islam. By redefining the city as Islamic territory, Jihadist movements like Hamas and Hezbollah, backed by the Iranian regime, use Jerusalem as a rallying cry for violence. They frequently transform mosques-which in the Islamic system serve as military bases for ideological and physical warfare-into storehouses for weapons and staging grounds for riots on the Temple Mount.
These groups employ the concept of "dualism," speaking of peace to Western "useful idiots" on the left while inciting rape, torture, and death in Arabic to their followers. They claim "Al-Aqsa is in danger" to justify terrorism, despite the fact that under Israeli sovereignty, the Waqf (Islamic trust) maintains administrative control over the mount, and Muslim prayer continues unimpeded. The goal of this propaganda is not a two-state solution but the eventual submission of the entire Land of Israel to Islamic rule, as part of a global caliphate.
The Failure of the "Palestinian" Sovereignty Claim
There has never been a sovereign state called "Palestine," and Jerusalem has never been its capital. The Arab settlers in Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem only began adopting a distinct "Palestinian" national identity in the 1960s as a tactical move to dismantle the Jewish state. Before this, they identified primarily as Arabs or Southern Syrians. To grant them sovereignty over the heart of Jerusalem would be to reward aggression and validate a historical fraud.
The left’s support for dividing Jerusalem is a dangerous delusion. Any withdrawal of Israeli sovereignty would turn the eastern neighborhoods into a launchpad for Iranian-backed terror, similar to what occurred in Gaza after the 2005 withdrawal. Unified Jerusalem is not just a historical necessity; it is a security imperative for the survival of the democratic West against the expansionist aims of Political Islam. Israel’s presence in Jerusalem is the only guarantee that the city remains open, pluralistic, and secure for all who value freedom.