The city of Al Quds is located in the central region of palestine. The city consists of two parts, east and west. The main part of the city is east al-quds (old al-quds). The site where the old city of Al Quds was established consists of a mountainous region. Al-Aqsa mosque and the dome of the rock were built on a site known by jewish people as mount moriah and called Bayt Al-Maqdis by muslims. The height of the mountain is 770 meters. Mount Akar and the church of the holy sepulchre are located in the region. Mount Nabarita in the region is close to the flower gate (sahira gate). To the south, in the west, there is Mount Zion (Mount David). The location of the city of Al Quds follows the mountain ranges to the east of the mediterranean and tilts slightly westward. Its elevation is 750 meters above the mediterranean sea and 1150 meters above the dead sea.
Al Quds has a strategic location and great importance geographically. This is due to the fact that Al Quds is situated on an elevation higher than the surrounding region and is built on the peaks of mountains. In ancient times, the city of Al Quds was a desert. The city was surrounded by valleys to the east, west, and south. The region was open from the north and northwest. Al Quds is in a region rich in streams that originate from the jordan valley in the east and flow into the mediterranean sea in the west. Due to its central location, the city of Al Quds serves as a transit and commercial hub for many regions.
It is located east of the 35th meridian and north of the 31st parallel. 52 km away from the mediterranean sea, 22 km away from the dead sea, and 250 km away from the red sea. Situated at distances of 88 km from Amman(Jordan) 388 km from Beirut (Lebanon) and 290 km from Damascus (Syria)
The total area of the city is 19,331 square km. Square-shaped and surrounded by walls. The walls are 40 steps high, with 34 watchtowers situated along them. there are 7 entrance gates to this wall.
1- Al Khalil Gate
2- Jadeed Gate
3- Amud Gate
4- Sahira Gate
5- Maghariba Gate
6- Asbat Gate
7- Dawud a.s Gate
Sultan Suleiman, had the walls constructed in 1542, and since that date, the walls have preserved their structure intact up to the present day. From the late 19th century to the early 20th century, due to population growth, there was no space left in the old Al-Quds area, and the people began to move outside the walls and build new neighborhoods; these regions started to be called the New Al-Quds, and the settlements spread towards the northwest and south. Due to the establishment of Jewish settlement units in regions inhabited by Arab Muslims, the works carried out by the municipality were to the benefit of the Jews living there; the extension of the borders in the western region reached several kilometers, while in the south, it was a few hundred meters.
The merger of Al-Quds and other Arab and Muslim villages was prevented, and borders were placed between them. For example: At-Tur, Shuafat, Deir Yassin, Lifta, Silwan, Al-Isawiya, Ein Karim, Al-Malha, Beit Safafa... Although these villages were as close as a neighborhood of Al-Quds, they remained outside the borders of Al-Quds until 1921.
In 1921, the boundaries of the city of Al-Quds were redrawn by the municipality. With these new borders, about 400 meters were added to Al-Quds from the eastern side. From the northern part of the city, the Herod's Gate (Sahira Gate), walnut groves, and Sheikh Jarrah neighborhoods were added to Al-Quds. However, no changes were made in the southern part of Al-Quds, and the city boundary remained fixed up to the walls. Although the western part of the city was several times larger than the eastern part, more additions were made in the western part. The reason for this was that Jews mostly lived in the western part of Al-Quds. In the western part of the city, some Arab Muslim communities lived, which were the communities of Katamon, Baq'a (Upper/Fawqa and Lower/Tahta), Talbiya, Wajihiya (Variyye), Sheikh Badr, and Mamilla (Memenullah).
The municipality's second major border redrawing took place between 1946 and 1948, beginning in 1946. An expansion even larger than the one made in the western part in 1921 was carried out; to expand it, the village of Silwan from the eastern side and the Valley of Walnuts (Ceviz Vadisi) from the southern side were added to Al-Quds. The surface area reached 20,199 dunams during these years, and the built-up area increased from 4,130 dunams in 1918 to 7,230 dunams in 1948.
Between 1947 and 1949, the idea of international partition emerged. This partition idea was not new; it had existed previously. The committee put forward a proposal suggesting that the cities of Al-Quds, Bethlehem, Lod (el-Düd), Ramla, and Jaffa remain outside the Arab and Jewish states, serving as a free and secure zone between these two countries. The clauses mentioned in this proposal are as follows:
1.The city of Al-Quds shall be independent.
2.It shall be situated between the Arab and Jewish cities.
3.It shall remain bound to the international system.
4.Its administration shall be carried out by the United Nations.
5.An assembly shall be established by the United Nations to ensure the administration of this region.
These decisions drew the boundaries of Al-Quds, and Ain Karim and Mota to the west; Shuafat to the north; Abu Dis to the east; and Bethlehem to the south would remain outside the borders of the two countries.
The wars that broke out in 1948 accelerated the division of Al-Quds. On July 13, 1951, the first elections for the Arab Al-Quds Municipality were held, and great efforts were made to expand the city of Al-Quds, which was needed to increase the population in Al-Quds.
On April 1, 1952, the proposal submitted by the Arab Al-Quds Municipality to expand Al-Quds was approved for the first time. In this proposal, the following areas were added to the city of Al-Quds: the village of Silwan, Ras al-Amud, Al-Sawana, Ard al-Semmar, and the southern part of the village of Shuafat, thus making this added section 4.5 km.
Buildings were constructed on only 3 kilometers of this area. A law prohibiting the construction of houses was issued by the governor on the top of the Mount of Olives and on the west and south of Mount Scopus (Masharif Mountain). Due to this ban, the municipal council prepared a project to expand the boundaries on February 12, 1957. Because of this restriction, the Al-Quds municipal council submitted a project on June 22, 1958, to extend the municipal boundary up to the Qalandia Airport (500 meters), and this decision could not be finalized until 1959. After the 1963 elections, in 1964, a 75 km expansion project was proposed. In 1967, due to the war, the project was halted and failed.
However, the expansion project for West Al-Quds was continued; the western and southwestern parts were expanded, and new Jewish settlement units were established, which were: Kiryat Yovel (Kriatoyofi), Kiryat Menachem (Kriyatnahiym), Ir Ganim (İyr Nahanim), the villages of Ein Karim, Beit Safafa, Deir Yassin (Yasin), Lifta (Lefta), and Al-Malha (El Maliha). The surface area of West Al-Quds reached 38km².
Israel occupied East Al-Quds after the outbreak of the war in 1967. On June 28, 1967, the Zionists' objectives were to cover a large area and reduce Arab Muslims to a minority. They expanded the municipal boundaries, connecting a total of 28 villages and towns to the Israeli Al-Quds municipality. Arab Muslims were expelled from those regions by Israel. As a result, the boundaries of the Israeli Al-Quds municipality expanded from 6.5km² to 70.5km². The total surface area of West and East Al-Quds became 48.5km². In 1995, the surface area of Al-Quds was expanded westward once again,
Today, the total surface area of Al-Quds is 123km².
