Wikipedia:Reunification of Jerusalem

The Reunification of Jerusalem refers to the June 1967 administrative merger of West Jerusalem and East Jerusalem by Israel, following the conquest of the Eastern half of the city (including the walled Old City) from Jordan during the Six Day War. In 1980, the merger of West and East Jerusalem was legalized in Israel by the Jerusalem Law, though this attempt to change the status of Jerusalem was rejected by the United Nations (UN) and most of the international community. The Reunification is celebrated as an Israeli national holiday, Jerusalem Day; the 50th anniversary was commemorated with celebrations in 2017.

Background
Jordan and an alliance of Arab states rejected the 1947 UN Partition Plan under which Jerusalem was to be a corpus separatum, instead invading former Palestinian Mandate territory, and by the armistice in 1949 was in control of the Old City and East Jerusalem (excluding Mount Scopus). The Arab invading armies failed to take control over the rest of Israel, including West Jerusalem. The city was then divided along the 1949 Armistice Line. East Jerusalem was annexed to Jordan in 1950. The city remained divided until the Six-Day War in 1967.

As part of the Jordanian campaign, on June 5, 1967, the Jordanian Army began shelling Israel. When the Israeli cabinet convened to decide how to respond, Yigal Allon and Menahem Begin argued that this was an opportunity to take the Old City of Jerusalem, but Eshkol decided to defer any decision until Moshe Dayan and Yitzhak Rabin could be consulted. During the late afternoon of June 5, the Israelis launched an offensive to encircle Jerusalem, which lasted into the following day. On June 7, heavy fighting ensued. Dayan had ordered his troops not to enter the Old City; however, upon hearing that the UN was about to declare a ceasefire, he changed his mind, and without cabinet clearance, decided to capture it.

History
Israeli victory resulted in the city's reunification. On 30 July 1980, the Knesset officially approved the Jerusalem Law, which called the city the complete and united capital.

Commemoration
The reunification is celebrated by the annual Jerusalem Day, and Israeli national holiday. Special celebrations in 2017 to marked the Jubilee of the 1967 reunification.

Demographic impact of reunification
Under Jordanian rule no Jews were permitted to live in the city, which was governed as part of the Jordanian rule West Bank, and the Christian population plummeted, falling from 25,000 to 9,000.

Impact of reunification on worship
Reunification ended the programmatic Islamization of Jerusalem by the government of Jordan, a policy that had included the destruction of dozens of synagogues; the imposition of Arabic-language, government-issued textbooks in Christian schools; a ban on the purchase of property by churches; a ban on church funding of social and medical services, including hospitals; and a complete ban on visits to Jewish holy places by Jewish pilgrims.

Freedom of worship by members of all faiths was restored immediately following reunification.

The narrow, approximately 120 m2 pre-1948 alley along the wall used informally for Jewish prayer was enlarged to 2400 m2, with the entire Western Wall Plaza covering 20000 m2. The Mugrabi Quarter was bulldozed in order to expand the plaza. In later years, synagogues demolished during the Jordanian rule, including the Hurva Synagogue were rebuilt.

Impact of reunification on archaeology
Under the direction of Nahman Avigad, the city's Jewish Quarter, which had largely lain in rubble, was carefully excavated before being rebuilt.

Impact of reunification on city planning
The complete rebuilding of the city's historic Jewish Quarter offered a virtually blank slate for city planners.

Books about the reunification of Jerusalem

 * The Six Days and the Seven Gates (1979), by Yitzhak Navon, President of Israel