Jerusalem: Which Of 61 Conquests Counts The Most?

Yaacov Lozowick writes about the Conquests of Jerusalem and Israel's Control--and the fact that there have been so many of conquests of Jerusalem.

61, according to his count:


Marauders, Jebusites, Tribes of Israel, Judges, David, Nebuchadnezzar (2 times), Macedonians (6 times), Menelaus, Antiochus (2 times), Judah Macabee, Nicanor, Jonathan Hasmonai, Antiochus VII, Pompei, Pacorus & Antigonos, Herod, Gessius Florus, Sicarii, Idumeans, Titus, Bar Kochva, Hadrian, Zenobia, Diocletan, Greens (Byzantine rebels), Byzantines, Shahrbaraz, Heraclius, Omar, Jawahr al-Siqilli, Atsiz, Crusaders, Saladin, Frederick II, Barkha Khan, 10 years of chaos and alternating temporary rulers, Baibars, Hethoum II, Nassir Mohammed, Beduins, Selim the Grim, a local rebel, Farrukh, Husseini, Ottoman forces, Mehmet Ali, local fellahin, Mehmet Ali, Ottoman forces, Britain, Jordan & Israel, and Israel.

So in the long line of conquerors--
Who gets bragging rights?
Whose Jerusalem is it?
Which is the conquest that makes the one's after it illegal according to international law?

Not the last one.
It's the next to last one--the one by Jordan--that establishes ownership.

Lozowick writes:

The notion, accepted as an article of faith the world over these days, that the 60th conquest of the city, in 1948, was the one that sets the bar for legal occupation, so that the Israeli conquest in 1967 is illegal, is profoundly silly when you look at this list. Not to say idiotic, and not to mention that the occupier in 1947 was Jordan, not the Palestinians. One might say allowing Palestinian rule over half the city would create peace, but that's a different argument: pragmatism, not international law; it is compelling only if there's reason to believe it's true and division will bring peace.

In the comments, he presents the ultimate absurdity:

Jews have lived in Jerusalem almost uninterrupted for 3000 years, but it's illegal for them to do so [now] because in 1948 the Jordanians ethnically cleansed them? Huh?

Lots of profound silliness to go around.

Technorati Tag: Jerusalem.