Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
farming areas, they may be quite impoverished, especially since the transportation infrastruc-
ture in Israel remains weak in the north and south.
Cities
A well-known saying describes the trio of main cities: “In Jerusalem we pray, in Tel Aviv we
play, in Haifa we work.” However exaggerated, it does give a sense of the distinctive identities
of each of these places.
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is Israel's capital, its most famous city, and one of the country's most important
features. It contains many holy sites — the Temple Mount, which includes the Western Wall
of the Jewish Temple compound and which is associated with the kings of ancient Israel; the
Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque; and Christian churches and sites associated with
the life and death of Jesus of Nazareth, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Many of
the holy sites are clustered in and around the Old City.
Yet Jerusalem is not merely a religious center and cultural symbol but an actual living city,
home to three-quarters of a million people, about one-third of them Arab and two-thirds of
them Jewish. The Arabs mainly live in the eastern part of the city, the Jews mostly in the west-
ern part.
The mosque of the Dome of the Rock with its golden dome is visible in the background on top of the Temple
Mount. In the foreground is the Western Wall, the western retaining wall of the Second Temple, the last re-
maining portion of that structure and the holiest site in Judaism. (Getty Images / Image Bank.)
