June 2025

CIE has compiled the following list of books and articles, including some available on our website, to guide understanding of Israel’s capital, the holy city of Jerusalem.

Books

Adelman, Madelaine, and Miriam Fendius Elman. Jerusalem Conflict & Cooperation in a Contested City. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2014.

Amirav, Moshe. The Palestinian-Israeli Battle for the Holy City. Sussex Academic Press, 2009.

Armstrong, Karen. Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths. London: HarperCollins, 1996.

Asali, Kamil J. Jerusalem in History. New York: Olive Branch Press, 2000.

Breger, Marshall, and Thomas A. Indinopulos. Jerusalem’s Holy Places and the Peace Process. Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 1998.

Carroll, James. Jerusalem, Jerusalem: How an Ancient City Ignited the Modern World. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011.

Cattan, Henry. Jerusalem. St. Martin’s Press, 1981.

Cline, Eric. Jerusalem Besieged: From Ancient Canaan to Modern Israel. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2004.

Dumper, Michael. Jerusalem Unbound: Geography, History, and the Future of the Holy City. New York: Columbia University Press, 2014.

Dumper, Michael. The Politics of Jerusalem Since 1967. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997.

Elon, Amos. Jerusalem, City of Mirrors. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1989.

Feintuch, Yossi. U.S. Policy on Jerusalem. Greenwood, 1991.

Friedland, Roger, and Richard Hecht. To Rule Jerusalem. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000.

Gilbert, Martin. Jerusalem in the Twentieth Century. London: Pimlico, 1996.

Grindea, Miron (ed.). Jerusalem: The Holy City in Literature. London: Kahn & Averill, 1996.

Gold, Dore. The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, the West and the Future of the Holy City. Washington: Regnery Publishing, 2007.

Hammer, Reuven. The Jerusalem Anthology: A Literary Guide. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1995.

Hareven, Shulamith. City of Many Days. San Francisco: Mercury House, 1993.

Hoffmann, A., and G. Wolf (eds.). Jerusalem as Narrative Space. Leiden: Brill, 2012.

Israeli, Raphael. Jerusalem Divided: The Armistice Regime, 1947-1967. Frank Cass, 2002.

Jacobson, Abigail. From Empire to Empire: Jerusalem Between Ottoman and British Rule. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2011.

Kollek, Teddy, and Amos Kollek. For Jerusalem: A Life. New York: Random House, 1978.

Kollek, Teddy, and Moshe Pearlman. Jerusalem: A History of Forty Centuries. New York: Random House, 1968.

Kühnel, Bianca. The Real and Ideal Jerusalem in Jewish, Christian and Muslim Art. Jerusalem: Hebrew University, 1998.

Lapierre, Dominique, and Larry Collins. O Jerusalem. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1972.

Levine, Lee I. (ed.). Jerusalem: Its Sanctity and Centrality in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. New York: Continuum, 1999.

Mack, Merav, et al. Jerusalem: City of the Book. Yale University Press, 2019.

Mayer, Tamar, and Suleiman A. Mourad (eds.). Jerusalem: Idea and Reality. New York: Routledge, 2008.

Mazza, Roberto. Jerusalem: From the Ottomans to the British. London: I.B. Tauris, 2013.

Montefiore, Simon Sebag. Jerusalem: The Biography. New York: Vintage, 2012.

Narkiss, General Uzi. The Liberation of Jerusalem: The Battle of 1967. Valentine Mitchell, 1983.

Nitzan-Shiftan, Alona. Seizing Jerusalem: The Architectures of Unilateral Unification. University of Minnesota Press, 2017.

Peters, F.E. Jerusalem: The Holy City in the Eyes of Chroniclers, Visitors, Pilgrims, and Prophets From the Days of Abraham to the Beginnings of Modern Times. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1985.

Rabinovitch, Abraham. The Battle for Jerusalem: An Unintended Conquest (50th Anniversary Edition). CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2017.

Reich, Ronny. Excavating the City of David: Where Jerusalem’s History Began. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 2011.

Reiter, Yitzhak. Contested Holy Places: Israel-Palestine Sharing and Conflict Resolution. Routledge, 2017.

Reiter, Yitzhak. Jerusalem and Its Role in Islamic Solidarity. Palgrave, 2008.

Rosovsky, Nitza (ed.). City of the Great King: Jerusalem From David to the Present. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996.

Scott, Jamie, and Paul Simpson-Housley (eds.). Sacred Places and Profane Space: Essays in the Geographics of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. New York: Praeger, 1991.

Shlay, Anne B., and Gillad Rosen. Jerusalem: The Spatial Politics of a Divided Metropolis. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2015.

Shragai, Nadav. Jerusalem: Delusions of Division. Jerusalem: Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, 2015.

Tamari, Salim. Jerusalem 1948: The Arab Neighborhoods and Their Fate in the War. Jerusalem: Institute for Jerusalem Studies and Badil Research Center, 1999.

Vilnay, Z. Legends of Jerusalem (The Sacred Land). New York: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1973.

Wasserstein, Bernard. Divided Jerusalem: The Struggle for the Holy City. Yale University Press, August 2001.

Wilkinson, John, et al. Jerusalem Pilgrimage, 1099-1185. Oxon: Routledge, 2016.

Wharton, Annabel J. Selling Jerusalem. Relics, Replicas, Theme Parks.Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006.

Zank, Michael. Jerusalem: A Brief History. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2018.

Ze’evi, Dror. An Ottoman Century: The District of Jerusalem in the 1600s. SUNY, 1996.

Articles

Abu Odeh, Adnan, “Religious Inclusion, Political Inclusion: Jerusalem as an Undivided Capital,” Catholic University Law Review, Vol. 45, No. 3 (Spring 1996): 687-697.

Albin, Cecilia, “Negotiating Indivisible Goods: The Case of Jerusalem,” Jerusalem Journal of International Relations, Vol. 13, No. 4 (1991): 45-76.

Alfasi, Nurit, Ashery, Shlomit Flint, and Itzhak Benenson, “Between the Individual and the Community: Residential Patterns of the Haredi Population in Jerusalem,” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Vol. 37, No. 6 (2012): 2152-2176.

Armstrong, Karen, “The Holiness of Jerusalem: Asset or Burden?” Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 27, No. 3 (1998): 5-19.

Azaryahu, Maoz, and Arnon Golan, “Photography, Memory and Ethnic Cleansing: The Fate of the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, 1948 — John Phillips’ Pictorial Record,” Israel Studies, Vol. 17, No. 2 (2012): 62-76.

Baker, Alan, “Is Jerusalem Really Negotiable? An Analysis of Jerusalem’s Place in the Peace Process,” Jerusalem Political Studies Review, Vol. 24, Nos. 3-4 (Fall 2012).

Baker, Alan, and Hirsh Goodman, “The Dangers of Unilateral Withdrawal From the West Bank and East Jerusalem,” Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, January 22, 2017.

Bar, Doron, “Re-Creating Jewish Sanctity in Jerusalem: The Case of Mount Zion and David’s Tomb Between 1948-1967,” The Journal of Israeli History, Vol. 23, No. 2 (2004): 233-251.

Bar, Gideon, “Reconstructing the Past: The Creation of Jewish Sacred Space in the State of Israel, 1948-1967,” Israel Studies, Vol. 13, No. 3 (2008).

Ben-Arieh, Yehoshua, “The Growth of Jerusalem in the Nineteenth Century,” Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 65, No. 2 (1975): 252-269.

Ben-Arieh, Yehoshua, “Patterns of Christian Activity and Dispersion in Nineteenth Century Jerusalem,” Journal of Historical Geography, Vol. 2, No. 1 (1976): 49-69.

Ben-David, Lenny, “In Photos: The Story of the Liberation of Jerusalem a Century Ago,” Jewish Political Studies Review, Vol. 28, Nos. 1-2 (2017): 27-41.

Berkowitz, Shmuel, “The Status of Jerusalem in International and Israeli Law,” Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, May 2018.

Canetti, Daphna, Julia Elad-Strenger, Iris Lavi, Dana Guy, and Daniel Bar-Tal, “Exposure to Violence, Ethos of Conflict, and Support for Compromise: Surveys in Israel, East Jerusalem, West Bank, and Gaza,” Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 61, No. 1 (2017): 84-113.

Center for Israel Education, “Jerusalem Timeline,” updated frequently.

Cohen, Hillel, “Palestinian Armed Struggle, Israel’s Peace Camp, and the Unique Case of Fatah-Jerusalem,” Israel Studies, Vol. 18, No. 1 (2013): 101-123.

Dekel, Udi, “Terrorism in the Jerusalem Synagogue: From National Struggle to Religious War?” Institute for National Security Studies, November 25, 2014.

Dumper, Mick, “A False Dichotomy? The Binationalism Debate and the Future of Divided Jerusalem,” International Affairs, Vol. 87, No. 3 (2011): 671-685.

Elman, Miriam Fendius, “Jerusalem Studies: The State of the Field,” Israel Studies, Vol. 21, No. 3 (2016): 221-241.

Elsea, Jennifer K., “Zivotofsky v. Kerry: The Jerusalem Passport Case and Its Potential Implications for Congress’s Foreign Affairs Powers,” Congressional Research Service, September 28, 2015.

Ferrari, Silvio, “The Religious Significance of Jerusalem in the Middle East Peace Process: Some Legal Implications,” Catholic University Law Review, Vol. 45, No. 3 (1996): 733-743.

Gold, Dore, “Jerusalem in History and International Diplomacy,” Jewish Political Studies Review, Vol. 13, Nos. 1-2 (2001): 107-176.

Gold, Dore, “Jerusalem and US Politics,” Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, September 14, 2012.

Gruweis-Kovalsky, Ofira, “Israeli Policy on the Foreign Consulates in Jerusalem in the Early 1950s,” Israel Studies, Vol. 24, No. 1 (2019): 126-150.

Hacohen, Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon, “Is Jerusalem Divided?” Begin-Sadat Center, October 25, 2015.

Irfan, Anne, “Is Jerusalem International or Palestinian? Rethinking UNGA Resolution 181,” Jerusalem Quarterly, 70 (Summer 2017): 52-61.

Inbar, Efraim, “Jerusalem Is More Important Than Amona,” Begin-Sadat Center, October 27, 2016.

Inbar, Efraim, “Jerusalem Is the Center of Gravity,” Begin-Sadat Center, January 19, 2017.

Inbari, Pinhas, “The Internal Palestinian Fight for Jerusalem,” Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, April 14, 2016.

Inbari, Pinhas, “The Muslim Schism Over Jerusalem,” Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, September 22, 2015.

Indyk, Martin, “Could an Embassy in Jerusalem Bring Us Closer to Peace?” The New York Times, January 4, 2017.

“Jerusalem Statistical Yearbook, 2017: Summary Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics,” Jerusalem Quarterly 71 (October 2017): 148-158.

Katz, Itamar, and Kark, Ruth, “The Church and Landed Property: The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem,” Middle East Studies, Vol. 43, No. 3 (2007): 383-408.

Khalidi, Rashid, “The Centrality of Jerusalem to an End of Conflict Agreement,” Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 303, No. 119 (2001): 82-87.

Klein, Menachem, “Jerusalem as an Israeli Problem — A Review of Forty Years of Israeli Rule Over Jerusalem,” Israel Studies, Vol. 13, No. 2 (2008): 54-72.

Klein, Menachem, “Jerusalem Without East Jerusalemites: The Palestinian as the ‘Other’ in Jerusalem,” The Journal of Israeli History, Vol. 23 (2004): 174-199.

Lapidoth, Ruth, “A Recent Agreement on the Holy Places in Jerusalem,” The Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs, Vol. 7, No. 3 (2013): 61-66.

Lawler, Andrew, “Judging Jerusalem,” Science, 315, 5812 (2007): 588-591.

Lehrs, Lior, “Jerusalem on the Negotiating Table: Analyzing the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks on Jerusalem (1993-2015),” Israel Studies, Vol. 21, No. 3 (2016): 179-205.

Mazza, Roberto, “Churches at War: The Impact of the First World War on the Christian Institutions of Jerusalem, 1914-20,” Middle East Studies, Vol. 45, No. 2 (2009): 207-227.

Michael, Kobi, and Oded Eran, “Escalation in Jerusalem: Beyond Stabilization Efforts,” INSS Insight, September 20, 2015.

Milson, Menahem, “Sadat in Jerusalem: Behind the Scenes,” Jewish Review of Books, Winter 2016.

Navoth, Michal, “The Status of Jerusalem in America’s Foreign Policy Legislation and Jurisprudence,” Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, October 28, 2015.

Omar, Abdallah Marouf, “Al-Aqsa Mosque’s Incident in July 2017: Affirming the Policy of Deterrence,” Insight Turkey, Vol. 19, No. 3 (2017): 69-82.

Oppenheimer, Yudith, and Betty Herschman, “Drawing New Lines: Israel’s Unilateral Policies to Reshape Jerusalem,” Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics & Culture, Vol. 23, No. 4 (October 2018): 23-30.

Papastathis, Konstantinos, “Church Finances in the Colonial Age: The Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem Under British Control, 1921-25,” Middle East Studies, Vol. 49, No. 5 (2013): 712-731.

Papastathis, Konstantinos, and Kark, Ruth, “Colonialism and Religious Power Politics: The Question of New Regulations Within the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem During the British Mandate,” Middle East Studies, Vol. 50, No. 4 (2014): 589-605.

Quigley, John, “Sovereignty in Jerusalem,” Catholic University Law Review, Vol. 45, No. 3 (Spring 1996): 765-780.

Reiter, Yitzhak, and Jon Seligman, “1917 to the Present: Al-Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount (Har ha-Bayit) and the Western Wall,” January 2009.

Rempel, Terry, “The Significance of Israel’s Partial Annexation of East Jerusalem,” Middle East Journal, Vol. 51, No. 4 (Autumn 1997): 520-534.

Rimon, Amnon, and Lior Lehrs, “East Jerusalem: Explosive Reality and Proposals for De-Escalation,” Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, September 2015.

Rokem, Jonathan, and Marco Allegra, “Planning in Turbulent Times: Exploring Planners’ Agency in Jerusalem,” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Vol. 40, No. 3 (2016): 640-657.

Rokem, Jonathan, and Laura Vaughan, “Segregation, Mobility and Encounters in Jerusalem: The Role of Public Transport Infrastructure in Connecting the ‘Divided City,’” Urban Studies, 2 (2017): 1-19.

Shapira, Anita, “Jerusalem in 1948: A Contemporary Perspective,” Jewish Social Studies: History, Culture, Society, Vol. 17, No. 3 (2011): 78-123.

Sher, Gilad, “The Residency Status of East Jerusalem’s Palestinians,” INSS Insight, 759, October 28, 2015.

Shragai, Nadav, “The U.S. Embassy Prepares to Move to Jerusalem,” Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, May 7, 2018.

Singer, Max, “Moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem: A Great Opportunity for the New President,” Begin-Sadat Center, November 21, 2016.

Slonim, S., “The United States and the Status of Jerusalem 1947-1984,” Israel Law Review, Vol. 19, No. 2 (1984): 179-252.

Spyer, Jonathan, “Toward the Abyss in Jerusalem,” Rubin Center, October 8, 2015.

Stein, Kenneth W., “Trump’s Recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital Has Merit,” Center for Israel Education, December 13, 2017.

Tal, David, “The Battle Over Jerusalem: The Israeli-Jordanian War, 1948,” in Israel’s War of Independence Revisited, Alon Kadish (ed.), Tel Aviv, Ministry of Defense (2004): 307-339.

Thawaba, Salem, and Hussein Al-Rimmawi, “Spatial Transformation of Jerusalem: 1967 to Present,” Journal of Planning History, Vol. 12, No. 1 (2012): 63-77.

Tzoreff, Yohanan, et al., “East Jerusalem and the Palestinian Legislative Council Elections,” INSS Insight, No. 1248, January 15, 2020.

U.S. Department of State, “Opening of U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem,” February 23, 2018.

Yavuz, Hamza, and Mehmet Akif Okur, “Reactions of the American Jews to Trump’s Jerusalem Embassy Move: Continuation of the Historical Pattern?” Alternatives: Global, Local, Political, Vol. 43, No. 4 (November 2018): 207-221.

Zank, Michael, “The Jerusalem Basic Law (1980) and the Jerusalem Embassy Act (1995): A Comparative Investigation of Israeli and US Legislation on the Status of Jerusalem,” Israel Studies, Vol. 21, No. 3 (2016): 20-35.

Zanotti, Jim, “Jerusalem: U.S. Recognition as Israel’s Capital and Planned Embassy Move,” Congressional Research Service, December 8, 2017.