Jerusalem: The Biography

Wahab, Muhammad ibn Abdul, 327n

Wahabis, 281, 327, 432

al-Wahrani, 252–3

Walid I, Caliph, 184, 186

Walter, Hubert, 263

Waqfs, 280n, 364n, 421, 498, 508

Ward, Hon. Cyril, 389n

warfare, laws of, 213n

Warren, Captain Charles, 21n, 355–6

Warren’s Gate, 186

Waterloo, Battle of, 323

Watson, Brigadier C. F., 418

Wauchope, Sir Arthur, 439–40, 450

Wavell, Sir Archibald, 1st Earl, 451

Wazzah, 421

Weidenfeld, George, Baron, 482, 487

Weizmann, Chaim, President, xxv, 351n, 374, 409–12, 414–15, 421, 423–31, 435, 444–6, 450, 453, 458, 478

and Buraq Uprising, 438–9

and El Alamein, 457

and Israeli presidency, 476, 480

and Nabi Musa riots, 429–30

and Orde Wingate, 450–1

Weizmann Institute of Science, 481

Well of Souls, 27n

West Bank, 478, 481–2, 488, 491, 502

and Intifada, 505–6, 509

Western Wall, 9, 24n, 71, 120n, 135n, 151n, 175, 264, 286, 300, 355, 357, 379, 408, 452, 504

and Buraq Uprising, 436–8

daily rituals, 518–19, 523

as ha-Kotel, 295, 437, 497, 516

and Jewish access, 480, 482, 502, 513, 516

purchase attempts, 357, 374, 398n, 421, 437

and shofar ban, 437, 459

and Six Day War, 497–8

tunnel constructions, 509

Westminster, Jerusalem Chamber, 285

White Russians, 444

Wiesel, Elie, 512

Wilhelm II, Kaiser, 355–6, 375–80, 389, 395, 408, 417

William III, King, 331

William, Patriarch, 223

William of Tyre, xxv, 208, 222, 233–4, 237–9, 242, 244, 245n

William the Conqueror, King, 201, 208

William the Troubadour, 234–5

Wilson, Captain Charles, 354, 363n, 390

Wilson, Captain Clarence, 389n, 390–1

Wilson, Woodrow, President, 427–8

Wilson’s Arch, 354

Wingate, Lorna, 452

Wingate, General Orde, 450–2, 453n, 456, 494

Winthrop, John, 301

Wittenberg, 296

Wolff, Heinrich, 439

Woodhead Commission, 442n

Workers of Zion, 383

World Islamic Conference, 439

Worms Cathedral, 379n

Wrangel, Count Herman, 389n

Xenophon, 49

Xerxes, King of Persia, 50n, 52

Yaacovy, Yitzhak, 487

Yachin and Boaz pillars, 26

Yad Vashem memorial, 455n, 487n, 504

Yalta conference, 462n, 463

al-Yaqubi, 172n

Yarmuk, Battle of, 172–3, 177n

Yathrib, 170

Yaush, 42n

Yavneh (Jamnia), 132

Yazid, ibn Abi Sufyan, 180

Yemen, 158n, 174, 194, 243, 251, 255

Yishuv, 445, 459, 467, 470

Yohanan ben Zakkai, 10

Yolande, Queen of Jerusalem, 265n, 266–7, 270n

Yom Kippur War, 502

York, 257

Young, William Turner, 330, 332, 334–5

Young Turk movement, 384, 394, 402

Yvette, Princess, 228

Zachariah, prophet, 101

Zacharias, 95

Zacharias, Patriarch, 161

Zadok the priest, 25, 52, 54–5, 67

Zaharoff, Sir Basil, 423

Zahir, Caliph, 199–200

Zahir, Sultan, 251, 262–4

Zahir al-Umar al-Zaydani, Sheikh, 310–11

Zalatimo, Muhammad, 135n

Zangi, Atabeg, 223–4, 231, 233–4, 251

Zangwill, Israel, 332n, 382

Zealots, 123, 125

Zedekiah, King, 42–3

Zeinab, Madame, 457

Zenobia, 140

Zenon, 56n

Zerubbabel, Prince, 49–50, 85

Zikhron Zion, 444

Ziklag, 20

zinnor, 22

Zion Gate, 207, 307, 417, 479–80, 497

Zionism, xx, 191n, 279, 373–82, 394, 409–15, 421–5, 430–1, 433, 435–7, 445–6, 478, 513

America and, 412–14, 428, 460–1

Britain and, xxv, 380–1, 409–15, 423–4, 431, 443, 467

Christian, 301, 374

Churchill and, 410–14, 432, 459

Germany and, 413–14

Herzland, 373–82

military, 458, 501

Zionist Commission, 421

Zionist Congresses, 375, 380n, 382, 438

Zoroaster, 48n, 50n

The Temple Mount – Har haBayit in Hebrew, Haram al-Sharif in Arabic, known in the Bible as Mount Moriah – is the centrepiece of Jerusalem. The Western Wall, the holiest shrine of Judaism, is part of Herod’s western supporting wall of the esplanade, the setting for the Islamic shrines, the Dome of the Rock and the Aqsa Mosque. To many, these 35 acres remain the centre of the world.

In 1994, archaeologists found this stele at Tel Dan on which Hazael, King of Aram-Syria, boasts of his victory over Judaea, the ‘house of David’, thereby confirming David’s existence.

The site of Solomon’s temple has been ravaged and rebuilt so often that little remains, except this ivory pomegranate inscribed ‘to the House of Holiness’. It was probably used as the head of a staff during religious processions in the First Temple.

In 701 BC, King Hezekiah fortified the city against the approaching Assyrian army. His so-called broad wall can be seen in today’s Jewish Quarter.

Meanwhile two teams of his engineers started digging the 533-metre-long Siloam Tunnel to provide water for the city: when they met in the middle, they celebrated with this inscription, which was discovered by a schoolboy in 1891.

Before he turned to Jerusalem, Sennacherib, master of the mighty, rapacious Assyrian empire, stormed Hezekiah’s second city Lachish. The bas-reliefs in his Nineveh palace depict the bloody siege and the punishments suffered by its citizens. Here Judaean families are led away by an Assyrian.

King Darius, seen here in a relief from his Persepolis palace, was the real creator of the Persian Empire that ruled Jerusalem for over two centuries. He allowed the Jewish priests to govern themselves, even issuing this Yehud (Judaea) coin.