The 28th day of the month of Iyar, May 22 this year, is commemorated as the day the state of Israel took the eastern section of the holy city in the Six Day War in 1967. Initially proclaimed an international city by the United Nations, Jerusalem was partitioned between Israeli and Jordanian forces following the Israeli-Palestinian and Israeli-Arab wars from 1947 to 1949. Israel occupied the entire city in the Six Day War, despite having proclaimed its capital at Jerusalem earlier and setting up government buildings in West Jerusalem.

Because of the original plan by the United Nations for the city sacred to three religions to be administered as an international, shared city, for decades countries around the world have refused to recognize it as the capital of Israel, maintaining diplomatic representations in Tel Aviv instead. The United Nations plan of 1947 called for a corpus separatum along the lines of the Papal States/Vatican City inside Rome, or the former “free cities” before World War II such as Danzig and Trieste. The city’s status is a bone of contention in hopes for peace between Israelis and Palestinians; Palestinians claim the city as their capital.