The history of Jerusalem is the history of a living city perhaps unlike that of any other in the world.
Jerusalem (al-Quds in Arabic) represents the heart of three world religions: a holy place for Islam, Judaism and Christianity, yet it is also a dangerous flashpoint to one of the world
But for many people throughout history, Jerusalem has been a prized possession and much fought over. Archaeological work in the area suggests that the city was inhabited as far back as 4000BC.

Its earliest known name may be Jebusite, the translation of a Canaanite town. Together with the later arriving Philistines, they are believed to be the earliest known ancestors to present day Palestinians.

"Philistinians" settled along the stretch of the Mediterranean coast that extended approximately from Jaffa to the Gaza Strip, and was within the land of Canaan for many centuries. Having left such an indelible mark, the land of Philistia, or Palestine as it became known, has remained to this day.

After the war, Jerusalem was made the capital of Palestine but held under British mandate. As the end of the mandate neared, Arabs and Jews both sought to hold possession of the city. But the minorities in the city, such as the Christians, favoured a city open to all the three religions.
This opinion was given weight by Europeans at the United Nations, which, in partitioning Palestine into Arab and Jewish states, declared that Jerusalem would be an internationally administered city, but in a projected Arab state.
Even before the partition came in to effect on 14 May 1948, fighting between Jews and Arabs broke out in the city. On 28 May, the Jews in the Old City surrendered but the New City remained in Jewish hands.
The Old City and all areas held by the Arab Legion - the quadrant marking East Jerusalem - were annexed by Jordan in April 1949. The newly created state of Israel responded by retaining the area it held and so on 14 December 1949, the New City of Jerusalem was declared the capital of Israel, a politically motivated goal that symbolised Jewish history and power. (Under continuing UN resolutions disputing the status of the city, Israel later made Tel Aviv its capital.)
In 1967, Israeli forces took the Old City in the Six Day war with Egypt, Syria and Jordan. They formally annexed the Old City and placed all of Jerusalem under central administration.
Arab East Jerusalemites were offered regular Israeli citizenship but nearly all chose to maintain their status as Jordanians. Israel then transferred many Arabs out of the Old City but assured access to the holy sites for Muslims and Christians.
By July 1980, Israel's parliament approved a bill affirming Jerusalem as the country's historic and undivided capital for all Jews but the position of successive Israeli governments has been to keep Tel Aviv as the capital city (as recognised by the UN) while threatening to "declare". With suburbanisation and housing developments in formerly Jordanian-held territory, Jerusalem had become Israel's largest city. But strife between Arabs and Jews has persisted.
For example, Israeli excavation work around the city destroyed numerous items of Islamic art and architecture and altered much of the recognisable features of the Old City. But it was the digging carried out near al-Aqsa mosque and at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the 1970s that led to much violence between Muslim and Jewish inhabitants.
In addition, the destruction of Arab buildings and the confiscation of Arab land, together with the changing of Islamic street and building names to Jewish ones, has continued since 1967 in order to Judaise the city, while simultaneously deporting its natives and depriving those who left from returning to their homeland.
Approximately 15,500 Arabs have been deported and replaced since 1967, according to UN figures, in order to increase the Jewish numbers in the city. Consequently, Jewish inhabitants possess most of the estates and land in the city.

In 1918, the Jews used to possess only four per cent of the land, the Arabs 94% and the minorities made up two per cent; however by 1985, the position had reversed with 84% ownership for the Jews, 14% for the Arabs, and about one per cent for minorities.

The history of Jerusalem is the history of a living city perhaps unlike that of any other in the world.
Jerusalem (al-Quds in Arabic) represents the heart of three world religions: a holy place for Islam, Judaism and Christianity, yet it is also a dangerous flashpoint to one of the world

Over the past decades, a worldwide process of consolidation among the media has taken place. One of the results of this process has been the establishment of news services operating on a global scale, with their news programs available in a similar format in almost every corner of the world. On the other hand, however, the consolidation of media enterprises has been characterized by value loaded biases, mostly against cultures and civilizations of the Third World. The main reason of such adverse development has been the fact that this consolidation process predominantly took place in the developed Western countries.

The globalization of media does not, therefore, necessarily have to be interpreted as a vehicle for the globalization of value systems, i.e. an increasingly common perception of reality among members of all cultures. Some media certainly try to do just that. Some do it out of internationalist or humanitarian considerations, while others do it out of plans os achieving hegemony by one culture or civilization, which they believe, or claim, to be superior to others as they believe in a pyramidical hierarchy of civilizations and cultures Other media, on the contrary, perceive their role as promoters of particular cultural values, which are frequently identified with specific territorial boundaries. Among the latter, there are those that give no room to viewpoints other than those of the culture they want to promote, while some may be open at least to a search for solutions to similar problems on a global level.

More conducive to the dialogue among civilizations are media which through their coverage of news events involving members of other cultural groups try to emphasize the existence of some common ground, of basic ideas shared by members of all civilizations within the cultural diversity and pluralism which characterize humanity today. This type of news coverage and feature articles or programs would encourage readers and audience to comprehend, respect and appreciate the particularities of different cultures in their locality, country, region and the world, by presenting such cultures with close reference to the respective