1. A. Jerusalem: Population 750,000
Jerusalem is the holiest city in Judaism and has been
the spiritual center of the Jewish people since c.
1000 BCE, when David the King of Israel first
established it as the capital of the united kingdom of
Israel, and his son Solomon commissioned the
building of the First Temple in the city.

2. The Western/Wailing Wall
The name “Wailing Wall” stemmed from the Jewish practice of coming to the site to mourn and bemoan the destruction of
the Temple. During the 1920s with the growing Arab-Jewish tensions over rights at the wall, the Arabs began referring to
the wall as al-Buraq. This was based on the tradition that the wall was the place where Muhammad tethered his
miraculous winged steed, Buraq.

3. Jerusalem is also considered a holy city in Christianity and contains
a number of significant Christian sites. Islam regards Jerusalem as its
third-holiest city. Despite having an area of only 0.9 square
kilometer (0.35 square mile), the Old City is home to sites of key
religious importance, among them the Temple Mount, the Western
Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Dome of the Rock and
al-Aqsa Mosque.

4. Church of the Holy Sepulchre
The site is venerated by many Christians as
Golgotha, (the Hill of Calvary), where the New
Testament says that Jesus was crucified, and is
said to also contain the place where Jesus was
buried (the sepulchre). The church has been an
important pilgrimage destination since at least the
4th century, as the purported site of the death and
resurrection of Jesus.
The capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders on 15 July 1099
1. The Holy Sepulcher
2. The Dome of the Rock
3. Ramparts
Altar of the Crucifixion

5. Dome of the Rock
The Dome of the Rock is an Islamic shrine and major landmark located on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. It was completed in 691-692, making
it the oldest existing Islamic building in the world. The site's significance stems from the religious beliefs regarding the rock, known as the
Foundation Stone, at its heart. It was constructed over the site of the Second Jewish Temple which was destroyed during the Roman Siege of
Jerusalem in 70 CE. Under Jordanian rule of Jerusalem, Jews were forbidden from entering the Old City. Israel took control of the Dome of the
Rock during its victory in the Six-Day War in 1967.

6. Al Aqsa Mosque:
Al-Aqsa Mosque is an Islamic holy place in the Old City of Jerusalem. The site that includes the mosque (along with the Dome of the
Rock) is also referred to as al-Haram ash-Sharif or "Sacred Noble Sanctuary", a site also known as the Temple Mount, the holiest site
in Judaism. Widely considered as the third holiest site in Islam, Muslims believe that the prophet Muhammad was transported from
the Sacred Mosque in Mecca to al-Aqsa during the Night Journey. Islamic tradition holds that Muhammad led prayers towards this
site. According to Islamic belief, the Prophet Jacob, son of Isaac, was the first to build the Mosque as a House of God.

7. Mt. Sinai
According to tradition, this is the mountain where God gave laws to the Israelites.

8. B. The Sinai Peninsula
At the beginning of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War,
Egyptian forces entered the former British
Mandate of Palestine from Sinai to support
Palestinian and other Arab forces against the
newly declared State of Israel. For a period
during the war, Israeli forces entered the
north-eastern corner of Sinai. With the
exception of the Palestinian Gaza Strip, which
came under the administration of the All-
Palestine Government.

9. The Dead Sea
The Shoreline is at 1,386 ft. below sea level. The lowest spot on the Earth’s surface

10. C. The Suez Canal
Opened in 1869, this 120 mile long waterway connects the
Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. In 1956 Egyptian
President Gamal Abdel Nasser took control of the canal
from Britain, intending to finance the dam project using
revenue from the canal. This led up to the Suez Crisis, in
which the UK, France and Israel invaded Egypt.

11. D. Beirut, Lebanon
After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire following World War I Beirut, along with the rest of Lebanon, was placed
under the French Mandate. After Lebanon achieved independence in 1943, Beirut became its capital city. It remained
an intellectual capital of the Arab world and quickly became a financial center for much of the Arab world and major
tourist destination. This era of relative prosperity ended in 1975 when the Lebanese Civil War broke out throughout
the country. During most of the war, Beirut was divided between a Muslim west part and the Christian east.
A particularly destructive period was the 1982 Israeli invasion, during which most of West Beirut was under siege by
Israeli troops. began on 6 June 1982, when the Israel Defense Forces invaded southern Lebanon. The Government of
Israel decided to launch the military operation after the assassination attempt against Israel's ambassador to the
United Kingdom, Shlomo Argov, by the Abu Nidal Organization, a mercenary organization opposed to the PLO.

12. Damascus, Syria
Damascus is the capital of Syria. Currently, the city has
an estimated population of about 1,669,000.
2013 Syria in Ruins

13. Tel Aviv, Israel
Population 400,000 (3.2 million metro) 40 miles W of Jerusalem

14. Amman, Jordan
Population 2 million 50 miles east of Jerusalem

15. 5. The Golan Heights
The Golan Heights is a plateau and mountainous region at
the southern end of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains and
remains a highly contested land straddling the borders of
Syria and Israel.
The Golan Heights has been under Israeli control since the
Six Day War in 1967.
In 1981, Israel passed the Golan Heights Law, which
extended Israeli law and administration throughout the
Israeli-occupied territory, a move which was condemned
by the United Nations Security Council.

16. The River Jordan
The Jordan River is a river in the Middle East flowing to the Dead Sea. It is one of the world's most sacred rivers. In Judaism, the river
serves as the eastern border of the "Eretz Yisra'el", the Land of Israel. In Christian tradition, Jesus was baptized here by John the
Baptist.

17. 6. Gaza Strip
Just 25 miles long and 8 miles wide, it is home
to more than 1.5 million Palestinians.
The shape of the territory was defined by the
Armistice Line following the creation of Israel in
1948 and the subsequent war between the
Israeli and Arab armies.
Egypt administered the Strip for the next 19
years, but Israel captured it during the 1967
Arab-Israeli war and Gaza has been under Israeli
control since then.

18. 7. The West Bank
The West Bank, is a Palestinian territory under
military occupation by Israel since the end of the
Six-Day War in 1967.
Israel began building a 420 mile barrier in and
around the occupied West Bank in 2002.
Israel says the barrier is the only way to defend
against a wave of suicide bombings by
Palestinian militants which shook the country in
the early years of the intifada, or uprising, which
began in 2000.