In Part 1 of this series, I explained that Jerusalem has an ancient district - a very small walled area called the "Old City" - which is surrounded by a modern city that has emerged within the last 100 years or so. The present day nation of Israel was formed in 1948, but only the modern part of Jerusalem belonged to Israel at that time - the Old City (and other territories) were captured in 1967. This territorial expansion has been extremely controversial for decades and has proven to be an obstacle to peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians (the people who lived there previously).
While all of the 1967 territory is disputed by the Palestinians and surrounding nations, the Old City is perhaps the most hotly contested from a cultural standpoint because of its religious significance. The eastern side of the Old City is home to the Temple Mount, a large elevated platform which rises about 20 meters above the street level. Atop this platform stand two Muslim worship places where God's Temple once was, and you can see both of them in my video of the Temple Mount area below.
