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Ottoman Period and Modern Era
  • A model of the Temple's Menorah presented to the Israeli parliament (the Knesset) by the British parliament. Photo: Ladymantequilla
    A model of the Temple's Menorah presented to the Israeli parliament (the Knesset) by the British parliament. Photo: Ladymantequilla
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Ottoman Period and Modern Era

The Second Return to Zion

The State of Israel was established on 5 Iyyar, 5708 (May 14, 1948). The Knesset moved to Jerusalem, which was declared the state capital in 1949. The symbol of the state included the seven-branch candelabrum (Menorah) known from the Arch of Titus, which had been built in Rome to honor the general and the emperor who destroyed Jerusalem in 70 CE. Thus a historic circle closed, in which the Menorah symbolically returned to the State of Israel.
At the end of the battles of the War of Independence, Jerusalem was divided between the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the State of Israel. For the next 19 years the eastern part of the city, which included the Jewish Quarter and the City of David, was under Jordanian rule and the western part under Israeli rule.