Can a City Divided Ever Dwell in Peace?
One obvious characteristic of the city of Jerusalem are its walls … both ancient and modern. Although built of stone, the walls of the Holy City speak eloquently of its rich past, its present, troubled circumstances, and its clouded future. The Old City Walls The walls you can see today around Jerusalem’s old city were built by the Turkish sultan Suleiman the “Magnificent” during the years 1536-1541. During this period the Ottoman Empire reached its zenith of power. In Jerusalem, Jews, Christians and Muslims lived in peace, and it was possible to find synagogues, churches and mosques in the same neighborhood. The ideal of a holy city, open freely to people of all faiths, which now seems to be a distant ideal, was then a reality. Still, it should be remembered that the Ottoman Empire was established by conquest and that Jerusalem has been fought over by peoples of the world for centuries. Canaanites and Egyptians, Syrians and Babylonians, Greeks and Romans, Turks and Arabs, Jews, Chri
