Mount of Olives becomes latest target in fight for control of Jerusalem

Israeli settler movement is making life harder for Jerusalem’s Palestinians and erasing Christian character of holy city

Even in a city as storied as Jerusalem, some places are holier than others. The Mount of Olives – studded with churches marking events in the lives of Jesus and Mary, home to the most sacred Jewish cemetery in the world, and tombs celebrated as that of the Sufi mystic Rabia al-Basri and medieval scholar Mujir al-Din, is one such place.

Christians believe Jesus spent the last days of his life here, while according to the Hebrew Bible, the mount is where the resurrection will begin; in both Christianity and Islam, it is revered as the site Jesus ascended to heaven. The Mount of Olives’ summit, which gives the clearest view of the Temple Mount, or al-Haram al-Sherif, has served as a pilgrimage destination for all three faiths for millennia.