Jerusalem’s population increases 1.8 percent
May 20, 2009
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- About 10 percent of Israel's population, 760,800 people, live in Jerusalem, according to new data. Jerusalem's population increased by 1.8 percent in 2008, according to data released by the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies on Wednesday, on the eve of Jerusalem Day.

Jews and other non-Arabs make up 65 percent of Jerusalem's population and Arabs make up 35 percent, according to the data. In 2008, the Jewish population increased by 1 percent and the Arab population increased by 3 percent.

Jerusalem's population breakdown by religion is 476,100 Jews, or 64 percent; 247,800 Muslims, or 33 percent; 12,600 Christian Arabs, or 2 percent; and 2,600 non-Arab Christians, or 0.3 percent; and 8,500 unaffiliated, or 1 percent.

The study reported that between 1967 and the end of 2008 Jerusalem's population increased by 186 percent, with the Jewish population increasing by 149 percent and the Arab population increasing by 291 percent.

Also in 2008, 2,100 new Israeli immigrants made Jerusalem their home.

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Israeli governments have set out with all determination to implement the Jewish vision of Jerusalem as the "eternal, undivided capital of the Jewish state."

According to Raed Salah, Israel “has announced that it has earmarked $150 million to Judaize the Old City and to increase the number of synagogues around the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

“We have to keep [Jerusalem’s Jewish-Arab ratio] at 70-30, more or less,” chairman Uziel Wexler of the Jerusalem Development Authority told The Washington Post. “It you breach it, it becomes a political issue and Jerusalem is very sensitive.”

Added Jerusalem’s Likud Mayor Ehud Olmert: “We look at Jerusalem as our capital and the only way we can achieve this is by having a very substantial Jewish majority.”

The Middle Eastern conflict and Freemasonry are uniquely tied together, it all evolves around and is correlated to King Solomon (1024-967 B.C.E), the son of King David (1107-1007 B.C.E), the Holy City of Jerusalem, and the Temple at Mount Moriah. Thus, over seventy-five (75) percent of the Freemasonic worldview and philosophy is constructed on the building of King Solomon's Temple.

The Masonic claim to King Solomon's Temple is a lot less controversial and without the overt political and antagonistic contradictions that exist amongst the three major faith traditions, but nevertheless the sacred edifice of King Solomon's Temple lie the basis for Freemasonry to exist. The three Blue Lodge Degrees (Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason) and this writer suspect the majority and subsequent degrees (4th-32nd and Royal Arch Degrees) to follow, will still adhere to the theory and philosophical trend of emphasizing the fraternal importance of King Solomon's Temple.

For Christians, rebuilding the Jewish temple is a fulfillment of end-of-time prophecy. The books of Ezekiel, Daniel, 2 Thessalonians, Matthew, and Revelation predict that the Jewish Temple will be rebuilt, which will usher in a time of Tribulation -- the darkest days of humanity -- and the emergence of the Antichrist (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4). Already, stones have been cut and set aside for the Third Temple, and the Temple Institute is actively building vessels to furnish the Temple.