The Dome of the rock sits on the most controversial piece of land in the world. The Dome itself is situated on a disputed area in the middle of Jerusalem in the very center of Israel. Centuries of conflict have enveloped this tiny sanctuary.

The Dome is at the center of a current, ongoing military and religious conflict. Just a few weeks ago, there were clashes between Palestinian extremists and Israeli Police in East Jerusalem, where the Dome is located.

It’s easy to see why this incredible edifice is so important to so many people – not as a military site as such, because it holds no real military significance – but as an extremely important religious and cultural symbol.

Jerusalem is in the center of Israel. The west bank Jordan to the East, and to the south is the much fought-over Gaza strip, bordering Egypt.

In ancient times, Jerusalem was ruled by the Israelites until Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to it, desecrating the Temple which later became the Dome of the Rock.

Following the collapse of the Babylonian empire, Jerusalem was captured by Alexander the Great and King Herod among others. It was Herod who rebuilt and enlarged the Second Temple which created the famous Western Wall (also called the Wailing Wall) as part of the supporting structure for the enlarged Temple Mount.

During the next two centuries the Jews twice revolted against the Romans, and the people inside the city of Jerusalem suffered greatly.

In the year 135 AD, the Roman Emperor Hadrian constructed a new city on the ruins of old Jerusalem. This temple was itself later demolished by the Byzantines, after the empire became Christian.

The Crusades (1076 – 1300) originally began at the request of the Christian Byzantines, had the goal of recapturing Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Muslim rule.

At the end of the Crusades and up until WW I, Palestine was ruled by the Ottoman Empire, known today as Turkey. During WW1, the Ottoman Empire was allied with Germany but Britain attacked and defeated the Turks and captured Jerusalem in what was then Palestine.

After the war, Palestine was designated as a British protectorate, which was set forth in the 1917 Balfour Declaration, creating the Jewish homeland – but still under British rule.

1939-1945: World War II. British defeat the Germans and Italians, maintain control of the region.

1948 British pull out; the first Arab–Israeli War ensues, fought after the Arabs rejected the 1947 UN General Assembly Resolution 181 that would have created an Arab state and a Jewish state side by side.

Five Arab countries – Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria – attacked Israel, which had declared its independence on the eve of the final British withdrawal, and this first shot in the on-going Arab-Israeli conflict ended with an Armistice in 1949.

From 1949 up until June of 1967 the city of Jerusalem was partitioned into separate so-called “international” zones, administered by the United Nations, and East Jerusalem (where the Dome is located) had been under the control of Jordan.

The last time the Dome changed hands was in June of 1967 as the result of the “6-Day War” in which Israel acquired the Golan Heights, Sinai, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and all of Jerusalem in a series of brilliant surprise attacks. This was of course during the height of the infamous ‘Summer of Love’ in the rest of the civilized world. Needless to say, it was not the summer of love in Israel.

The 6-Day War destroyed the air forces of Jordan, Syria, and Egypt, and Israel invaded and occupied huge chunks of enemy territory. Israel also invaded East Jerusalem and took over the site of the Dome of the Rock from the Jordanian Army.

After literally only a few hours, however, the Israeli flag was lowered and administration of the property was handed over to a Muslim religious trust known as the WAQF, as a show of goodwill and presumably to help “keep the peace” with Israel’s bitterly defeated neighbors.

Currently, the dome is still owned and maintained by the Ministry of Awqaf, (also known as the WAQF) an endowment which is administered by the Jordanian government.

In 2000, then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon entered the grounds of the Dome of the Rock in a move that was so politicized, it is claimed that this event sparked the Palestinian Intifada.

The Dome of the Rock sits at the center of the most volatile conflict on earth.