Jerusalem (AFP)

Israeli archaeologists on Wednesday unveiled "missing" sections of Jerusalem's Iron Age wall, which they say confirm for the first time the existence of a wall surrounding the Holy City.

Excavations led by Israeli archaeologist Filip Vukosavović uncovered two sections of a 14 and 3 meter long wall at the City of David site in the annexed and occupied Silwan neighborhood of East Jerusalem by Israel since 1967.

The City of David, the name given by King David to Jerusalem after he conquered the city in the 10th century BC, was the capital of the kingdom of Judah, founded in 940 BC and having disappeared with the capture of Jerusalem by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC.

According to Mr. Vukasovović, member of the Ancient Jerusalem Research Center, these new sections discovered link two other sections of the wall unearthed in the 1960s.

A 70-meter gap between them had led some researchers to believe that despite the biblical account, the city of Jerusalem with its First Temple was not protected by a single fortification.

But recent discoveries have enabled researchers to reconstruct the route of a wall 200 meters long.

"The two segments we found are actually the missing link between the two previous sections found in the City of David, and for years we have tried to find it," Vukosavović told AFP.

"We can now say that the eastern slope of the City of David in Jerusalem was surrounded by a massive wall," he continues.

The wall was probably built around the 8th century BC, says the archaeologist and served as "the main line of defense in case of attacks on Jerusalem".

“I can assure you that when the Babylonians arrived, about a year and a half before they destroyed the city, it was this wall that they saw, stone for stone,” he told Wednesday. journalists.

A Babylonian stone seal depicting gods and a clay stone imprinted with a seal and the Judean name "Tsafan" were also found near the remains.

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The City of David is a site of intensive and controversial excavation, given the tensions between Israelis and Palestinians over the sovereignty of East Jerusalem and the importance of the historical issue in such a context.

The City of David is run by the nationalist organization Elad, whose stated goal is to strengthen the Jewish presence in the Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem.

© 2021 AFP