Yom Yerushalayim, which falls on the twenty-eighth of Iyar, celebrates the reunification of the city of Jerusalem in 1967. King David first made Jerusalem the capital city of the Jewish people three thousand years ago. It was conquered by the Romans in 70 CE, beginning a period of almost two thousand years of Jewish exile, mourning for Jerusalem, and yearning to return. In the late nineteenth century, the dream of returning to the land of Israel became a reality, but after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, and the end of the War of Independence in 1949, Israel only had sovereignty over West Jerusalem, with East Jerusalem, including the Old City and the Kotel, not in Jewish hands. Following the miraculous victory of the Six-Day War in 1967, the Israel Defense Forces captured the ancient, eastern part of the city, marking the first time in two thousand years that all of Jerusalem was under Jewish control. Finally, Jews once again had access to the holiest site for Judaism, the Kotel and the Temple Mount. Yom Yerushalayim is celebrated each year as a religious festival of thanksgiving, with special tefillot and celebrations held all around the world.