What is the significance of Jerusalem Day?

Jerusalem Day, called Yom Yerushalayim by the Jews, is the festival celebrated by Israel every year on the 28th day of the Iyar month of the Jewish calendar. It commemorates the liberation of the Old City of Jerusalem by Israel during a sixday war in 1967.

Many sites, including Temple Mount, considered holy by the Jews, are located in the Old City of Jerusalem, and Jews have been denied access to the Old City for hundreds of years. Even after the formation of Israel in 1948, Jews had control over only western Jerusalem and not the eastern part which contained the Old City. Thus, liberation of Jerusalem in 1967 marked an important milestone in Jewish history, because with the liberation of the Old City, centuries of waiting and struggle by the Jews ended, and Jerusalem was subsequently united.