Celebrating Israel When?

Q: Why is there a Yom Yerushalyim (Jerusalem Day) on the calendar since we already have an Israel Independence Day?
A:  While Israel Independence Day was declared in 1948 when the Jewish nation was re-born, Yom Yerushalyim happened decades later.  The twenty-eight of Iyyar (the Hebrew date) in 1967 the Jewish nation won back the right to pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.   Until 1967, the Arabs controlled the Temple Mount area and stopped Jews from coming to the "kotel."  The "kotel" is the last remaining outer wall from the Second Temple.  It is said that God hears the prayers of Israel most closely from this sacred spot.