ABSTRACT

In order to understand the legal status of Jerusalem, it is necessary to examine first the status of the city when Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire. The foregoing conclusion might raise a query as to the compatability of the internationalization of Jerusalem with the survival of Palestinian sovereignty. The Jews even completed the occupation of most of the area of the New City of Jerusalem before the Arab states entered the war. The military occupation of Jerusalem prevented the application of the international regime which was envisaged by the United Nations for a corpus separatum. Moreover, mindful of the internationalization of Jerusalem by the United Nations in 1947, the world community refused to recognize the annexation of Jerusalem, whether by Israel or by Jordan. The nullity of the measures taken by Israel in Jerusalem was reaffirmed in several subsequent resolutions.