80 Friday, Maylw
6
komirem JEWISH NEWS

16 Important Facts on the Status of Jerusalem

World Zionist Press Service

JERUSALEM — For
3,000 years, the Jewish
people have been inextrica-
bly bound to their capital,
Jerusalem. This tie has
been sustained through
war, strife, persecution,
exile, dispersion and
holocaust. In their darkest
hours, Jews turned in
prayer toward Jerusalem
for redemption.
The 20th Century has
witnessed both the rebirth
of the Jewish state and the
reunification of a sovereign
Jewish capital in
Jerusalem.
Yet the meaning of that
rebirth and reunification
has been little understood,
and Jerusalem has become
the . oenterpiece of political
and military conflict involv-
ing states distant from Is-
rael.
It is important to re-
member:
• Over millennia and
until 1948, Jerusalem was a
united city, sovereign under
one administration at a
time, though holy to a
lumber of religions.
• Over the centuries,
nternational concern fo-
. - used on protection of
iae Holy Places, rather
than on the city of
Jerusalem itself. No
suggestions for inter-
nationalization of the city
ever arose until late in the
British Mandate period.
• Under Ottoman and
British control, access for
all religions to the Holy
Places was relatively se

-

cure. Under modern Arab
rule, discriminatory prac-
tices were introduced
against all Jews and
against Israeli Muslims and
Christians.
• The terms of the British
Mandate contained no
reference to or suggestions
for any multilateral or in-
ternational solution for
Jerusalem. Rather, the
Mandate was intended to
facilitate the establishment
of a Jewish homeland in the
land of Israel.
• The international re-
gime over Jerusalem, even
as envisaged in the 1947
UN Partition Plan, was to
have had a 10-year dura-
tion, after which its terms
would be reviewed. During
that review, the residents of
the city, a population that
was Jewish by majority,
would have had the right to
express their preferences by
referendum.
• The Arab states phys-
ically opposed the im-
plementation of the Par-
tition Plan, and, by force
of arms, expelled the
Jews from the Old City
and sought to capture all
of Jerusalem.
In denying free access for
all religions to the Holy
Places, Jordan departed
from centuries-old practice,
and contravened its own
promise in Article 8 of the
Israel-Jordan Armistice
Agreement.
• The UN displayed no
concern over the discrimi-
nation thus suffered by
Jews.

Jordanian
aggression,
moved in to fill the vacuum
of sovereignty left in East
Jerusalem since 1948.

The walls of the Old City of Jerusalem,
the Citadel and the Tower of David.

,

• Utilizing the legal prin-
ciple of ex injuria_ius non
oritur, no right can be born
of an unlawful act, Jordan's
claim to areas west of the
Jordan River appears to
have been clearly unlawfu.
Despite Jordan's illegal oc-
cupation of Old Jerusalem,
the UN seemed to accept its
regime as tolerable and
sought no supervision over
it.
In answer to the Arab ag-
gression of 1948 against the
UN-sponsored new Jewish
state, Israel adopted defen-
sive measures which led to
its control over West
Jerusalem, legitimately fil-
ling the sovereignty vac-
uum that had been created
there. Arab control over
East- Jerusalem remained
ligitimate and unlawful.
• Between 1949 and
1952, most Western states

Jerusalem . Cannot Be Divided

By TEDDY KOLLEK

Mayor of Jerusalem

The place of Jerusalem in
the process of seeking peace
in the Middle East is
unique. Its historical, emo-
tional and international
complexities set it apart
from other issues which
may be solved on the basis of
mutually agreed bound-
aries. The questions that
the Arabs raise about
Jerusalem cannot be de-
cided by drawing a line. The
future of Jerusalem cannot
be resolved by division.
This does not mean that
Jerusalem is "an insoluble
problem." It means that
Jerusalem's people of differ-
ing faiths, cultures and as-
pirations must find peaceful
ways to live together other
than by drawing a line in
the sand with a stick. It is no
solution to build again con-
crete walls and barbed wire
through the middle of the
city.
The problem of Jerusalem
is difficult because age-old
and deeply felt emotions are
encrusted over the rational-

TEDDY KOLLEK

ity necessary to find solu-
tions. But I am convinced
that these solutions can be
found by men of goodwill.

Let me be perfectly
candid. The thing I dread
most is that this city, so
beautiful, so meaningful,
so holy to millions of
people, should ever be
divided again; that
barbed wire fences, mine
fields and concrete bar-
riers should again sever

ceased supporting the
goal of internationaliza-
tion of Jerusalem and in-
stead called for inter-
nationalization of the
Holy Places. From 1952 to
1967, the UN was com-
pletely silent on the ques-
tion of Jerusalem.
• In June 1967, Jodran
deliberately overthrew the
Armistice Agreements and
attacked Israel, in a clear
and unequivocal case of ag-
gression.
• Israel's defensive ac-
tions left it in possession of
all of Jerusalem, which was
then reunited. Jordan, the
unlawful occupant of East
Jerusalem, was defeated in
battle; Israel, responding
defensively and legally to

• Freedom of religious
worship at and access to the
Holy Places is guaranteed
under the laws of the state
of Israel. Sixteen years of
practice have demonstrated
Israel's continuing and
absolute commitment to
this principle. -Muslims
enjoy full religious freedom
under Israeli jurisdiction,
something Jews were de-
nied under Jordanian occu-
pation.
• The role of the UN, with
respect to the future of
Jerusalem and the Holy
Places,
is juridically
limited. The General As-
sembly has no power to dis-
pose of Jerusalem and no
right to establish regula-
tions for the Holy Places.
Since there was no threat
to or breach of peace, and no
aggression committed by Is-
rael in reunifying
Jerusalem, the Security
Council has no jurisdiction
in the matter of the future of
Jerusalem and the Holy
Places.
• Israel's government
actions with respect to
Jerusalem have all been
entirely lawful and thus
valid.
'
• While access for all is
now assured, the detailed
resolution of the question of

the Holy Places is a matter
that Israel has said it is pre-
pared to discuss as part of a
comprehensive peace set-
tlement.
In summary, Jerusalem
has been the capital of the
Jewish people for over 3,000
Years, since the time of King
David. It has been the site of
continuous Jewish settle-
ment and the focus of
Jewish spiritual, cultural
and national life. While it
contains holy sites of pro-
found significance to Islam
and Christianity,
Jerusalem's meaning in
Jewish history encompasses
the totality of Jewish ex-
perience.
The rebirth of the Jewish
state and the reunification
of its capital have taken
place in accordance with in-
ternational law and propri-
ety, fully mindful and pro-
tective of the rights of all
religions and of all Israeli
minorities to worship in the
shrines each regards as
holy.
The fundamental justice
and morality of Israel's
stance on these issues
merits the support of the in-
ternational community of
states. Western democ-
racies committed to the
same basic values as Israel
can best serve the cause of
peace by applauding Israel's
initiatives and by granting
Israel's capital the full .
recognition which it merits.

The Greening of Je rusalem

By YEHONATHAN
TOMMER

World Zionist Press Service

JERUSALEM -- Visitors
its streets; that armed to Jerusalem are invariably
men again patrol a fron- stunned by the Holy City's'
many splashes of green,
tier through its heart.
often in quite unexpected
I fear the re-division of
parts of the busy streets.
Jerusalem not only as the
mayor of the city, as a Jew Yet those living in the outer
and as an Israeli, but as a belt still feel a lack of local
human being who is deeply parks. Planners recognize
sensitive to its history and that existing parks, impres-
sive as they are in quantity
who cares profoundly about
the well-being of its inhabi- and quality alike still don't
always meet the recreation
tants.
needs of a modern met-
Jerusalem is, of course,
ropolis of over 400,000.
one of the oldest cities.
A family stroll down the
Signs of human habitation
tree-lined
slopes of the
have been found dating
back at least 4,000 years. In
the course of these millen-
nia it has been coveted and
conquered by a host of
peoples: Canaanites, Jebu-
sites, Jews, Bablonians, As-
syrians, Persians, Romans,
Byzantines, Arabs, Crusad-
ers, Memelukes, Ottomans,
British, Jews. But through-
out those thousands of
years, Jerusalem has been
divided for less than two de-
cades — from 1948-to 1967.
It must never again be di-
vided. Once more to cut this
living city in two would be
as cruel as it is irrational.

Bloomfield Gardens below
the King David Hotel and
Yemin Moshe is an unusual
experience, if only because
of the breath-taking view of
the Old City and the Judean
Desert.
The Liberty Bell Garden
opposite the new Sheraton
Hotel may be smaller than
Central Park and the lawns
of the Sacher Park below
the Knesset don't compare
with Hyde Park. Yet they
are big enough to have
changed Jerusalem's land-
scape thoroughly.
Of course, Jerusalem
has grown tremendously
during the past decade.

To meet the vital leisure
time needs of the capital's
growing population, the
Jewish National'Fund, in
cooperation with the
Jerusalem Municipality,
has begun an imaginative
program of afforestation to
encircle the greater met-
ropolitan area of Jerusalem
with' a lush ring of forest
parkland. It is to be equip-
ped with active recreation
facilities and doted with no
picnic sites.
The new phase of the af-
forestation program was
launched in 1981 to coincide
with the JNF's 80th an-
niversary celebrations.

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This old etching shows Jerusalem's Damascus gate, city walls and ap-
proaches.