Summary
The status Resolution 181 (II) prescribes for the City of Jerusalem: a body established apart from both proposed States, under a special international regime administered by the United Nations, with the Trusteeship Council as Administering Authority and a Governor appointed by it (Resolution 181 (II): Future government of Palestine, PDF p.16).
Details
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The City, so established, was to comprise the municipality of Jerusalem plus the surrounding villages and towns out to Abu Dis in the east, Bethlehem in the south, Ein Karim (with Motsa) in the west and Shu’fat in the north, and to be demilitarized with its neutrality declared and preserved (Resolution 181 (II): Future government of Palestine, PDF p.16-17).
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The Statute was to come into force not later than 1 October 1948 and remain in force in the first instance for a period of ten years, unless the Trusteeship Council found it necessary to re-examine the provisions earlier; after that period the whole scheme was to be re-examined by the Council in the light of the experience acquired, and the residents of the City were then to be free to express by means of a referendum their wishes as to possible modifications of the regime of the City (Resolution 181 (II): Future government of Palestine, PDF p.20).
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Its Statute, to be elaborated and approved by the Trusteeship Council within five months of the plan’s approval, was to pursue the protection of the spiritual and religious interests of the three great monotheistic faiths in the city and co-operation among its inhabitants, and to provide a Governor who was not to be a citizen of either State in Palestine, a Legislative Council elected by adult residents irrespective of nationality, an independent judiciary, inclusion in the Economic Union of Palestine, Arabic and Hebrew as official languages, and citizenship of the City for all residents unless they opted for a State’s citizenship (Resolution 181 (II): Future government of Palestine, PDF p.17-19).
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Resolution 303 (IV) of 9 December 1949 confirms specifically, among the provisions of Resolution 181 (II) it restates, that the City of Jerusalem shall be established as a corpus separatum under a special international regime and administered by the United Nations (Part I, para. 1, PDF p.1).
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The United Nations study records Jerusalem as the eighth part of the partition division, a corpus separatum under a special international régime administered by the Trusteeship Council for an initial 10 years, after which residents would be free to express by referendum their wishes as to possible modification of the régime, with Holy Places safeguards quoted; it also records that the major part of Jerusalem meant to be internationalized had been occupied by Jewish forces before the Mandate ended (Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: Part II (1947-1977), lines 663-675, 795-799).
Related pages
Resolution 181 (II): Future government of Palestine, UN General Assembly Resolution 181, Partition, Jerusalem Enclave