Summary
The territory Resolution 181 (II) establishes as a corpus separatum under a special international regime administered by the United Nations, with the Trusteeship Council as Administering Authority: the present 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 (Resolution 181 (II): Future government of Palestine, PDF p.16).
Details
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The City’s boundaries are as given in Part III, Section B and shown on the Annex B sketch-map, which labels, inside the proposed boundary, Shu’fat, ‘Isawiya, Et Tur, El ‘Eizariya, Abu Dis, Sur Bahir, Umm Tuba, Ramat Rahel, Bethlehem, Beit Safafa, Sharafat, El Maliha, ‘Ein Karim, Deir Yasin, Motsa and Lifta around the built-up area of Jerusalem (Resolution 181 (II): Future government of Palestine, PDF p.16, p.22).
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Its Statute, to be elaborated and approved by the Trusteeship Council within five months of the Plan’s approval, provides for a Governor appointed by and responsible to the Council, who is not a citizen of either State in Palestine; demilitarization and preserved neutrality, with a special police force recruited outside Palestine; a Legislative Council elected by adult residents irrespective of nationality; an independent judiciary including a court of appeal; Arabic and Hebrew as official languages; and citizenship of the City for all residents ipso facto unless they opt as the Plan provides (Resolution 181 (II): Future government of Palestine, PDF p.16-19).
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The City is included in the Economic Union of Palestine and bound by the undertaking and the decisions of the Joint Economic Board, whose headquarters are to be established in the City’s territory (Resolution 181 (II): Future government of Palestine, PDF p.18).
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The Statute comes into force not later than 1 October 1948 and remains in force in the first instance for ten years; after that period the whole scheme is subject to re-examination by the Trusteeship Council, and the residents of the City are then 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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Part IV invites the States holding capitulation privileges to renounce any right to their re-establishment in the City as in the proposed Arab and Jewish States (Resolution 181 (II): Future government of Palestine, PDF p.20).
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In the Mediator’s progress report (A/648), Part Two, Jerusalem’s population prior to the outbreak of hostilities was about 165,000 in all, of which about 100,000 were Jews and about 50,000 were Arabs, the report not identifying the remaining about 15,000 (computed) (see the source page under Open questions); Israeli forces held the greater part of the City and the Arab Legion the Old City and a small part of the New City, the Arabs controlling all the main supply routes and the Jews cut off except for the “Burma Road” (Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator on Palestine, line 1867). The 16 June 1948 “No man’s land Agreement” and the 7 July Mount Scopus demilitarization agreement governed the first truce; in the second truce the city was effectively partitioned, the no man’s land agreement ended and was not renewed, 79 United Nations observers were stationed there, and the situation, though improved, remained one of high tension and still precarious (Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator on Palestine, lines 1871-1883, lines 2195-2225).
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In Resolution 194 (III), paragraph 8, the Jerusalem area — defined by the same four cardinal points, Abu Dis, Bethlehem, Ein Karim with Motsa, and Shu’fat — should be accorded special and separate treatment from the rest of Palestine and placed under effective United Nations control; the Security Council is requested to take further steps to ensure its demilitarization at the earliest possible date, the Palestine Conciliation Commission is to present detailed proposals for a permanent international regime providing maximum local autonomy for distinctive groups consistent with that special status to the fourth regular session and may appoint a United Nations representative for interim administration, and, pending more detailed arrangements, the freest possible access by road, rail or air should be accorded to all inhabitants of Palestine, impediments to be reported immediately to the Security Council (PDF p.4-5).
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In the Jordanian-Israeli General Armistice Agreement of 3 April 1949, the Jerusalem sector’s Armistice Demarcation Lines correspond to the lines defined in the 30 November 1948 Cease-Fire Agreement for the Jerusalem area, the Jerusalem sector’s defensive-force ceiling is two battalions for each Party, and the Jordan-Israel Mixed Armistice Commission maintains its headquarters at Jerusalem (Article V, paragraph 1(b), Article XI, paragraph 2, and Annex II, Part II, paragraph 2, PDF p.5, p.7, p.12). Its Special Committee is to formulate agreed plans for, among other matters, the Mount Scopus institutions and free access thereto, free access to the Holy Places and use of the cemetery on the Mount of Olives, the Latrun pumping station, provision of electricity for the Old City and the railroad to Jerusalem (Article VIII, paragraph 2, PDF p.7).
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In Resolution 303 (IV) of 9 December 1949, the Assembly restates its intention that Jerusalem be placed under a permanent international regime and confirms specifically the City provisions of Resolution 181 (II): the City established as a corpus separatum under a special international regime administered by the United Nations, the Trusteeship Council designated as Administering Authority, and the City including the municipality plus the surrounding villages and towns out to Abu Dis, Bethlehem, Ein Karim with Motsa and Shu’fat, as on the annexed map reproduced at PDF p.2 (PDF p.1-2).
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In Third Progress Report of the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine paras. 36–38 (PDF p.9), the Commission reports that since its previous report the Government of Israel had established ministerial and other public services within the Jerusalem area defined in paragraph 8 of Resolution 194, that the Arab delegations protested by memorandum demanding their immediate withdrawal, and that the Commission and the Prime Minister of Israel had exchanged letters on the services in March and April 1949.
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In the United Nations study of 1978-1983, the Jerusalem section records resolution 476 (1980) deploring Israel’s persistence in changing the city’s physical character, demographic composition, institutional structure and status, resolution 478 (1980) calling on States with diplomatic missions at Jerusalem to withdraw them — 13 countries withdrew their missions — and resolutions 35/169 E of 15 December 1980 and 36/120 E of 10 December 1981 determining that the “Basic Law” and the proclamation of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital were null and void and must be rescinded; Israel has continued to consider Jerusalem its eternal capital (Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: Part III (1978-1983), lines 233-242).
Related pages
Resolution 181 (II): Future government of Palestine, Corpus separatum, Trusteeship Council, Jerusalem Enclave, Holy Places, Jordanian-Israeli General Armistice Agreement, Mount Scopus, Jordan-Israel Mixed Armistice Commission