The Status of Jerusalem under International Law and United Nations Resolutions

Founded by the Canaanites around 1800 B.C., captured by David eight centuries later, destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 B.C., Jerusalem was then successively occupied by the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans (both pagan and Christian), the Arabs and the Turks. It is unique among the cities of the world because of its association with the three monotheistic religions, which have their Holy Places within its precincts. As a result, it is of profound religious and spiritual significance to a billion Christians, seven hundred million Muslims and fourteen million Jews. All three ruled the city at one time or another: the Jews for almost five centuries in biblical times, the Christians for over four hundred years in the fourth to the seventh and the twelfth centuries, and the Muslims (Arabs and Turks) for twelve centuries from 638 until 1917 continuously, with the exception of the period when the city was the capital of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Henry Cattan is a jurist and author of several books on the Palestine question, including Palestine, the Arabs and Israel; Palestine and International Law, and The Question of Jerusalem. This paper was presented to the Seminar on Jerusalem held by the Organization of the Conference of Islamic States in Paris on December 1-2, 1980.