“Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem”

The United Nations once again displayed its opposition to the Jewish State and to facts.

On November 11, 2019, the UN General Assembly held a vote on an agenda item by the “Special Political and Decolonization Committee” regarding Israel. It referred to the “State of Palestine” as one of the drafters of the resolution, a curious oddity, as the UNGA only granted the “State of Palestine” observer status in 2012, and not one of an official state to submit resolutions.

The item, “Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem” referred to East Jerusalem as an actual entity and one that is occupied by Israel, twenty times. It was a peculiarity twice over, as “East Jerusalem” existed only for a brief moment in time as a matter of war between 1949 and 1967, and that the entirety of Greater Jerusalem and Greater Bethlehem was NEVER designated to be Palestinian territory.

Corpus Separatum

The United Nations voted to partition Palestine into Arab and Jewish States in Resolution 181 (11/29/1947) and called for it again in Resolution 194 (12/11/1948). Those two-state resolutions specifically called for separating Greater Jerusalem and Greater Bethlehem into an internationally-run “corpus separatum,” a distinct entity.

Annex B of UN 1947 Peace Plan showing Corpus Separatum,
of Greater Jerusalem and Greater Bethlehem

Although the Jews voted in favor of the resolutions, the Arabs rejected them and launched a war to destroy the Jewish state. At the war’s end, Israel controlled the western part of Greater Jerusalem and Mount Scopus while the Arabs controlled everything else including the eastern part of Jerusalem and Greater Bethlehem which contained all of the sites holy to Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Corpus Separatum (orange line) divided into
Jordanian area in white and Israeli area in blue

After the war, on December 9, 1949, the UNGA passed Resolution 303 which once again stated “that Jerusalem should be placed under a permanent international regime, which should envisage appropriate guarantees for the protection of the Holy Places.” The Arabs rejected this resolution also, and Jordan annexed almost the entirety of Corpus Separatum (see map above) and forbade Jews from having any access to their holy sites in “East Jerusalem.” That situation remained until the Jordanians (and Palestinians who were granted Jordanian citizenship) attacked Israel again in June 1967 and lost control of their illegally seized lands.

“East Jerusalem” represents a policy which the United Nations specifically rejected for decades: an Arab-controlled city which forbade Jews from living in the city and visiting and praying at their holy places. The United Nations calling “East Jerusalem” an “Occupied Palestinian Territory” is both a rejection of history and embrace of an anti-Semitic credo.

Related First.One.Through articles:

Israel was never a British Colony; Judea and Samaria are not Israeli Colonies

Time to Define Banning Jews From Living Somewhere as Antisemitic

The Hypocrisy Between An Embassy for Israel in Jerusalem and East Jerusalem, OPT

The United Nations’ Adoption of Palestinians, Enables It to Only Find Fault With Israel

Palestineism is Toxic Racism

When You Understand Israel’s May 1948 Borders, You Understand There is No “Occupation”

The United Nations Bias Between Jews and Palestinians Regarding Property Rights

A Response to Rashid Khalidi’s Distortions on the Balfour Declaration

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