Jerusalem Dispute – UPSC Prelims

Jerusalem City has been at the centre of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

According to the original 1947 UN partition plan, Jerusalem was proposed to be an international city.

But during the first Arab Israel war of 1948, the Israelis captured the western half of the city. Similarly, Jordan took the eastern part including the Old City that houses Haram esh-Sharif.

Al-Aqsa Mosque is Islam’s third-holiest site. The Al-Aqsa is located on a plaza at Temple Mount, which is known in Islam as Haram-esh-Sharif.

The Temple Mount is also Judaism’s holiest site.

The Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall is sacred to Jews. This wall is one side of the retaining wall of the Al-Aqsa compound.

However, Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed it later.

Since its annexation, Israel has expanded settlements in East Jerusalem. At present, it is home to some 220,000 Jews.

Jews born in East Jerusalem are Israeli citizens. The Palestinians in Jerusalem are given conditional residency permits. But Palestinians in East Jerusalem, unlike other parts of the occupied West Bank, can apply for Israeli citizenship.

Israel: Israel considers a unified Jerusalem city as the capital of Israel. This move has never been internationally recognized by most of the countries. But this move had been endorsed by Donald Trump when he was U.S. President.

Palestine: Palestinian leadership have maintained that they would not accept any compromise formula for the future Palestinian state unless East Jerusalem is its capital.