Wednesday, July 12, 2017

Jerusalem's Boundaries

I've noted this before but it deserves a reminder as years go by and a new generation of millenials comes of age and realizes (or not) that they know little.

There is a claim that Israel, illegally or otherwise, expanded artificially the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem after the 1967 war.  In other words, land-grabbing.

So, what did the United Nations think the borders of the city were?

Well, as of 15 April 1949, we learn here that:


The area of Jerusalem includes the present municipality of Jerusalem together with the surrounding villages and towns, the most eastern of which is Abu Dis, the most southern Bethlehem, the most western Ein Karim (including also the built-up area of Motsa) and the most northern Shu’fat.

And those were the boundaries as per the Partition Plan of November 29, 1947, too. 

The map:



Much larger in area than the present-day Jerusalem.

^

4 comments:

Shlomo Goren said...

Well of course.

The whole point of that Int'l area was to keep control of as many churches as possible. Thus Bethlehem, Ein Kerem, and the whole eastern expanse to include Har Zeitim and Har Tzofim.

Anonymous said...

So great !!! And such an unknown fact... We thus should make a big buzz around this topic!!

Shtrudel said...

The proposed boundaries for Jerusalem had nothing to do with anything like urban development, geography or anything relevant like that...

The proposed boundaries for Jerusalem were a simple exercise in gerrymandering... Their sole purpose was to create a majority of non-Jewish inhabitants!...

Don't forget, the international status of Jerusalem was supposed to be a temporary thing... After a few years the city's future was supposed to be decided by plebiscite...

The proposed boundaries HAD to be that extensive in order to guarantee a non-Jewish majority!...

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