INTRODUCTION

Israel, the occupying power, continues to systematically violate the Status Quo arrangements of the holy sites in Occupied Jerusalem, and the rights and responsibilities it entails. It further fails to abide by its legal obligations to respect the cultural rights of Palestinians and to protect the cultural heritage of Jerusalem.

This paper will shed light on the settler-colonial measures perpetrated by Israel, which seeks to Judaize Jerusalem and erase its Palestinian character through attempts to alter its legal status, demographic composition, and cultural characteristics. Correspondingly, it will lay out the international legal frameworks, consensus, and relevant resolutions that affirm the legal obligations and duties of the Israeli occupation authorities towards the occupied city and its people, and how accountability fits in.

Legal context of the Status Quo

Brief historical background

 The Status Quo arrangement is “a set of legal rights and obligations, created over centuries of practice”1 . It originated from an Ottoman firman (decree) in 1757, to regulate the administration of Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, including ownership. It was later confirmed in another Ottoman firman in 1852 by Sultan Abdulmejid I, but this time incorporated Christian holy places in Bethlehem. In 1878, the “Status Quo” was internationally codified and recognized in the treaty of Berlin and was extended to govern all holy sites in Jerusalem and Bethlehem - not only Christian, as stipulated by Article 62 of the treaty2.

 In 1928, the first violation of the status quo occurred, when a group of JewishZionist worshippers prayed at Al-Buraq Wall, sparking a period of significant violence that quickly developed into deadly protests, resulting in the killing of 249 Jewish and Palestinians3 . Following the deadly events, the British mandate established an ad hoc commission to examine and determine the rights and claims with regard to the Al-Buraq wall. The commission determined that AlBuraq Wall is an integral part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque (Haram Al-Sharif)4 , hence an exclusive Islamic religious site.

Accordingly, the status quo continued to be applied during the British Mandate period and was even incorporated in the UN’s 181 partition plan (UN General Assembly Resolution 181 of November 29, 1947). Later, it was endorsed by the 1949 UN Conciliation Commission on Palestine, which declared nine sites as protected, among them is the Al-Aqsa Compound/Al-Haram Al-Sharif.5 According to the status quo, the administration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque belongs to the Islamic waqf, which is under the custodianship of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The purpose of this unique and delicate legal system is to prevent discord among conflicting parties. read more...