(Mosaic) Martin Kramer - In the uproar over President Trump's announcement of U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, one constant refrain has been the insistence that, by longstanding international consensus, the city's status has yet to be decided. The November 1947 resolution proposing partition of Palestine envisaged an entirely separate status for Jerusalem as a city belonging to no state, but instead administered by a "special international regime." However, internationalization has no precedent, no bureaucratic foundation, and no mechanism for implementation. It wasn't a true option, but a placeholder for indecision. In the century since British Gen. Allenby entered Jerusalem, the city hasn't known a single day of international administration. Indeed, it hasn't had such a day in 3,000 years. The idea that it constitutes a kind of default solution for the future of Jerusalem is but one more example of a petrified piety. The writer teaches Middle Eastern history at Shalem College in Jerusalem.
2017-12-29 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive