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UN Resolution Applies to Historically Jewish Areas in Jerusalem
(The Hill) Alan Dershowitz - The media reported that the UN resolution was only about the expansion of new settlements. But the text of the resolution itself goes well beyond new building and applies equally to historically Jewish areas that were unlawfully taken by Jordanian military action during Israel's War of Independence and liberated by Israel in a war started by Jordan in 1967. The text of the Security Council Resolution means that Israel's decision to build a plaza for prayer at the Western Wall - Judaism's holiest site - constitutes a "flagrant violation of international law." If it does, then why did President Obama pray there and leave a note asking for peace? Under this resolution, the access roads that opened up Hebrew University to Jewish and Arab students and the Hadassah Hospital to Jewish and Arab patients are illegal, as are all the rebuilt synagogues - destroyed by Jordan - in the ancient Jewish Quarter of the Old City. Is it really now U.S. policy to condemn Israel for liberating these historically Jewish areas in Jerusalem? This resolution declares the status quo - the reality on the ground that acknowledges Israel's legitimate claims to its most sacred and historical Jewish areas - to be a flagrant violation of international law. The writer is professor emeritus at Harvard Law School.