In the Partition Plan adopted by the UN in November 1947, it was determined that the territories of Mandatory Palestine would be divided into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an international zone—which would include Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The War of Independence, which broke out immediately afterward, completely disrupted these plans—resulting in the absence of an Arab state and the division of Jerusalem between the new State of Israel and the Kingdom of Jordan.
On November 30, 1948, shortly after the end of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War in Jerusalem, Moshe Dayan, commander of the Israeli Etzioni Brigade, and Abdullah el-Tell, the Jordanian commander, met in an abandoned house in the Musrara neighborhood. Together, they drew a ceasefire map at a 1:20,000 scale. Dayan marked Israeli-controlled positions with a green wax pencil, while el-Tell used a red pencil to delineate Jordanian-controlled areas. The space between the two lines, along with the pencil thickness, created a No Man’s Land. Both parties regarded the ceasefire lines as temporary, and the inaccuracies from the pencil marks and uneven lines were not seen as significant. This became known as the “Green Line.”
In April 1949, during the Rhodes meetings over the 1949 Armistice Agreements, this hand-drawn map became the only official document marking the division of Jerusalem accepted by both sides. The imprecise lines, however, became an international armistace line.
In December 1949, the UN officially called for the internationalization of Jerusalem, and in response, the government and Knesset decided to declare Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to move key public and governmental institutions there, to emphasize its importance to the Jewish people.
On December 5th 1949, Prime Minister David Ben Gurion addressed the Knesset: “We see it our duty to declare that Jewish Jerusalem is an organic and inseparable part of the State of Israel, as it is an inseparable part of the history and religion of Israel and of the soul of our people. Jerusalem is the very heart of the State of Israel. We feel pride in that Jerusalem is sanctified – also in the eyes of adherents of other faiths, and we freely and willingly are ready to make all the necessary arrangements to enable the adherents of the other faiths to enjoy their religious-needs in Jerusalem. Moreover, we will give to the United Nations all our assistance to assure this. But we cannot conceive that the United Nations will try to tear Jerusalem from Israel or to impair the sovereignty of Israel in its Eternal Capital.”
Ben Gurion reviewed the history of the Jewish people in Jerusalem thousands of years ago. “Twice in our history we have been exiled from Jerusalem – but only after we were defeated in cruel wars by armies more numerous and stronger than ours, the armies of Babylon and Rome. Our ties today with Jerusalem are no less deep than those which existed in the days of Nebuchadnezzar and Titus Flavius; and when Jerusalem was attacked after 14 May 1948, our fighting youth knew how to sacrifice itself for our holy capital no less than did our forefathers in the days of the First and Second Temples.”
He continued to explain his position regarding modern times.“We declare that Israel will not give up Jerusalem of its own free will just as throughout thousands of years it has not surrendered its faith, its national identity, and its hope to return to Jerusalem and Zion despite persecutions which have no parallel in history.
Ben Gurion declared emotionally, “The people which has faithfully honoured for 2,500 years the oath sworn by the first exiles by the Rivers of Babylon not to forget Jerusalem – this people will never reconcile itself with separation from Jerusalem. Jewish Jerusalem will never accept foreign rule – after thousands of its sons and daughters have freed the historic homeland and spared Jerusalem from complete destruction.”
