Donna Danna (19 Jan 2006)
"Temple Mount Yes, Mount Sinai No"


Temple Mount Yes, Mount Sinai No

One of the central obstacles in deliberations toward a permanent Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement is the status of holy sites in Jerusalem
 
Dr. David Jaeger, the Vatican's legal advisor in negotiations with Israel, presented an interesting fact pertaining to the status of holy sites: According to the United Nations resolution on November 29, 1947, Jerusalem is considered a "corpus separatum" that belongs neither to the Jewish or Palestinian state. Therefore, the Jordanian occupation of Jerusalem after the Israeli War of Independence was considered, like the Israeli occupation after the Six-Day War, to be "illegal."

As far as international law is concerned, the status of Jerusalem has not changed since 1947, and, therefore, according to Jaeger, Israel and the Palestinian Authority cannot achieve a bilateral agreement concerning the status of Jerusalem. Israel cannot "give" the Old City to the PA because, according to international law, Israel does not have legal authority over Jerusalem.
 
FULL STORY at
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/672148.html