Jerusalem's Future
No country has better reason than Israel for believing that possession - is at least nine points of international law, and its Government's resolve to move bodily to Jerusalem is no bolder than ..
previous bluffs which have proved successful. But it is difficult to believe that the United Nations can allow this challenge to go uncontested. The General Assembly's decision to make the Jerusalem area an international enclave was taken by a large majority, and the Trusteeship Council has immediately set about giving this decision legislative force. In drafting a statute for the area it will naturally pay attention to the wishes of the local in- habitants as well as to the clear expression of world opinion ; threats it cannot be expected to consider. The ambition of the Israeli Government is not confined to a maintenance of the status quo ; they covet the whole of Jerusalem for the capital of their State and have never acquiesced in the present truce line, which shuts them off from the Wailing Wall and other shrines. It may well be logical to abhor the present division of the Holy City into two camps, but it is no less logical to avoid a solution which would concede the whole district to one of the interested parties. It is also, unfortunately, true that the guarantees for the security of pilgrims and of the holy places which Israel is prepared to offer are not of much value in the light of her present attitude towards international agreements. It will be a tragic mistake if Zionists behave as though they alone enjoyed a monopoly of religious feeling ; and equally tragic if they are allowed to defy the United Nations with impunity.
