Lexicon of International Legal Terms Relevant to Jerusalem

10 Mar. 2000

The attached lexicon contains definitions of international legal and technical terms and phrases potentially relevant to the issue of Jerusalem. The following terms are defined:

Condominium:
A situation where two or more states exercise sovereignty conjointly over a territory.

Corpus separatum:
A special international regime devised for Jerusalem pursuant to Part C of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181. According to this plan, Jerusalem was to be under the sovereignty of neither the Arab States nor the Jewish State proposed in that resolution, but rather under the administration of the United Nations Trusteeship Council. The Trusteeship Council was to appoint a Governor of the City, who would represent the Council and be answerable to it.

The City of Jerusalem was to include the municipality as it existed at that time in addition to the surrounding villages and towns, up to and including Shu’fat to the north, Ein Karim to the west, Bethlehem to the south, and Abu Dis to the east. While preserving local municipalities, the Trusteeship Council was to have devised a statute for the City of Jerusalem as a whole. Residents of the city would generally obtain citizenship of the City of Jerusalem. At the same time, connections with the Arab and Jewish States would be ensured through inclusion of the City of Jerusalem in the Economic Union of Palestine and the guarantee of freedom of entry into and residence in the City of Jerusalem to the citizens of the two neighboring states. The arrangements with regard to the City of Jerusalem were to be reviewed ten years after their entry into force on October 1, 1948.