THE MULTILATERAL TREATY ON THE CITY
OFJERUSALEM AND ITS ENVIRONS
also called the "Jerusalem and Environs Treaty")
by Padre David Maria Jaeger

PREAMBLE

The Parties,

mindful that, in its General Assembly Resolution 181 (II) - and Plan - of 29 November 1947, the United Nations Organisation, decided to establish the City of Jerusalem and its environs "as a corpus separatum under a special international régime," ⁽¹⁾ in order "to protect and to preserve the unique spiritual and religious interests located in the city of the three great monotheistic faiths throughout the world, Christian, Jewish and Muslim; to this and to ensure that order and peace, and especially religious peace, reign in Jerusalem"; ⁽²⁾

aware that, owing to intervening events and circumstances, the territory did not then, and has not since, come under the effective control of such international administration;

recognising that, notwithstanding the successive situations de facto and the several unilateral moves to alter the situation de iure , it is the case that the aforementioned dispositions of the United Nations Organisation necessarily continue to define the situation de iure on the international plane, unless and until the the same United Nations Organisation make or approve different dispositions;

fully supporting the Madrid Regional Peace Conference for the Middle East, and specifically, in this context, the negotiations taking place within this framework between the State of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation, on the basis of the Declaration of Principles of 13 September 1993;

noting that the said Declaration committs the parties to it to negotiations concerning Jerusalem;

holding that an agreement as between those same parties concerning Jerusalem and its environs may not as such alter the situations de iure as set forth above;

mantaining that, in thepresent circumstances, the essential purposes of the aforementioned dispositions concerning Jerusalem and its environs could bestbe achieved by means of a multilateral treaty establishing a special juridical régime for matters related to those purposes, together with a billateral Israeli-Palestinian agreemant disposing, subordinate to that same treatv, of any and all other matters concerning that same area,

agree on the following Articles:

Article 1

§ 1. This Treaty applies to the City of Jerusalem and its environs, as defined by Resolution 181 (II) of the General Assembly of the United Nations Organisation, of 29 November 1947. ⁽³⁾

§ 2. Human rights and fundamental freedoms shall be observed. Specifically the human right to freedom of religion and conscience shall be upheld and observed, as set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) ⁽⁴⁾ and in other international instruments that have - or that will have - come into force, including, but not limited to, the international Covenant on Civil and Political rights (1966, entry into force 23 March 1976),⁽⁵⁾ the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965, entry into force 4 January 1969), as well as in general or customary international law. ⁽⁶⁾

§ 3. No discrimination of any kind shall be made between persons or communities on the grounds of religion, race, gender, ethnic or national origin, and all persons and communities shall be entitled to the equal protection of the laws.

Article 2

§ 1. The internationally recognised legal régime of Status quo applicabile to certain Holy Places shall be maintained and observed.

§ 2. In the Christian Holy Places governed by the legal régime of Status quo , the functions assigned by this régime to the civil power shall belong to the corresponding Commission of the Jerusalem and Environs Treaty Organisation, established in accordance with Art. 5 below.

§ 3. Free access for all to their Holy Places and religious buildings and sites shall be secured.

§ 4. Religious manifestations, and the exercise of religious functions in public spaces, shall take place freely, and shall be protected, in accordance with existing rights, usages and customs.

§ 5. The existing rights of Religious Communities and institutions - including in, but not limitated to, fiscal matters - shall be observed and protected, except where modified by this Treaty or pursuant to this Treaty.

§ 6. In this Treaty, the term "existing rights" has the same meaning and reference as in (the Plan approved by) the United Nations Organisation's General Assembly Resolution 181 (II) of 29 November 1947.

Article 3

§ 1. The 1954 Hague Convention (on the protection of cultural patrimony in case of armed conflict), as shall the 1972 Convention (on the protection of the world's cultural and natural heritage) and the 1976 Reccomendation (on safeguarding historical and traditional areas), except as modified by present Treaty or pursuant to the present Treaty.

§ 2. These UNESCO Resolutions shall apply: ....., except as modifìed by the present Treaty or pursuant to the present Treaty.

Article 4

§ 1. The Jerusalem and Environs Treaty Organisation is hereby established for the purpose of the inplementation of this Treaty, as specified in this Treaty or to be specified pursuant to this Treaty.

§ 2. The several Parties to this Treaty become Members of the Jerusalem and Environs Treaty Organisation upon ratification.

Article 5

§ 1. Except where provided otherwise, the primary responsibility for observance and implementation of this Treaty belongs to any State or other territorial Authority Jerusalem and its environs (to the State of Israel and to the State of Palestine), according to the respective competence and jurisdiction, both severally and through participation in the joint bilateral and multilateral bodies provided for in this Treaty or pursuant to this Treaty.

§ 2. The Jerusalem and Environs Treaty Organisation shall promote, monitor and verify compliance with the provisions of this Treaty and to adjudicate disputes.

§ 3. The Jerusalem and Environs Treaty Organisation shall carry out its functions through a General Commission for the Régime of Status Quo , and an Enviromental and Cultural Patrimony Commission.

§ 4. The Jerusalem and Environs Treaty Organisation shall create, and appropriately consult, a Religious Leadership Advisory Board and an Enviromental and Cultural Advisory Board.

Article 6

This Treaty shall not prejudice rights and obligations arising from existing treaties as between any Member of the Jerusalem and Environs Treaty Organisation and a State or other Authority in JerusaIem and environs, and shall not preclude such Parties from entering into further treaties consistent with this Treaty.

Article 7

The Protocols and Schedules attached to this Treaty are, to all effects and purposes, an integral part thereof.

Article 8

§ 1. This Treaty shall come into force upon ratification by the Parties, with the approval of (the General Asaembly and) the Security Council Of the United Nations Organisation.

§ 2. This Treaty having come into force, the other parties to it shall recognise whatever bilateral Israeli-Palestinian disposition relating to Jerusalem and its environs shall be made by agreement between those Parties subiect to, and inclusive of, the provisions of this Treaty.

________________

Note:

In relation to Article 2:
- make specific provision for Jewish and Muslim Holy Places (and religious communities and institutions): e.g. for Jewish ones in Palestinian territory and for Muslim ones in Israeli territory, as well as for the Muslim Shrines on the "Temple Mount" (possibly with roles for the Pa1estinians, the Jordanians, the Islamic Conference Organisation);
- estabilish administrative and public order agencies for the Christian Holy Places governed by the legal régime of Status quo (Cf. § 2);
- specify, either exhaustively or exemplificatively, the manifestations and functions included under § 4 (the Friday "Via Crucis" through the streets of Jerusalem, the Palm Sunday Procession, the various Solemn Entries, etc.);
- specify principles and norms for free access for Palestinians and Israelis within the area, and from beyond it, as well as for the citizens of other Nations;
- specify the "existing rights" by categories (including, but not limited to, fiscal and economic) and make provision for updating and modification by means of further treaties (where applicable, i.e. on the part of the Holy See, on behalf of the Catholic Church, or on behalf certain States on behalf of institutions related to them) or other public law agreements.

In relation to Article 3:
- specify the applicable (parts of) international instruments and UNESCO resolutios;
- create further norms for the safeguarding of universally significant cultural heritage and values sited in the area.

In relation to Article 4:
- specify all that. needs to be specified concerning the structure, ccmpetence and functioning of the Organisation.

In relation to Article 5:
- specify the membership and structures of Commissions and other agencies (including the Advisory Boards), as well as the procedures, for the carrying out of the Organisation's enumerated tasks.

In relation to Article 6:
- specify some of the other treaties referred to here, such as the bilateral treaties between the Holy See and Israel or the Palestinians;
- specify aspects or elements of the purposes of this Treaty that may appropriately be the subject matter of (essentially complementary bilateral agreements (e.g. on the international level, between the Holy See and Israel or the Palestinians; on on the plane of internal public law, between any church and a Government in the area), as well as procedures for verifying the consonance of such agreement, or to some of them (especially the internal public law ones), the monitoring, verifying and adjudicating competences of the Jerusalem and Environs Treaty Organisation.

In relation to Article 4 and Article 8, it must also be left sufficiently clear that the number of Parties
To the Treaty is closed, that it will not be open to accession by parties other than the mutually accepted Signatories, given the criteria for inclusion among the Signatories (such as historic ties to Jerusalem and the Holy Land, or participation in the multilateral dimension of the Madrid Regional Peace Conference…)

1. Plan of Partition with Economic Union , Part III, A: "Special Régime."
2. Plan, Part III, C, 1, a.
3. Cf. Plan, Part. III, B: "Boundaries of the City": "… shall include the present municipality of Jerusalem plus the surrounding villages and towns, the most eastern of which shall be Abu-Dis; the most southern, Bethlehem; the most western Ein Karim (including also the built-up area of Motsa); and the most northern Shu'fat, as indicated on the attached sketch-map (annex B)."
4. Especially Article 18.
5. Especially Articles 18 and 20 and 27.
6. Especially Article 5 (vii).

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