**5. Conflict city of Jerusalem**

Few cities evoke such a sharp and expressive response from so many people all over the world as does Jerusalem. Sacred to at least three major faiths—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—Jerusalem has been a source of inspiration to adherents of these religions for thousands of years [33]. Jerusalem has therefore been a focal point for world powers during many different eras as shown in **Figure 2**.

Palestinians. Nonetheless, the Palestinians consider EJ as the capital of a future Palestinian state. Palestinians also refer to the UN Security Council's Resolution 252, which considers as illegal the confiscation of land and other actions that tend to alter the legal status of Jerusalem. The

Planning, Power, and Politics (3P): Critical Review of the Hidden Role of Spatial Planning…

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.78779

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The wall encircling the Old City of Jerusalem, spatially defined the city during a long period. The geographical location of Jerusalem gives the city high geo-political and logistical values for its proximity to other regional capitals such as Amman (85 km), Damascus (290 km), Beirut (388 km), Cairo (528 km), and Baghdad (865 km). This centrality of that position accords Jerusalem with a unique logistical characteristic and is one of its distinguishing geo-political features. The present city of Jerusalem has grown beyond the Old City. After 1948, the city expanded toward the north and west where the Israeli government established modern and massive Jewish neighborhoods, whereas since the year 1967, Israel has concentrated its settlement construction works in the eastern part of the city, imposing therefore a new Jewish demography inside the Arabic Palestinian neighborhoods. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict over Jerusalem has been dramatically intensified since Israel occupied EJ in 1967. Jerusalem has been described as a deeply divided city due to the intensity and persistence of the ethnic conflict it has faced for decades [36]. Furthermore, the future perspectives of Jerusalem's status are unpredictable due to the competition between the Palestinian and Jewish ethnonational identities [37]. Additionally, Jerusalem has also been characterized as a frontier city. Frontier cities are not only polarized along ethnic and ideological lines, but also are disputed foremost because of their location on fault lines between ethnic, religious or ideological entities [38]. Accordingly, given its spiritual, cultural, and historical values, Jerusalem outlines the

Jerusalem is a unique case study in terms of its historical development, especially during the last century when administrative control of the city changed several times. Within five decades (1917–1967), Jerusalem was controlled by four distinctive regimes, namely, Ottoman, British, Jordanian, and Israeli. During these radical administrative transformations, Jerusalem experienced rapid and varying development modes, which together have produced different challenges for its spatial characteristics, most particularly, in terms of the fast changing composition of the city population and urban fabric. Hence, the overall experience in the field of physical planning in Jerusalem offers unique and special aspects of profound interest for any scholar in urban planning, spatial socio-political relations, history, and human geography.

Today Jerusalem reflects two divergent images. The first is the timeless of one of the most historic cities in the world, while the other is that of one of the most modern cities in the world. These two contradictory images of the city are accompanied with by the heterogeneousness of the population, arriving mainly during the last century. The successive administrations in Jerusalem have created an extensive maze of rules and regulations, making the planning system complex and in many ways inefficient. The historical powers that had characterized the official planning system in Jerusalem since the Ottoman period are listed chronologically in **Figure 3**.

status of Jerusalem and of its holy places remains contended up to date.

core of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

**6. The planning context in Jerusalem**

Thus far, Jerusalem is considered a contested, frontier, polarized, and deeply divided city [4]. Until 1917, Jerusalem was an "Ottoman Province". After WWI and in particular after the Battle of Jerusalem in December 1917, the British military captured Jerusalem city and considered it to be the capital of their Mandate in Palestine. The League of Nations, through its 1922 ratification of the Balfour Declaration, designated the United Kingdom to administer the Mandate for Palestine and help establish a Jewish state in Palestine [34]. During the successive three decades of the British Mandate (1917–1948), many areas in Jerusalem looked into the construction of new garden suburbs mainly in the northern-western direction. Then, at the end of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Jerusalem was divided for the first time in its history. The first spatial division of Jerusalem was set out by the Armistice Agreement of 1949 between Israel and Jordan cut through the center of the city creating the western and eastern parts from 1949 until 1967. During that time, West Jerusalem (WJ) was controlled by Israel, while EJ was controlled by Trans-Jordan. In 1949, Israel declared WJ as its capital.

The next dramatic moment, the 1967 Six-Day War, had dramatic consequences for what followed. Israel had, unilaterally, annexed 70.5 square kilometers of the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) including EJ, which presents 6.5 square kilometers of the total. Israel's domestic jurisdiction was extended to EJ through Amendment No. 11 of the 1967 Law and Administration Ordinance. The city's illegal unification and its controversial status as the eternal capital of Israel were declared through the Basic Law in 1980. However, the status of United Jerusalem as Israel's eternal capital has not been officially recognized by most of the international community, and nearly all countries maintain their embassies in Tel Aviv. However, in December 2017, the president of the US violated the UN resolutions and announced his controversial decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital a political discourse that intensifies the tension rather enhances the peace process. Consequently, the UN General Assembly has decisively backed a resolution effectively calling on the US to withdraw its recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and voted overwhelmingly to ask nations not to establish diplomatic missions in the historic city of Jerusalem. Consequently, the Assembly adopted the resolution "Status of Jerusalem," by which it declared "null and void" any actions intended to alter Jerusalem's character, status or demographic composition; and stated that any decisions and actions which purport to have altered the character, status or demographic composition of the Holy City of Jerusalem have no legal effect and must be rescinded in compliance with relevant resolutions of the Security Council [35]. These acts are contrary to international law. Israel, therefore, continues to violate international law, going against United Nations resolutions and agreements with


**Figure 2.** Historical powers that controlled Jerusalem before Ottomans [author].

Palestinians. Nonetheless, the Palestinians consider EJ as the capital of a future Palestinian state. Palestinians also refer to the UN Security Council's Resolution 252, which considers as illegal the confiscation of land and other actions that tend to alter the legal status of Jerusalem. The status of Jerusalem and of its holy places remains contended up to date.

The wall encircling the Old City of Jerusalem, spatially defined the city during a long period. The geographical location of Jerusalem gives the city high geo-political and logistical values for its proximity to other regional capitals such as Amman (85 km), Damascus (290 km), Beirut (388 km), Cairo (528 km), and Baghdad (865 km). This centrality of that position accords Jerusalem with a unique logistical characteristic and is one of its distinguishing geo-political features. The present city of Jerusalem has grown beyond the Old City. After 1948, the city expanded toward the north and west where the Israeli government established modern and massive Jewish neighborhoods, whereas since the year 1967, Israel has concentrated its settlement construction works in the eastern part of the city, imposing therefore a new Jewish demography inside the Arabic Palestinian neighborhoods. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict over Jerusalem has been dramatically intensified since Israel occupied EJ in 1967. Jerusalem has been described as a deeply divided city due to the intensity and persistence of the ethnic conflict it has faced for decades [36]. Furthermore, the future perspectives of Jerusalem's status are unpredictable due to the competition between the Palestinian and Jewish ethnonational identities [37]. Additionally, Jerusalem has also been characterized as a frontier city. Frontier cities are not only polarized along ethnic and ideological lines, but also are disputed foremost because of their location on fault lines between ethnic, religious or ideological entities [38]. Accordingly, given its spiritual, cultural, and historical values, Jerusalem outlines the core of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
