My UNESCO WHS List: Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls

24 June, 2021

Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls

country. Listed by UNESCO as "Jerusalem (Site proposed by Jordan)"

year of inscription. 1981

criteria. Cultural

The Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls is a 0.9km2 walled area in East Jerusalem, in the city of Jerusalem. It is a holy city for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and contain 220 historic monuments, including places of worship and sacred sites of the three religions. The current city walls were built by Sultan Suleiman I (1494CE – 1566CE) of the Ottoman Empire, and includes city gates built before, along with, and after the construction of the current walls.

The political status of the WHS (and the part of Jerusalem – East Jerusalem – it is located in) remains in dispute. Under the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine (1947), Jerusalem was to be an international city. However, after Arab-Israeli War I (1948), the city was occupied by and divided between Israel and Jordan, with the former controlling the western parts of the city and the latter, the eastern portion, which came to be known as East Jerusalem. In 1967, following Arab-Israeli War III (1967), East Jerusalem was taken over by Israel and eventually incorporated into the rest of Jerusalem, a move largely opposed by the international community. The United Nations regards East Jerusalem as part of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, while Palestinian authorities consider it to be the capital of a future independent Palestine.

On the UNESCO WHS website, the space for listing the State Party for the WHS is listed as “Jerusalem (Site proposed by Jordan)” and location is “Jerusalem District”; this is the name of the Israeli administrative division including East Jerusalem, which the Palestinian National Authority includes as part of its governorate of Jerusalem.

what. stamps (Palestine, 1927)