Israeli policy on Jerusalem at the United Nations, 1948

Israel's policy toward Jerusalem went through four distinct phases in 1947-1948. Israel initially agreed to let Jerusalem remain an multicultural city populated by Christians and Muslims as well as Jews. It did so to facilitate international support for the creation of a Jewish state. Israel then agitated for a religious partition of the city, and rejected international attempts to demilitarize the city on the grounds that Israeli forces were the only defense against Arab aggression in the Jewish sector. Israel then made the Jewish portion of Jerusalem a de facto part of Israel.
Israel's handling of the Jerusalem question at the United Nations in 1948 can be conveniently divided into four phases: (a) the Internationalization Scheme; (b) Bernadotte Plan No.1; (c) the Demilitarization [...]