Jerusalem 1948–1952 as a ‘no man’s land’: the Israeli policy in Jerusalem as an arena of the Cold War

Abstract

This article will address Israel’s ambiguous policy regarding Jerusalem in the context of the activity of the foreign consulates in the city as it emerges from the Israeli documents in the 1950s. Divided Jerusalem in the 1950s was the focus of widespread international activity. This situation was created in the wake of UN Resolution 181 and the inability of the international community to implement the resolution. That the city was divided between two countries engaged in a violent confrontation enabled international parties to exploit the situation for their own interests in the inter-block conflict. The consular activities of the Americans and the French in Jerusalem will be investigated in the context of Israeli policy and the Cold War. The case of the Czechoslovakian consul illustrates this reality.