The Jerusalem Old City Initiative aims at providing practical and fair solutions to the Old City of Jerusalem, one of the most contentious and significant issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It does so by outlining the constructive role of a third party and a Special Regime for the Old City.
Tensions, incidents, claims and counter-claims centred on Jerusalem, including statements regarding its status, exacerbate the deep uncertainties that characterize the contemporary Middle East. This is even more the case given the current high level of instability and conflict in the region. Jerusalem and its holy sites remain a critical religious and national symbol for many; destructive actions there will have repercussions across the Middle East.
The ideas generated by this initiative demonstrate that solutions which address the needs of all concerned are possible. If a diplomatic process aimed at resolution of the conflict is resumed, the ideas contained in the Special Regime will prove useful for inevitable talks on the issue of Jerusalem and its holy places.
This site provides a history of the JOCI process as well as a copy of the special regime model developed by the JOCI team and Israeli and Palestinian partners.
We will also now aim to evolve this initiative and explore new ideas to match the realities that have ensued since the project began over two decades ago.
This latest phase of the initiative is being undertaken in partnership with the UK based The Conciliators Guild (https://www.conciliators-guild.org/).
The Special Regime Model is contained in the following three publications: |
| The Mandate Elements for the Old City |
| The Governance Discussion Document |
| The Security Assessment |
Note: This page is undergoing regular updates.