How the 1852 Ottoman Firman and the 1967 Dayan Agreement Created Two Conflicting Realities at Jerusalem's Holy Sites

The 144,000-square-meter plateau in Jerusalem's Old City is governed by an arrangement that predates the modern states fighting over it. Known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as the Temple Mount, the site is the paramount flashpoint of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Its administration is dictated by the "Status Quo"—a delicate, centuries-old framework that determines who can enter, who can pray, and who holds the keys.[1][6]

The legal foundation of the Status Quo dates back to an 1852 firman issued by Ottoman Sultan Abdulmejid I, which froze the division of ownership and responsibilities across Jerusalem's holy sites. This decree was subsequently enshrined in international law through Article 62 of the 1878 Treaty of Berlin, which explicitly stated: "It is well understood that no alteration can be made to the status quo in the holy places." Under this international consensus, the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, operating under the custodianship of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, maintains absolute administrative control over the compound.[1][2][5]

When Israel captured East Jerusalem in 1967, Defense Minister Moshe Dayan established a localized, bifurcated version of the Status Quo to prevent a broader religious war. Under Dayan's oral agreement with the Waqf, the Islamic trust retained day-to-day religious management of the site, while Israel assumed overall security control. The core tenet of this 1967 compromise was strict: non-Muslims could visit the site as tourists, but only Muslims were permitted to pray there.[4][6]

From 1967 until the late 2010s, this bifurcated model served as the operational reality, though it was never recognized under international law. When Israel occupied East Jerusalem in June 1967, it razed the 800-year-old Moroccan Quarter—destroying 135 houses and three mosques—to build the Western Wall plaza, fundamentally altering the immediate environs of the compound. Palestinian legal experts and international bodies maintain that because Israel's annexation is illegal, the Israeli government has no sovereign authority to dictate the Status Quo. From the Palestinian perspective, the Waqf's authority is absolute.[1][3][4]

In recent years, the 1967 Israeli framework has steadily eroded. Israeli police, who control the access gates, have increasingly restricted Palestinian worshippers while protecting right-wing Jewish settler groups entering the compound. These groups often enter with the explicit, religiously motivated goal of conducting prayers or sacrifices on the grounds, directly challenging the Muslim-only prayer restriction that anchored the original Dayan agreement.[4]

The pressure to formally alter the arrangement has led to severe violence. On April 5, 2023, during the month of Ramadan, Israeli security forces stormed the compound to remove Palestinian worshippers, resulting in hundreds of arrests and international condemnation. Similar raids in May 2021 precipitated an 11-day war, demonstrating that even minor alterations to the site's access rules can trigger regional conflict.[1][4]

The erosion of the Status Quo has also strained Israel's diplomatic relations. The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, whose custodianship over the site was officially recognized in the 1994 peace treaty, has repeatedly condemned Israeli incursions as violations of the historic agreement. The United Nations and UNESCO have similarly passed resolutions demanding that Israel respect the Waqf's authority and restore the historic socio-religious balance.[1]

The immediate trajectory of the site now depends on the Israeli police command and its enforcement directives. If security forces continue to facilitate access for groups conducting prayers, the de facto arrangement will permanently diverge from both the 1852 firman and the 1967 compromise, forcing the Jordanian custodianship to either accept a new spatial division or escalate its diplomatic response.[3][6]