By Tamuz 5708, Israeli forces controlled the Jewish-held western part of ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM, while Jordan’s Arab Legion held the Old City and its Jewish Quarter. On 26 Tamuz, David Ben-Gurion, serving as defense minister, signed Proclamation No. 1, titled Rule of the Israel Defense Forces in Jerusalem. It applied Israeli law to territory held by the Israel Defense Forces, including much of the city, nearby areas, western approaches, and roads linking ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM to the coast. The contemporary U.S. diplomatic report records retroactive application, with territory acquired later coming under the proclamation on the date it entered Israeli military control.12

A contemporary Jewish Telegraphic Agency report published on 20 Tamuz 5708 described the government’s decision from its meeting the day before. The report says the announcement applied only to the Jewish-held area; the Old City, then in Arab hands, was excluded. It reproduced the government’s operative statement:

The authority of the laws of the state of Israel shall henceforth apply to Jerusalem.3

The report records the government’s decision and public announcement, and explicitly excludes the Old City as then under Arab control.4

The Jordanian Arab Legion had captured the Jewish Quarter in Iyar and expelled its surviving Jewish residents. The surrender and the destruction of the quarter’s synagogues are documented in the event://5708־02־19־jewish־quarter־surrenders.

Lustick and Samuel’s peer-reviewed study interprets the extension of Israeli law as an assertion of local sovereignty, while distinguishing it from a formal declaration of annexation. Their analysis helps name what the proclamation did: מדינת ישראל MEDINAT YISRAʾEL imposed its law and administration in the territory its forces held, without that document formally annexing the entire city or resolving the international dispute over Jerusalem’s status.5

How is this dated?

The inherited calendar assigns the event to 10 Tamuz 5708, but that date does not match the records for the proclamation. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported on 20 Tamuz 5708 that the government had decided on 19 Tamuz to change the legal status of the Jewish-held area. The formal Proclamation No. 1 was signed on 26 Tamuz 5708; a U.S. diplomatic telegram dated 27 Tamuz reports its date, scope, and retroactive effect, and Lustick and Samuel cite the proclamation in the Official Gazette. This article follows the formal proclamation date. The earlier government decision and announcement are distinct stages, and the inherited 10 Tamuz date is superseded.678910

Guided reflections

  • What changed when Israeli law was applied to territory held by the Israel Defense Forces, and what remained outside the proclamation?
  • Why should the government’s decision on 19 Tamuz, the announcement on 20 Tamuz, and the signed proclamation on 26 Tamuz be dated as separate stages?
  • How does distinguishing local rule from formal annexation clarify the history of Jerusalem’s divided control?

Footnotes

  1. U.S. Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, document 507, ↩
  2. Lustick and Samuel, Israel, Annexation, and Sovereignty,, “Israel’s Occupied Territories and the Imposition of Local Sovereignty” ↩
  3. Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Israel Proclaims Jerusalem as Israeli-Occupied, ↩
  4. Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Israel Proclaims Jerusalem as Israeli-Occupied, ↩
  5. Lustick and Samuel, Israel, Annexation, and Sovereignty,, “Israel’s Occupied Territories and the Imposition of Local Sovereignty” ↩
  6. Calendar: Nisan thru Elul,, PDF p. 1582 ↩
  7. Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Israel Proclaims Jerusalem as Israeli-Occupied, ↩
  8. U.S. Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, document 507, ↩
  9. Lustick and Samuel, Israel, Annexation, and Sovereignty,, “Israel’s Occupied Territories and the Imposition of Local Sovereignty” ↩
  10. Hebcal, Hebrew Date Converter, 2 August 1948, ↩

Works cited

  1. U.S. Department of State. The Acting Special Representative of the United States in Israel (Knox) to the Secretary of State. 3 August 1948. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1948, The Near East, South Asia, and Africa, vol. V, part 2, document 507. Reports the 2 August Proclamation No. 1, its military scope, application of Israeli law, and retroactive effect. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1948v05p2/d507. Accessed 2026 Oct. 4.
  2. Lustick, Ian S., and M. T. Samuel. “Israel, Annexation, and Sovereignty: Within the Green Line and Across It.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 56, no. 3 (August 2024): 361–378. Discusses the 2 August 1948 Jerusalem proclamation as an assertion of local sovereignty and distinguishes it from a formal annexation. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020743824000758. Accessed 2026 Oct. 4.
  3. Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Israel Proclaims Jerusalem as Israeli-Occupied; Will Name Military Governor for City. 27 July 1948. Contemporary report of the government’s 26 July decision and public announcement, including the statement that the measure applied to Jewish-held Jerusalem and excluded the Old City. https://www.jta.org/archive/israel-proclaims-jerusalem-as-israeli-occupied-will-name-military-governor-for-city. Accessed 2026 Oct. 4.
  4. Calendar: Nisan thru Elul. Unpublished working calendar. Page 218 marks the 9 Nisan section; pages 226–228 show its final entry, the following reflection and the 10 Nisan divider. Pages 250–268 cover 12 Nisan through the 13 Nisan divider; page 267 dates the author notes underlying the alienation and aliyah reflections to 12 Nisan 5783 (April 2023). PDF pp. 1583–1587 and 1601–1619 supply the Shaul/Banai-associated calendar entries, the Slovak and Shamir death notices, and the Protective Edge start entry; PDF p. 589 lists R. Zvi Shenker under Nisan III; PDF p. 591 lists R. Yehuda Aryeh Herschler under Nisan VIII and R. Yisrael Friedman under Nisan VII; PDF p. 592 lists R. Yehuda Leib Groner under Nisan XIV; PDF p. 593 lists R. Avihai Rontzki under Nisan XVI and R. Shmuel Hefer under Nisan XVII; PDF p. 596 contains the Yehonatan Geffen line and the Heber entry under Nisan XXX; PDF p. 1302 places Hallel Yaffa Ariel under 24 Sivan 5776 but includes incorrect response-squad and attacker-kinship claims. PDF p. 592 lists Rabbi Yehezkel Mark under both 14 and 15 Nisan 5765 and asks which date is correct. PDF p. 593 also places Ezer Weizman under 16 Nisan 5765 with a misspelled surname in the extraction. PDF p. 595 lists Zila Dagan under 27 Nisan 5764; that placement is derivative, not independent evidence of her death hour. This derivative calendar does not establish either death hour. Its mixed-direction extraction and surname typo remain source-owned. Article citations identify the relevant page. PDF p. 1326 places the Megiddo bus bombing under 25 Sivan 5762 but uses an unsupported plural “suicide bombers” and gives 43 injured; it is derivative evidence, not a primary casualty or attack-time witness. PDF p. 1339 places Jonas Salk under 25 Sivan 5755 and calls him the inventor of the polio vaccine; this derivative calendar is neither a death-time witness nor evidence of sole invention.
  5. Hebcal. Hebrew Date Converter, converting 2 August 1948 to 26 Tamuz 5708. Calendar conversion only; it does not establish the date of the proclamation. https://www.hebcal.com/converter?g2h=1&gd=2&gm=8&gy=1948. Accessed 2026 Oct. 4.