While the nature of the status quo handling of the holy sites has remained relatively stable from the 1940s on, the political context in which it operates shifted dramatically with the 1967 War and the Israeli capture of West Jerusalem.

Israel's First Steps after the War

On June 4, 1967, the eve of the war, the Israeli government was undecided about capturing the Old City. The cabinet was gravely concerned over the question of the holy sites and the international ramifications of seizing the Old City. Foreign Minister Abba Eban worried that the fighting would entail damage to holy sites. Two other ministers, Moshe Haim Shapira and Zalman Aranne, foreseeing international complications, were led to speculate about the internationalization of the Old City after its capture. In a later consultation that evening, Prime Minister Levi Eshkol said that “even if we capture the Old City and the West Bank, we will ultimately be compelled to relinquish them.” In line with this, on June 5, while Israel was attacking Egypt during this the first day of the war, it contacted King Hussein of Jordan and promised him that if he would remain neutral, Israel would not attack Jordanian positions – including East Jerusalem.

The fears expressed by the prime minister and others in 1967 echoed apprehensions harbored by leaders of the Zionist movement and the Yishuv – the pre–1948 Jewish community in Palestine – who understood that Jewish control of the holy sites and the Old City would be unacceptable to international public opinion.