On November 30, 1948, following the cessation of the battle between the two armies in Jerusalem, two officers - Lt. Col. Moshe Dayan of the Israeli army and Lt. Col. Abdallah A-Tal of the Jordanian army - drew in thick wax pencils an inaccurate cease-fire line on a map of Jerusalem. This line, including the No Man's Land between the two sides, was later included in the Israel-Jordan Armistice Agreement of 3 April 1949. The City Line divided Jerusalem between Israel (in the western part) and Jordan (in the eastern part, including the Old City and the Temple Mount) for 19 years, until The Six Day War in June 1967 when Israel re-united the city.

During these 19 years, the Jordanian army placed snipers on the City Line and initiated frequent shooting incidents at citizens and other targets on the Israeli side of the city, making life in the near-by Israeli neighborhoods almost unbearable. In addition, the Jordanians breached their commitment (in the Armistice Agreement) to allow free access of Jews to the holy sites, mainly to the Western Wall and to the cemetery on the Mount of Olives. They also desecrated Jewish holy sites.

 

 
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