Editing Mount of Olives (section)

===Status since 1948===
[[File:הר היתים (והר הבית).jpg|thumb|Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives]]
The [[1949 Armistice Agreements|armistice agreement]] signed by Israel and Jordan following the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]] called for the establishment of a Special Committee to negotiate developments including "free access to the holy sites and cultural institutions and use of the cemetery on the Mount of Olives". However, during the 19 years the [[Jordanian annexation of the West Bank]] lasted, the committee was not formed. Non-Israeli Christian pilgrims were allowed to visit the mount, but Jews of all countries and most non-Jewish Israeli citizens were barred from entering Jordan and therefore were unable to travel to the area.<ref>To Rule Jerusalem By Roger Friedland, Richard Hecht, 2000, p. 39, "Tourists entering East Jerusalem had to present baptismal certificates or other proof they were not Jewish."</ref><ref>Thomas A Idinopulos, Jerusalem, 1994, p. 300, "So severe were the Jordanian restrictions against Jews gaining access to the old city that visitors wishing to cross over from west Jerusalem...had to produce a baptismal certificate."</ref><ref>Armstrong, Karen, Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths, 1997, "Only clergy, diplomats, UN personnel, and a few privileged tourists were permitted to go from one side to the other. The Jordanians required most tourists to produce baptismal certificates—to prove they were not Jewish ... ."</ref>

By the end of 1949, and throughout the Jordanian rule of the site, some Arab residents uprooted tombstones and plowed the land in the cemeteries, and an estimated 38,000 tombstones were damaged in total. During this period, a road was paved through the cemetery, in the process destroying graves including those of famous persons.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5okHDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT152|title=Between Cultural Diversity and Common Heritage: Legal and Religious Perspectives on the Sacred Places of the Mediterranean|last1=Ferrari|first1=Silvio|last2=Benzo|first2=Andrea|date=2016-04-15|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317175025|language=en}}</ref> In 1964, the [[Seven Arches Hotel|Intercontinental Hotel]] was built at the summit of the mount. Graves were also demolished for [[parking lot]]s and a [[filling station]]<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/10/world/middleeast/10jerusalem.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2&em | work=The New York Times | title=Parks Fortify Israel's Claim to Jerusalem | first1=Ethan | last1=Bronner | first2=Isabel | last2=Kershner | date=2009-05-10 | access-date=2010-03-27}}</ref> and were used in [[latrine]]s at a [[Jordanian Army]] barracks.<ref>{{cite book|last=Alon|first=Amos|author-link=Amos Elon|title=Jerusalem: Battlegrounds of Memory|publisher=Kodansha Int'l|location=New York|year=1995|page=[https://archive.org/details/jerusalembattleg0000elon/page/75 75]|isbn=1-56836-099-1|quote=After 1967, it was discovered that tombstones had been removed from the ancient cemetery to pave the latrines of a nearby Jordanian army barrack.|url=https://archive.org/details/jerusalembattleg0000elon/page/75}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Meron Benvenisti|title=City of Stone: The Hidden History of Jerusalem|url=https://archive.org/details/cityofstonehidde00benvrich|url-access=registration|year=1996|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-91868-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/cityofstonehidde00benvrich/page/228 228]}}</ref><ref>Har-El, Menashe. [https://books.google.com/books?id=9Z2cFY9iGqgC&pg=PA126 Golden Jerusalem], Gefen Publishing House Ltd, 2004, p. 126. {{ISBN|965-229-254-0}}. "The majority (50,000 of the 70,000) was desecrated by the Arabs during the nineteen years of Jordanian rule in eastern Jerusalem."</ref><ref>Tessler, Mark A. [https://books.google.com/books?id=3kbU4BIAcrQC&pg=PA329 A History of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict], Indiana University Press, 1994. p. 329. {{ISBN|0-253-20873-4}}.</ref> The [[United Nations]] did not condemn the Jordanian government for these actions.<ref>{{cite book|last=Blum|first=Yehuda Zvi|author-link=Yehuda Zvi Blum|title=For Zion's Sake|year=1987|publisher=Associated University Presse|isbn=978-0-8453-4809-3|page=99}}</ref>