Status Quo (Jerusalem and Bethlehem)

[2] The status quo stemmed from a firman (decree) of Ottoman sultan Osman III in 1757[3] that preserved the division of ownership and responsibilities of various Christian holy places.

[6] The 1929 summary prepared by L. G. A. Cust, The Status Quo in the Holy Places, became the standard text on the subject,[7][8] and the details were further formalized in the 1949 United Nations Conciliation Commission after the 1947–1949 Palestine war.

[9] During the Holy Week of 1757, Orthodox Christians reportedly took over some of the Franciscan-controlled church, possibly leading Sultan Osman III to write a 1757 decree forming the basis of the status quo.

This resulted in 1852 and 1853 firmans by Sultan Abdülmecid I which received international recognition in Article 9 of the Treaty of Paris (1856) leaving the status quo intact.

[7][6] According to the United Nations Conciliation Commission, the Status Quo applies to nine sites in Jerusalem and Bethlehem,[1] which Cust separates into three categories: David's Tomb and Cenacle were not part of the Status quo arrangement during the British Mandate for Palestine; it is nevertheless in a similar position, being disputed by the Catholics who have built the current structure, the Muslims (the Ottoman sultan confiscated it from the Franciscans), and Jewish and Israeli institutions, who took control of it in 1948.

The so-called immovable ladder[c] under the window of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, made of Lebanon cedar wood, was in place by 1728 and has apparently remained there since the 1757 status quo was established (with temporary moves occurring in 1997 and 2009).

[5][13] The ladder is referred to as immovable due to the agreement of the Status Quo that no cleric of the six Churches[a] may move, rearrange, or alter any property without the consent of the other five orders.