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The 1949 Armistice Agreements are a set of agreements signed during 1949 between Israel and its neighbors Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. The agreements ended the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and established the armistice lines between Israel and the West Bank, also known as the Green Line, until the 1967 Six-Day War. Agreements
With Egypt The agreement with Egypt was signed on February 24. The main points were: With Lebanon The agreement with Lebanon was signed on March 23. The main points were: With Jordan The agreement with Jordan was signed on April 3. The main points: With Syria The agreement with Syria was signed on July 20. Syria withdrew its forces from most of the territories it controlled west of the international border, which became demilitarized zones. Others Iraq, whose forces took an active part in the war (although it has no common border with Israel), withdrew its forces from the region in March 1949. The front occupied by Iraqi forces was covered by the armistice agreement between Israel and Jordan and there was no separate agreement with Iraq. Cease-fire line vs. permanent border The new borders of Israel, as set by the agreements, encompassed about 78% of mandatory Palestine as it stood after the independence of Jordan in 1946. Considering the original British mandate (including Jordan, which was included within the Mandate in the summer of 1921, but excluded from the provisions for a Jewish National Home), however, Israel was created only on 18% of the total area of Palestine and Transjordan. The areas of Palestine not occupied by Israel (the Gaza Strip and West Bank) were occupied by Egypt and Jordan respectively until 1967. See the related articles Occupation of the Gaza Strip by Egypt and Occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem by Jordan. Britain, in control of Mandatory Palestine after World War I, had intended to convey Transjordan to the Arabs, and the entire West of the Jordan territory, to the Jewish State. The UN Partition plan, in essence, was a second division of mandatory Palestine. Although accepted by the nascent state of Israel, the Arabs never organized their territory, set up a government, or otherwise showed intention of accepting the partition plan. Therefore, the armistice lines, after the cease fire of the 1948 war, were not to be considered recognized borders. The armistice agreements were intended to serve only as interim agreements, until they would be replaced by permanent peace treaties. However, no peace treaties were actually signed until decades later. Excepting the agreement with Lebanon, the armistice agreements were clear (at Arab insistence) that they were not creating permanent or de jure borders. The Egyptian-Israeli agreement stated "The Armistice Demarcation Line is not to be construed in any sense as a political or territorial boundary, and is delineated without prejudice to rights, claims and positions of either Party to the Armistice as regards ultimate settlement of the Palestine question." * The Jordanian-Israeli agreement stated: "... no provision of this Agreement shall in any way prejudice the rights, claims, and positions of either Party hereto in the peaceful settlement of the Palestine questions, the provisions of this Agreement being dictated exclusively by military considerations" (Art. II.2), "The Armistice Demarcation Lines defined in articles V and VI of this Agreement are agreed upon by the Parties without prejudice to future territorial settlements or boundary lines or to claims of either Party relating thereto." (Art. VI.9) * In the Knesset then Foreign Minister and future Prime Minister Moshe Sharett called the armistice lines "provisional boundaries" and the old international borders which the armistice lines, except with Jordan, were based on, "natural boundaries". *. Israel did not lay claim to territory beyond them and proposed them, with minor modifications except at Gaza, as the basis of permanent political frontiers at the Lausanne Conference, 1949.* After the 1967 Six Day War several Israeli leaders argued against turning the armistice lines into permanent borders on the grounds of Israeli security: The internationally recognized border between Egypt and Israel was eventually demarcated as part of the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty. The border between Israel and Jordan (except for Jordan's border with the post-1967 West Bank) was demarcated as part of the Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty. Violations In each case a Mixed Armistice Commission was formed, which investigated complaints by either party and made regular reports to the UN Security Council. In the years following the signing of the agreements, all of the parties were condemned many times for violations. Egypt kept large military forces in the demilitarized 'Uja al-Hafeer area. Israel, on its side, reinforced the Mount Scopus enclave (which was supposed to be demilitarized) with armed soldiers, disguised as policemen. Israel also sent soldiers into Jordanian territory on many occasions to conduct raids in retaliation for incursions by armed persons into Israel. Syrian forces launched numerous artillery attacks against Israeli forces and settlements in the demilitarized zone adjacent to the Golan Heights. Extremely egregious, the Jordanians closed off all access to Jerusalem, including the Western Wall and Jewish Quarter, to Israel. Given that Jerusalem had been reserved under the UN mandate and the cease fire agreements called for access, this violation was quite severe and unwarranted. Once Israel regained control of Jerusalem, all holy sites were given unfettered access and even the Temple Mount control was passed back to the Islamic Waqf, despite great pressure for direct Israeli control. The Jordanians also harassed and restricted access to Hadassah Hospital. See also Arab-Israeli peace diplomacy and treaties Texts The complete texts of the Armistice Agreements can be found at The Avalon Project at Yale Law School A search at the United Nations web site for "Mixed Armistice Commission" will reveal many of the reports made to the UN by those commissions. See also | |||||||||
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