Borders of Israel

The borders of Israel are based on those which were established by the British Mandate of 1922, which were in turn previously agreed by the victorious powers with an interest in the area, namely the United Kingdom and France, in the aftermath of World War I. The borders of Israel with Egypt and with Jordan have now been formalised as part of the peace treaties with those countries, and with Lebanon as part of the 1949 Armistice Agreement. The border with Syria is still not settled. The border between Israel and the Palestinian territories is also still to be negotiated.

The British Mandate

The Sykes-Picot Line

The Sykes-Picot agreement of 1916 divided the Middle East between British and French spheres of influence. "Palestine" was designated as an "international enclave". [Pappe, Ilan. "The Making of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1947–1951", I. B. Tauris; New Ed edition (August 15, 1994), p. 3.]

This agreement was revised by Britain and France in 1919. It was agreed that Palestine and the Vilayet of Mosul in modern-day Iraq would be part of the British sphere in exchange for British support of French influence in Syria and Lebanon. [Pappe, p. 3–4. Pappe suggests the French concessions were made to guarantee British support for French aims at the post-war peace conference concerning Germany and Europe.] According to historian Ilan Pappe,

"The borders of mandatory Palestine, first drawn up in the Sykes-Picot Agreement, were given their definitive shape during lengthy and tedious negotiations by British and French officials between 1919 and 1922...In October 1919 the British envisaged the area that is today southern Lebanon and most of southern Syria as being part of British mandatory Palestine...In the East, matters were more complicated... [Transjordan] was part of the Ottoman province of Damascus which in the Sykes-Picot agreement had been allocated to the French." [Pappe, pp. 4–5.]

At the San Remo Conference (19–26 April 1920) the Allied Supreme Council granted the mandates for Palestine and Mesopotamia to Britain without precisely defining the boundaries of the mandated territories. [Biger, 2005, p. 173.] [Chaim Weizmann, subsequently reported to his colleagues in London: "There are still important details outstanding, such as the actual terms of the mandate and the question of the boundaries in Palestine. There is the delimitation of the boundary between French Syria and Palestine, which will constitute the northern frontier and the eastern line of demarcation, adjoining Arab Syria. The latter is not likely to be fixed until the Emir Feisal attends the Peace Conference, probably in Paris." See: 'Zionist Aspirations: Dr Weizmann on the Future of Palestine', "The Times", Saturday, 8 May, 1920; p. 15.] Although the land east of the Jordan had been part of the Syrian administrative unit under the Ottomans, it was excluded from the French Mandate at the San Remo conference, "on the grounds that it was part of Palestine." [Aruri, Naseer Hasan. "Jordan: A Study in Political Development 1923–1965". The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1972. p. 17.]

Franco-British Boundary Agreement

The Franco-British Boundary Agreement of 1920 contained the principles for the boundary between the Mandates of Palestine and Mesopotamia, attributed to Great Britain, and the Mandate of Syria and the Lebanon, attributed to France.

The boundary between the forthcoming British and French mandates was defined in broad terms.Text available in "American Journal of International Law", Vol. 16, No. 3, 1922, 122–126.] . That agreement placed the bulk of the Golan Heights in the French sphere. The treaty also established a joint commission to settle the border and mark it on the ground. The commission submitted its final report on 3 February 1922, and it was approved with some caveats by the British and French governments on 7 March 1923, several months before Britain and France assumed their Mandatory responsibilities on 29 September 1923. [Agreement between His Majesty's Government and the French Government respecting the Boundary Line between Syria and Palestine from the Mediterranean to El Hámmé, Treaty Series No. 13 (1923), Cmd. 1910. Also Louis, 1969, p. 90.] [http://www.law.fsu.edu/library/collection/LimitsinSeas/IBS075.pdf FSU Law] .] In accordance with the same process, a nearby parcel of land that included the ancient site of Dan was transferred from Syria to Palestine early in 1924. In this way the Golan Heights became part of the French Mandate of Syria.

In 1923, after he had left office, American President Woodrow Wilson protested British concessions in a cable to the British Cabinet: "The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation… I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". [ Abelson, Meir, [http://www.acpr.org.il/ENGLISH-NATIV/issue1/Abelson-1.htm Palestine: The Original Sin] .] When the French Mandate of Syria ended in 1944, the Golan Heights remained part of the newly independent state of Syria.

Transjordan

In March 1921, Colonial Secretary, Winston Churchill, visited Jerusalem. After a discussion with Emir Abdullah it was agreed that the Jewish National Home objective for the proposed Palestinian Mandate territory would not apply to the Mandate territory east of the Jordan River. In accordance with that agreement, the Churchill White Paper of June 3, 1922 stated explicitly that "the terms of the [Balfour] Declaration referred to do not contemplate that Palestine as a whole should be converted into a Jewish National Home, but that such a Home should be founded "'in" Palestine'."

In June 1922, the League of Nations approved the Palestine Mandate, to come into effect automatically when a dispute between France and Italy over the Syria Mandate was settled. The Mandate also stated that Britain could ‘postpone or withhold’ application of the provisions dealing with the 'Jewish National Home' in the territory east of the Jordan River, then called Transjordan. In September 1922, the British government presented a memorandum to the League of Nations stating that Transjordan would be excluded from all the provisions dealing with Jewish settlement, and this memorandum was approved on 23 September. The French/Italian dispute was resolved on September 29 1923 and both Mandates came into force on that date.

Britain administered the part west of the Jordan as Palestine, and the part east of the Jordan as Transjordan, with the border being the Jordan River. Palestine comprised 23% of the Mandate territory and Transjordan comprised 77%. Technically they were one mandate but most official documents referred to them as two separate mandates. Transjordan remained under British control until 1946, when it gained independence.

Border with Lebanon

The United Nations in June 2000 was called upon to decide the border between Lebanon and Israel, in order to determine whether Israel had fully withdrawn from Lebanon in compliance with Security Council Resolution 425. This line came to be called the Blue Line. At the same time, the United Nations did not have to consider the legally demarcated international boundary between Lebanon and the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, as that was not required for the purpose of Resolution 425. Accordingly, the border between Lebanon and the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights is expressly not to be called the Blue Line.

The Blue Line which the UN had to determine was the line of deployment of the IDF prior to March 14 1978, when Israel invaded Lebanon. In effect that line was recognised by both Lebanon and by Israel as the international border, and not just as the armistice line of 1949 (what is commonly called the Green Line) following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

Background

On March 14, 1978, Israel launched Operation Litani, occupying the area south of the Litani River, excepting Tyre (see map). In response to the invasion, the UN Security Council passed Council Resolution 425 and Resolution 426 calling for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon. Israeli forces withdrew later in 1978, but turned over their positions inside Lebanon to their ally, the South Lebanon Army (SLA).

On April 17, 2000, Israel announced that it will withdraw its forces from Lebanon. The Lebanese government refused to take part in marking the border. The UN thus conducted its own survey based on the line for the purpose of UN Security Council Resolution 425 (1978).

From May 24 to June 7, 2000, the UN Special Envoy heard views in Israel, Lebanon and Syria. The United Nations cartographer and his team, assisted by UNIFIL, worked on the ground to identify a line to be adopted for the practical purposes of confirming the Israeli withdrawal. While it was agreed that this would not be a formal border demarcation, the aim was to identify a line on the ground closely conforming to the internationally recognized boundaries of Lebanon, based on the best available cartographic and other documentary evidence.

On May 25, 2000, Israel notified the Secretary-General that it had redeployed its forces in compliance with Council Resolution 425, that is to the international border.

On June 7, the completed map showing the withdrawal line was formally transmitted by the Force Commander of UNIFIL to his Lebanese and Israeli counterparts. Notwithstanding their reservations about the line, the Governments of Israel and Lebanon confirmed that identifying this line was solely the responsibility of the United Nations and that they would respect the line as identified.

On June 8, UNIFIL teams commenced the work of verifying the Israeli withdrawal behind the line.

The Blue Line

The Blue Line identified by the United Nations in 2000 as the border between Lebanon and Israel, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Hasbani River, closely approximates the Green Line set under the 1949 Armistice Agreement between Lebanon, and Israel. The area east of the Hasbani River, is considered part of Syria [http://www.law.fsu.edu/library/collection/LimitsinSeas/numericalibs-template.html] and included in the Golan Heights.

The armistice agreement between Lebanon and Israel was signed on March 23 1949. The main points were:
* The armistice line (i.e. "Green Line") was the international border, which corresponds to the 1923 Mandate border between the French Mandate of Lebanon and the British Mandate of Palestine (see: Treaty of Sèvres).
* Unlike the other Green Line agreements, it contains no clause disclaiming this line as an international border, and was thereafter treated as it had been previously, as a de jure international border.
* Israel withdrew its forces from 13 villages in Lebanese territory, which were occupied during the war.

In 1923, 38 boundary markers were placed along the 49 mile boundary and a detailed text description was published. [http://www.law.fsu.edu/library/collection/LimitsinSeas/numericalibs-template.html] The 2000 Blue Line differs in about a half dozen short stretches from the 1949 line, though never by more than 475 meters.Fact|Mar, 2008|date=March 2008

Between 1950 and 1967, Israeli and Lebanese surveyors managed to complete 25 non-contiguous kilometers and mark (but not sign) another quarter of the international border.

Conclusion

On June 16, the Secretary-General reported to the Security Council that Israel had withdrawn its forces from Lebanon in accordance with Council Resolution 425 and met the requirements defined in his report of May 22, 2000. [http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2000/20000618.sc6878.doc.html]

The withdrawal line has been termed the Blue Line in all official UN communications since.

Border with Syria

In 1923, an agreement between the United Kingdom and France established the border between the British Mandate of Palestine and the French Mandate of Syria. The British handed over the southern Golan Heights to the French in return for the northern Jordan Valley. The border was re-drawn so that both sides of the Jordan River and the whole of the Sea of Galilee, including a 10-metre wide strip along the northeastern shore, were made a part of Palestine. [ [http://www.caabu.org/press/focus/gee.html CAABU :: The Council for Arab-British Understanding ] ] The 1947 UN Partition Plan put this territory area inside the Jewish state.

During the 1990s, there were constant negotiations between Israel and Syria regarding a mediation of conflicts and an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights but a peace treaty did not come to fruition. The main stumbling block seems to involve 25 square kilometers of territory in the Jordan River Valley that lays west of the international Israel-Syrian border, but which had been seized by Syria in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and retained by it under the 1949 Armistice Agreement with Israel. Arab countries support Syria's position in the formula which calls on Israel "to return to the 1967 borders". (See 2002 Arab Peace Initiative)

Conflict Over The Shebaa Farms

Both Lebanon and Syria were within the French Mandate Territory between 1920 and the end of the French Mandate in 1946. The dispute over the sovereignty over the Shebaa Farms resulted in part from the failure of French Mandate administrations, and subsequently from the failure of the Lebanon and Syria to properly demarcate the border between them.

Documents from the 1920s and 1930s indicate that some local inhabitants regarded themselves as part of Lebanon, for example paying taxes to the Lebanese government. But French officials at times expressed confusion as to the actual location of the border.cite journal | title=Understanding the Sheeba Farms dispute | url=http://www.pij.org/details.php?id=9 | first=Asher | last=Kaufman | journal=Palestine-Israel Journal | volume=11 | issue=1 | year=2004 | accessdate=2006-07-22] One French official in 1939 expressed the belief that the uncertainty was sure to cause trouble in the future.

The region continued to be represented in the 1930s and 1940s as Syrian territory, under the French Mandate. Detailed maps showing the border were produced by the French in 1933, and again in 1945. ["Beyrouth" 1:200,000 sheet NI36-XII available in the U.S. Library of Congress and French archives.] They clearly showed the region to be in Syria.

After the French Mandate ended in 1946, the land was administered by Syria, and represented as such in all maps of the time.cite journal | title=Who owns the Shebaa Farms? Chronicle of a territorial dispute | first=Asher | last=Kaufman | journal=Middle East Journal | publisher=Middle East Institute | volume=56 | issue=4 | date=Autumn 2002 | pages=576–596]

The maps of the 1949 Armistice Agreements between Syria and Israel also designated the area as Syrian.

Border disputes arose at times, however. Shebaa Farms was not unique; several other border villages had similar discrepancies of borders versus land ownership. Syria and Lebanon formed a joint Syrian-Lebanese border committee in the late 1950s to determine a proper border between the two nations. In 1964, concluding its work, the committee suggested to the two governments that the area be deemed the property of Lebanon, and recommended that the international border be reestablished consistent with its suggestion. However, neither Syria nor Lebanon adopted the committee's suggestion, and neither country took any action along the suggested lines. Thus, maps of the area continued to reflect the Farms as being in Syria. Even maps of both the Syrian and Lebanese armies continued to demarcate the region within Syrian territory (see map).

A number of local residents regarded themselves as Lebanese, however. The Lebanese government showed little interest in their views. The Syrian government administered the region, and on the eve of the 1967 war, the region was under effective Syrian control.

In 1967, most Shebaa Farms landowners and (Lebanese) farmers lived outside the Syrian-controlled region, across the Lebanon-Syrian border, in the Lebanese village of Shebaa. During the Six Day War in 1967, Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria, including the Shebaa Farms area. As a consequence, the Lebanese landowners were no longer able to farm it. [cite news | title=The key to Shebaa | url=http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/717FD283-592E-44BA-8A22-9D46B441C304.htm | date=2005-04-25 | last=Nasser | first=Cilina | publisher=Al Jazeera | accessdate=2006-07-23]

In 1981, the Golan Heights (including the Shebaa Farms area) was officially annexed by Israel. [cite book | last=Bard | first=Mitchell G | authorlink=Mitchell Bard | title=Myths and Facts: A Guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict | publisher=American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise | id=ISBN 0-9712945-4-2 | url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/myths2/myths2006.pdf | format=PDF | edition=3rd edition | date=2006-03-13] This unilateral annexation was not internationally recognized and United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 considers the area part of Israeli occupied territories.

Border with Jordan

The Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace was signed on October 26, 1994. The treaty resolved territorial and border issues that were ongoing since the 1948 war. The treaty specified and fully recognized the international border between Israel and Jordan. Upon its signing, the Jordan and Yarmouk Rivers, the Dead Sea, the Emek Ha'arva/Wadi Araba and the Gulf of Aqaba were officially designated as the borders between Israel and Jordan, and the border between Jordan and the territory occupied by Israel in 1967. For the latter, the agreement requires that the demarcation use a different presentation, and that it carry the following disclaimer:

"This line is the administrative boundary between Jordan and the territory which came under Israeli military government control in 1967. Any treatment of this line shall be without prejudice to the status of the territory."

(See: "Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty, Annex I, Israel-Jordan International Boundary Delimitation and Demarcation". [ [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/annex1.html Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty-Annex I ] ] )

In 1988, Jordan withdrew any claim to the West Bank. The border between Israel and the West Bank will be negotiated between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Border with Egypt

The 1949 Armistice Agreement between Israel and Egypt was ratified on 24 February 1949. The armistice line between these countries followed the international border (dating back to 1906) except along the Gaza Strip, which remained under Egyptian occupation.

The Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty, signed on 26 March 1979 created an officially recognized international border along the 1906 line. A dispute arose over the marking of the border line at its southernmost point, in Taba. Taba was on the Egyptian side of the armistice line of 1949, but Israel claimed that Taba had been on the Ottoman side of a border agreed between the Ottomans and British Egypt in 1906, and that there had previosuly been an error in marking the line. The issue was submitted to an international commission composed of one Israeli, one Egyptian, and three outsiders. In 1988, the commission ruled in Egypt's favor, and Israel returned Taba to Egypt later that year.

Egypt withdrew any claim to the Gaza Strip. The border between Israel and the Gaza strip will be negotiated between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Notes

Bibliography

# Franco-British Convention on Certain Points Connected with the Mandates for Syria and the Lebanon, Palestine and Mesopotamia, signed Dec. 23, 1920. Text available in "American Journal of International Law", Vol. 16, No. 3, 1922, 122-126.
# Agreement between His Majesty's Government and the French Government respecting the Boundary Line between Syria and Palestine from the Mediterranean to El Hámmé, Treaty Series No. 13 (1923), Cmd. 1910.
# Gideon Biger (1989), Geographical and other arguments in delimitation in the boundaries of British Palestine, "in" "International Boundaries and Boundary Conflict Resolution", IBRU Conference, ISBN 1855600005, 41-61.
# John McTague (1982), Anglo-French Negotiations over the Boundaries of Palestine, 1919-1920, "Journal of Palestine Studies", Vol. 11, No. 2, 101-112.
# Yitzhak Gil-Har (1993), British commitments to the Arabs and their application to the Palestine-Trans-Jordan boundary: The issue of the Semakh triangle, "Middle Eastern Studies", Vol.29, No.4, 690-701.
# Muhsin Yusuf (1991), The Zionists and the process of defining the borders of Palestine, 1915-1923, "Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies", Vol. 15, No. 1, 18-39.
# Gideon Biger (1995), "The encyclopedia of international boundaries", New York : Facts on File.
# Gideon Biger (2005), "The Boundaries of Modern Palestine, 1840-1947". London: Routledge. ISBN 0714656542.
# US Department of State, International Boundary Study series: [http://www.law.fsu.edu/library/collection/LimitsinSeas/IBS098.pdf Iraq-Jordan] , [http://www.law.fsu.edu/library/collection/LimitsinSeas/IBS100.pdf Iraq-Syria] , [http://www.law.fsu.edu/library/collection/LimitsinSeas/IBS094.pdf Jordan-Syria] , [http://www.law.fsu.edu/library/collection/LimitsinSeas/IBS075.pdf Israel-Lebanon] .