Posted on 05/27/2005 5:45:32 AM PDT by SJackson
1949 Armistice Agreements [significant restrictions on Israel not implicit in '67 line]
Dr. Aaron Lerner 27 May 2006
President Bush has adopted the terminology of referring to the "1949 Armistice Line" instead of the "1967 Line" as the starting point for negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians .
Among the "features" of the "1949 Armistice Line" not in the "1967 Line":
1. Israeli forces barred from entering Arab villages in the "triangle" that was transferred to Israel (Israel-Jordan Armistice Agreement Article VI, paragraph 2).
2. Force restrictions within 10 kilometers of the Line (Israel-Jordan Armistice Agreement Article VII, paragraph 1).
3. Force restrictions in much of the Negev (Israel-Jordan Armistice Agreement Article VI, paragraph 3. and Article VII, paragraph 4.[There were also force restrictions on the borders with Syria and Lebanon].
The relevant sections of the agreements appear below.
Israel-Jordan Armistice Agreement, 3 April 1949: www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Foreign+Relations/Israels+Foreign+Relations+since+1947/1947-1974/Israel-Jordan+Armistice+Agreement.htm
Preamble
The Parties to the present Agreement, Responding to the Security Council resolution of 16 November 1948, calling upon them, as a further provisional measure under Article 40 of the Charter of the United Nations and in order to facilitate the transition from the present truce to permanent peace in Palestine, to negotiate an armistice;
...
Article VI
6. Wherever villages may be affected by the establishment of the Armistice Demarcation Line provided for in paragraph 2 of this article... It shall be prohibited for Israeli forces to enter or to be stationed in such villages, in which locally recruited Arab police shall be organised and stationed for internal security purposes.
Article VII
1. The military forces of the Parties to this Agreement shall be limited to defensive forces only in the areas extending ten kilometres from each side of the Armistice Demarcation Lines, except where geographical considerations make this impractical, as at the southernmost tip of Palestine and the coastal strip. Defensive forces permissible in each sector shall be as defined in annex II to this Agreement.
3. The strength of the forces which may be maintained by the Parties on each side of the Armistice Demarcation Lines shall be subject to periodical review with a view toward further reduction of such forces by mutual agreement of the Parties.
Done at Rhodes, Island of Rhodes, Greece, on the third of April one thousand nine hundred and forty-nine in the presence of the United Nations Acting Mediator on Palestine and the United Nations Chief of Staff of the Truce Supervision Organisation.
For and on behalf of the Government of the Hashemite Jordan Kingdom
Signed:
Colonel Ahmed Sudki El-Jundi Lieutenant-Colonel Mohamed Maayte
For and on behalf of the Government of Israel Signed:
Reuven Shiloah
Lieutenant-Colonel Moshe Dayan
Annex II
Definition of Defensive Forces
1. For the purposes of this Agreement defensive forces shall be defined as follows:
1. Land forces
(a) A standard battalion to consist of not more than 800 officers and other ranks, and to be composed of not more than:
(i) Four rifle companies with ordinary infantry equipment; rifles, LMG's, SMG's, light mortars, anti-tank rifles and PIAT. The light mortars shall not be heavier than 2 inch. The following number of weapons per battalion shall not be exceeded: 48 LMG's, 16 mortars 2 inch, 8 PIAT's;
(ii) One support company with not more than six MMG's, six mortars not heavier than 3 inch, four anti-tank guns not heavier than six-pounders;
(iii) One headquarters company;
(b) The artillery and anti-aircraft artillery to be allotted to the defensive forces shall consist of the following type of weapons: field guns not heavier than twenty-five pounders, the anti-aircraft guns not heavier than forty millimetres.
2. The following are excluded from the term "defensive forces":
(a) Armour, such as tanks of all types, armoured cars, Bren gun carriers, halftracks, armoured vehicles or load carriers, or any other armoured vehicles;
(b) All support arms and units other than those specified in paragraphs I
(a) i and ii, and I (b) above;
(c) Service units to be agreed upon.
3. Air forces
In the areas where defensive forces only are permitted airfields, airstrips, landing fields and other installations, and military aircraft shall be employed for defensive and normal supply purposes only.
11. The defensive forces which may be maintained by each Party in the areas extending ten kilometres from each side of the Armistice Demarcation Lines, as provided in paragraph I of article VI, shall be as follows for the sectors described in article V, paragraph 1:
1. Sector Kh Deir Arab (MR 1510-1574) to the northern terminus of the lines defined in the 30 November 1948 Cease-Fire Agreement for the Jerusalem area: one battalion each.
2. Jerusalem sector: two battalions each.
3. Hebron-Dead Sea sector: one battalion each.
4. Sector Engeddi to Eylat: three battalions each. In addition, each side will be allowed one squadron of light armoured cars consisting of not more than 13 light armoured cars or half tracks. The weapons permissible on these vehicles will be determined by the Mixed Armistice Commission.
5. Sector now held by Iraqi forces: five battalions each, and one squadron of armoured cars each.
====
Israel-Egypt Armistice Agreement, 24 February 1949: www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Foreign+Relations/Israels+Foreign+Relations+since+1947/1947-1974/Israel-Egypt+Armistice+Agreement.htm
Article VI
3. Israeli outposts, each limited to platoon strength, may be maintained in this area at the following points: Deir Suneid, on the north side of the Wadi (MR 10751090); 700 SW of Sa'ad (MR 10500982); Sulphur Quarries (MR 09870924); Tall-Jamma (MR 09720887); and KHAL Ma'in (MR 09320821). The Israeli outpost maintained at the Cemetery (MR 08160723) shall be evacuated on the day after that which follows the signing of this Agreement. The Israeli outpost at Hill 79 (MR 10451017) shall be evacuated not later than four weeks following the day on which this Agreement is signed. Following the evacuation of the above outposts, new Israeli outposts may be established at MR 08360700, and at a point due east of Hill 79 east of the Armistice Demarcation Line.
Article VII
4. In the area of the western front under Israeli control, Israeli defensive forces only, which shall be based on the settlements, may be maintained. All other Israeli forces shall be withdrawn from this area to a point or points north of the line delineated in paragraph 2.A of the Memorandum of 13 November 1948 on the implementation of the resolution of the Security Council of 4 November 1948.
5. The defensive forces referred to in paragraphs 3 and 4 above shall be as defined in Annex III to this Agreement.
In faith whereof the undersigned representatives of the Contracting Parties have signed hereafter, in the presence of the United Nations Acting Mediator on Palestine and the United Nations Chief of Staff of the Truce Supervision Organisation. Done at Rhodes, Island of Rhodes, Greece, on the twenty-fourth of February nineteen forty-nine. For and on behalf of the Government of Egypt Signed: Mahmed Seif El Dine M. K. El Raliniany For and on behalf of the Government of Israel Signed: Walter Eytan Yigael Yadin Elias Sasson
Annex III
Definition of Defensive Forces
I. Land Forces
1. Shall not exceed:
(a) 3 inf btns, each bn to consist of not more than 800 officers and o.r's and composed of not more than
(i) 4 rifle coys with ordinary inf. S. A. equipment (rifles, LMG's, SMG's, light mortars (e.g. 2"), A/tk rifles or Piat,
(ii) I support coy with not more than 6 MMG's, 6 mortars not heavier than 3", 4 A/tk guns not heavier than 6 pdrs,
(iii) 1 HQ coy.
(b) 1 bty of 8 field guns not heavier than 25 pdrs.
(c) 1 bty of 8 A.A. guns not heavier than 40 mm.
2. The following are excluded from the term "Defensive Forces":
(a) Armour, such as tanks, AC's, Bren-carriers, half-tracks, load carriers or any other AFV's.
(b) All support arms and units other than those specified in paragraph 1(a) (ii), l(b) and l(c) above.
3. Service units will be in accordance with a plan to be prepared and approved by the Mixed Armistice Commission.
II. Air Forces
In the areas where Defensive Forces only will be allowed the following stipulations regarding air forces will be observed:
1. No military air fields, airstrips, landing grounds or installations shall be maintained.
2. No military aircraft shall take off or land except in an emergency. III. Sea Forces No naval base shall be established in areas where Defensive Forces only will be allowed, nor shall any warship or military vessel enter the territorial waters adjacent thereto.
..............
Background: "1949 Armistice Line" vs '67 Line
"The significance of the announcement by the Radio Damascus analyst that Syria is demanding an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights to the 1949 armistice line, is that it renews the controversy over the demilitarized zones which clouded Syrian-Israeli relations before the Six Day War."
"Three different lines marked the boundary between Syria and Israel before the Six Day War: the international border from the Mandate period, the armistice line, and the deployment of forces line on 4 June 1967, from which the Six Day War opened. The Israeli politicians who talk about a full withdrawal from the Golan Heights such as ministers Shimon Peres, Yossi Sarid, and Shulamit Aloni are proposing a withdrawal to the international border, the easternmost of the three lines, and the best for Israel. The armistice line is the westernmost, and the most comfortable for the Syrians; the June 4 line passes between them, and leaves in Syrian hands areas they seized control of by force during the 1950's. "
Excerpted from "Background" by Aluf Ben Ha'aretz 30 May 1995
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0205/glick2005_02_09.php3
"...'The US government policy has been based on the principle that there can be no acquisition of territory by war.'"
"Not only does this sweeping... statement necessarily include Jerusalem; it can easily be interpreted as saying that the only borders Israel can legitimately claim are the UN partition borders from 1947 since much of the land that makes up the 1949 armistice lines was acquired in war..."
I tend to think this was a throwaway remark the significance of which GWB didn't understand, clearly inserted in the press release by someone with an agenda. However Carolyn Glick could well be right, combining 1949 borders with GWBs call for a sovereign state, the first President to take that position, the administration might be selling Israel down the river.
Hardly, as it has been frequently repeated, especially by Condi, and has been endorsed by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and just lately by AIPAC.
GWB has never shown or stated that he believes that Israel holds some special place in world history, and certainly not a Biblical one. He has always acted like it was just another political question with spcial interest groups applying pressure. If 'The Copnference' and AIPAC want to vivisect Israel, what would he gain by opposition?
GWB is not the source of pressure for Israel's death, he is the enabler of its suicide.
Time will tell. I wish I could make a coherant arguement that you're wrong, but I can't.
This is very disconcerting.
Israelis arrest teenage suicide bomber
Reuters
May 22, 2005
NABLUS, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli soldiers arrested a Palestinian teenager with a bomb belt tied around his waist at a checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus on Sunday, the army said.
Troops manning the Hawara checkpoint near Nablus became suspicious of a Palestinian teenager passing through on Sunday evening, an army spokeswoman said.
"The teenager was asked to lift up his shirt and it revealed a bomb belt containing two pipe bombs tied around his waist," she said.
The youth apparently intended to detonate the bombs at the checkpoint by igniting a crude detonator with a cigarette lighter, the spokeswoman said.
Palestinian residents identified the youth as 15-year-old Ahmed al-Nadi from the Askar refugee camp. He was taken for questioning and his bomb was defused by sappers.
The army spokeswoman said it was the 14th time in the past two months that a Palestinian teenager had attempted to detonate a bomb or smuggle arms and explosives through a military checkpoint despite a de facto truce declared in February.
The 1948-1949 territories were taken by Israel as a result of an Arab war to destroy the new State of Israel.
The 1967 territories were taken by Israel as a result of an Arab war to destroy the 19 years old State of Israel.
Those were facts, not possibilities, no matter what someone's propaganda says.
The right of Israel to keep the land taken in 1967 is the same right it has to keep the land it taken in 1948-1949.
That is what a logical person/ leader would say.
But politics aren't logical, they are dirty.
Exactly!
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