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Syrian-Israeli General Armistice Agreement

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aliasesIsraeli-Syrian General Armistice Agreement, Syria-Israel Armistice Agreement, Syrian-Israeli Armistice Agreement

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Summary

The General Armistice Agreement between Syria and Israel signed at Hill 232, near Mahanayim, on 20 July 1949, transmitted the same day by communication from the Acting Mediator, Ralph J. Bunche, and published as Security Council document S/1353/Rev.1 in the Official Records’ Special Supplement No. 2: responding to the Security Council resolution of 16 November 1948, it establishes a general armistice between the two Parties’ land, sea and air forces, affirms that no military or political advantage should be gained under the truce and that its provisions are dictated exclusively by military, and not by political, considerations and prejudice no rights, claims or positions in the ultimate peaceful settlement, fixes the Armistice Demarcation Line midway between the existing certified truce lines — following the international boundary between Syria and Palestine where the truce lines run along it — and delineates that Line point by point in Annex I in 24 numbered segments from the Lebanese-Syrian-Palestinian border meeting point to the Yarmuk River, establishes as a Demilitarized Zone, totally excluding both Parties’ armed forces, the area between the Line and the boundary where they do not correspond, including the Ein Gev and Dardara sectors, with withdrawal, demining and destruction of permanent fortifications in the Zone completed sector by sector over twelve weeks under Annex II, defensive forces only in the areas defined in Annex III on each side of the Zone, capped unit by unit in Annex IV with military aircraft and naval forces excluded, provides for the exchange of all prisoners of war at the site of the Armistice Conference within twenty-four hours under United Nations supervision, and creates a five-member Mixed Armistice Commission, chaired by the United Nations Chief of Staff of the Truce Supervision Organization and headquartered at the Customs House near Jisr Banat Ya’qub and at Mahanayim, to supervise execution, its Chairman empowered to authorize the return of civilians to villages and settlements in the Demilitarized Zone and the employment of limited numbers of locally recruited civilian police there; two letters joined to the Agreement, from the heads of the two delegations to the Chief of Staff, Brigadier-General William E. Riley, confirm that the Parties’ forces shall not advance beyond the existing certified truce lines and that in the Samakh area Israeli troops shall be stationed in the Samakh Police Station, Sha’ar Hag Golan and Massada only; the Agreement, whose English and French texts are equally authentic, is not subject to ratification, comes into force immediately on signing, and remains in force until a peaceful settlement is achieved (Syrian-Israeli General Armistice Agreement, PDF p.1-14).

What the file is

Security Council Official Records, Fourth Year, Special Supplement No. 2, document S/1353/Rev.1: the Acting Mediator’s communication of 20 July 1949 transmitting the Agreement’s text. 14 PDF pages, about 8,767 words as supplied (8,767 words in the text copy as counted on intake). The document is bilingual, English in the left column and French in the right on printed p.1-11 (PDF p.3-13); the covering communication marks the original text as English, while Article VIII, paragraph 5, states that the Agreement’s English and French texts are equally authentic. The Agreement’s eight articles, its signature block, Annexes I-IV and the two letters joined to it are complete in the file, and the map referred to in Annex I is reproduced as a full-page map image at PDF p.14, which carries no text. The text copy’s OCR is heavily garbled throughout, especially at PDF p.3, p.5, p.9 and the continuation of the second joined letter at PDF p.13; the section account below paraphrases, quotations were kept to passages legible in the text copy, and the signature block, Annex I, Annex IV and the joined letters were checked against the original.

Section by section

  • Cover and contents (PDF p.1-2). Cover of the Security Council Official Records, Fourth Year, Special Supplement No. 2, Lake Success, New York. The contents list the communication and Agreement at printed p.1, Annex I (Map together with detailed description of the Armistice Demarcation Line) at printed p.7, Annex II (Withdrawal of military and para-military forces; removal of mines and destruction of permanent fortifications) at printed p.8, Annex III (Defensive area) and Annex IV (Definition of defensive forces) at printed p.9, and the Letters joined to the Agreement at printed p.10.
  • Covering communication (PDF p.3 / printed p.1). The Acting Mediator, Ralph J. Bunche, informs the President of the Security Council that a general armistice agreement, in pursuance of the Security Council resolution of 16 November 1948, was signed by the delegations of Israel and Syria at Hill 232, near Mahanayim on 20 July 1949, and transmits its text. A footnote records that the document includes mimeographed documents S/1353, S/1353/Add.1 and S/1353/Add.2.
  • Preamble (PDF p.3-4 / printed p.1-2). The Parties respond to the 16 November 1948 resolution, which called on them, as a further provisional measure under Article 40 of the Charter and to facilitate the transition from the present truce to permanent peace in Palestine, to negotiate an armistice; they decided to negotiate under United Nations Chairmanship on implementation of that resolution and appointed representatives empowered to negotiate and conclude an Armistice Agreement, whose full powers were exchanged and found in good and proper form.
  • Article I (PDF p.4 / printed p.2). Principles fully observed during the armistice: the Security Council’s injunction against resort to military force in the settlement of the Palestine question to be scrupulously respected; the armistice accepted as an indispensable step toward liquidation of armed conflict and restoration of peace in Palestine; no aggressive action by either Party’s land, sea or air forces to be undertaken, planned or threatened against the people or armed forces of the other, “planned” having no bearing on normal staff planning; each Party’s right to security and freedom from fear of attack fully respected.
  • Article II (PDF p.4 / printed p.2). No military or political advantage should be gained under the truce ordered by the Security Council; and no provision shall prejudice either Party’s rights, claims and positions in the ultimate peaceful settlement of the Palestine question, the provisions being dictated exclusively by military, and not by political, considerations.
  • Article III (PDF p.4-5 / printed p.2-3). A general armistice between the two Parties’ armed forces — land, sea and air — is established. No element of either Party’s military or para-military forces, including non-regular forces, shall commit any warlike or hostile act against the other’s forces or against civilians in territory under the other’s control, advance beyond or pass over the Armistice Demarcation Line set forth in Article V for any purpose whatsoever, or enter the other’s air space or the waters within three miles of the other’s coastline. No warlike act or act of hostility shall be conducted from territory controlled by one Party against the other.
  • Article IV (PDF p.5 / printed p.3). The Article V line is designated the Armistice Demarcation Line, delineated in pursuance of the purpose and intent of the 16 November 1948 resolution; its basic purpose is to delineate the line beyond which the Parties’ armed forces shall not move; and the armed forces’ rules prohibiting civilians from crossing the fighting lines or entering the area between them remain in effect as applied to this Line, subject to the provisions of Article V, paragraph 5.
  • Article V (PDF p.5-6 / printed p.3-4). The arrangements for the Line and for the Demilitarized Zone are not to be interpreted as having any relation whatsoever to ultimate territorial arrangements affecting the two Parties. The Line and the Zone are defined to separate the two Parties’ armed forces so as to minimize the possibility of friction and incident, while providing for the gradual restoration of normal civilian life in the Zone, without prejudice to the ultimate settlement. The Line is delineated on the map attached as Annex I, follows a line midway between the existing truce lines as certified by the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization, and follows the boundary line where the existing truce lines run along the international boundary between Syria and Palestine; neither Party’s armed forces shall anywhere advance beyond it. Where the Line does not correspond to the boundary, the area between the Line and the boundary, pending final territorial settlement, is established as a Demilitarized Zone from which both Parties’ armed forces are totally excluded and in which no activities by military or para-military forces are permitted, a provision stated to apply to the Ein Gev and Dardara sectors; any advance by either Party’s armed forces into any part of the Zone, when confirmed by the United Nations representatives referred to, constitutes a flagrant violation. The Chairman of the Mixed Armistice Commission and United Nations observers attached to the Commission are responsible for ensuring full implementation of the article; withdrawal of armed forces now in the Zone follows the Annex II schedule; and the Chairman is empowered to authorize the return of civilians to villages and settlements in the Zone and the employment of limited numbers of locally recruited civilian police there for internal security purposes, guided by that schedule. On each side of the Zone there are areas, defined in Annex III, in which defensive forces only are maintained, as defined in Annex IV.
  • Article VI (PDF p.6-7 / printed p.4-5). All prisoners of war detained by either Party and belonging to the other’s regular or irregular armed forces are exchanged under United Nations supervision and control throughout, at the site of the Armistice Conference within twenty-four hours of signing. Prisoners under pending penal prosecution or sentenced for crime or other offence are included. Personal effects are returned to the prisoner, or, if he has escaped or died, to his Party. Unregulated matters follow the principles of the International Convention Relating to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, signed at Geneva on 27 July 1929. The Mixed Armistice Commission assumes responsibility for locating missing persons, military or civilian, in each Party’s controlled areas to facilitate their expeditious exchange, with each Party’s full co-operation.
  • Article VII (PDF p.7-8 / printed p.5-6). Execution is supervised by a Mixed Armistice Commission of five members, two designated by each Party, chaired by the United Nations Chief of Staff of the Truce Supervision Organization or a senior officer from its Observer personnel designated by him after consultation with both Parties. It maintains headquarters at the Customs House near Jisr Banat Ya’qub and at Mahanayim, is first convened by the Chief of Staff within one week of signing, decides by unanimity where possible and otherwise by majority vote of members present and voting, makes its own procedure (quorum a majority, meetings only after due notice), may employ Observers from the Parties’ military organizations or United Nations personnel (United Nations Observers remaining under the Chief of Staff’s command), receives claims and complaints through its Chairman for equitable and mutually satisfactory settlement, its interpretation of a provision other than the Preamble and Articles I and II prevails, it may recommend modifications, it reports to both Parties with a copy of each report to the Secretary-General for transmission to the appropriate United Nations organ or agency, its members and Observers are accorded such freedom of movement and access in the areas covered by the Agreement as the Commission may determine to be necessary, provided that when such decisions are reached by majority vote United Nations Observers only shall be employed, and its expenses other than United Nations Observers’ are shared equally.
  • Article VIII and signatures (PDF p.8-9 / printed p.6-7). The Agreement is not subject to ratification and comes into force immediately on signing; negotiated in pursuance of the 16 November 1948 resolution, it remains in force until a peaceful settlement between the Parties is achieved, except that the Parties may by mutual consent revise or suspend any provision other than Articles I and III at any time, and after one year either Party may call on the Secretary-General to convoke a conference to review, revise or suspend any provision other than Articles I and III, participation being obligatory; if that conference fails to agree, either Party may bring the matter before the Security Council. It is signed in quintuplicate, of which the English and French texts are equally authentic: one copy to each Party, two to the Secretary-General for the Security Council and the United Nations Conciliation Commission on Palestine, and one to the Acting Mediator. Done at Hill 232 near Mahanayim on 20 July 1949, in the presence of the Personal Deputy of the Acting Mediator and the United Nations Chief of Staff. The Israeli signatories as printed are Lieutenant-Colonel Mordechai Makleff, Yehoshua Pelman and Shabtai Rosenne; the Syrian signatories as printed are Colonel Fozi Selo, Lieutenant-Colonel Mohamed Nasser and Captain Afif Sizri (names checked against the original; spellings as printed — see Open questions).
  • Annex I (PDF p.9-10 / printed p.7-8). The Syrian-Israeli Armistice Demarcation Line in 24 numbered segments (reference map scale 1/50,000; the attached map, referred to in Annexes II and III, appears at the end of the fascicule and is reproduced at PDF p.14): from the point where the Lebanese-Syrian-Palestinian border meets MR 208.7 - 294.2 eastward and southward by Wady Assal, the “Marabout” Cheikh el Makhfi and Nabi Ruda, and along the Syrian-Palestinian border to MR 211.0 - 276.8; by Wady es Simadi and southward along a trail by-passing Dardara to the east to Lake Hula’s shoreline; along and around Lake Hula and southward along the Jordan River, with three straight lines west of the river (MR 208.5 - 272.9 to MR 205.2 - 269.1 to MR 208.8 - 265.0, and MR 208.7 - 260.0 to MR 208.5 - 258.2 to MR 207.0 - 257.0 to MR 207.4 - 256.0); southward and eastward along the Syrian-Palestinian border by BP 61 and BP 62 to BP 66; to the eastern shoreline of Lake Tiberias and southward along its shoreline; and from MR 206.3 - 234.8 southward to the bend in the road, south-east along the west bank of the railroad and the west side of the road to the Block House, and along the road to the Yarmuk River on the border, MR 209.5 - 232.2.
  • Annex II (PDF p.10-11 / printed p.8-9). Withdrawal of both Parties’ military and para-military forces with all their military impedimenta from the Demilitarized Zone is completed within twelve weeks of signing: the first three weeks for the sector from the Syrian-Palestinian border at the north south to Ad Darbishiya, MR 211 - 277; the second three weeks for the sector from El Hammam, MR 208.7 - 262.3, south to the Transjordan frontier; the remaining six weeks for the sector from Ad Darbishiya south to El Hammam. Removal of minefields and mines and the destruction or removal of permanent fortifications in the Zone are completed in each sector by the end of the third, sixth and twelfth week respectively. Each Party may remove its war material from the Zone; the Chairman may require destruction before leaving of material used in fortifications that a Party does not remove, and may similarly order destruction of permanent fortifications which in his view ought not to remain in the Zone.
  • Annex III (PDF p.11 / printed p.9). The defensive area, in which no military forces other than those defined in Annex IV are authorized to remain or enter: on the Syrian side, the area from the boundary to the north-south co-ordinate line 216; on the Israeli side, the area from the Israeli truce line to the north-south co-ordinate line 204, except that in the Mishmar Hay Yarden salient the defensive area is at a distance of six kilometres west from the truce line. Villages crossed by the lines defining the defensive area are entirely included in it.
  • Annex IV (PDF p.11-12 / printed p.9-10). Definition of defensive forces. Land forces not to exceed: three infantry battalions of not more than 600 officers and enlisted men each, each battalion’s accompanying weapons capped at twelve medium machine-guns of calibre not exceeding 8 mm., six 81 mm. mortars and four anti-tank guns not exceeding 75 mm.; six cavalry squadrons for the Syrian forces, each not exceeding 130 officers and enlisted men, and for Israel two reconnaissance squadrons, each composed of nine jeeps and three half-tracks not armoured and not exceeding 125 officers and enlisted men; three field artillery batteries, each not exceeding 100 officers and enlisted men in the English text (110 in the French — see Open questions), each battery consisting of four guns of calibre not exceeding 75 mm. and four machine guns not exceeding 8 mm.; and service units of 100 unarmed officers and enlisted men for supply and one engineer company not exceeding 250. Armour — tanks, armoured cars or any other armoured force carriers — is excluded from the term. In the areas where defensive forces only are allowed, use of military aircraft is prohibited and no naval force is allowed in the Defensive Area. Reduction to defensive strength in those areas is completed within twelve weeks of signing. No traffic restriction is imposed on transport carrying defensive troops and supplies within the area.
  • Letters joined to the Agreement (PDF p.12-13 / printed p.10-11). Two letters to Brigadier-General William E. Riley, U.S.M.C., Chief of Staff of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization, the first from Sgan Aloof M. Makleff, Head of the Israeli delegation, the second from Colonel Fozi Selo, Head of the Syrian delegation, each confirming in the same terms that the two Parties are agreed that their forces shall not advance beyond the existing truce lines as certified by the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization, and that in the Samakh area Israeli troops shall be stationed in the Samakh Police Station, Sha’ar Hag Golan and Massada only.
  • Map (PDF p.14). The attached 1/50,000 reference map of the Armistice Demarcation Line area, referred to in Annex I and its footnote, reproduced as a full-page image with no accompanying text.

Key passages

  • “no provision of this Agreement shall in any way prejudice the rights, claims and positions of either Party hereto in the ultimate peaceful settlement of the Palestine question” (Article II, paragraph 2, PDF p.4 / printed p.2).
  • “shall be established as a Demilitarized Zone from which the armed forces of both Parties shall be totally excluded” (Article V, paragraph 5(a), PDF p.6 / printed p.4).

Evidence the work relies on

  • The Agreement is a negotiated instrument, not an argued report; it gives no evidence section. Its stated authorities and incorporated documents are: the Security Council resolution of 16 November 1948 (preamble, Articles II, III, IV and VIII, with Article 40 of the Charter cited in the preamble); the Annex I map and line description, Annex II withdrawal schedule, Annex III defensive area and Annex IV definition of defensive forces (incorporated by Article V); the existing truce lines as certified by the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (Article V, paragraph 3, and both joined letters); and the International Convention Relating to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Geneva, 27 July 1929 (Article VI). Its transmission history is stated in its own footnote 1: mimeographed documents S/1353, S/1353/Add.1 and S/1353/Add.2, consolidated in S/1353/Rev.1.

Analysis

The Agreement’s method, in its own terms, is to separate the two forces not by a boundary but by a zone: its Line is drawn midway between the certified truce lines rather than on the Syria-Palestine international boundary, and wherever the two diverge the strip between them becomes a Demilitarized Zone totally excluding both Parties’ forces — a construction none of the other three 1949 armistices in the wiki uses, the Egypt-Israel agreement demilitarizing only El Auja and vicinity, the Lebanon-Israel Line following the international boundary itself, and the Jordan-Israel Lines following truce, cease-fire and surveyed lines with a ten-kilometre defensive-forces belt. Its demarcation is the most fully specified in text of the four: Annex I gives the Line in 24 numbered map-reference segments, and the attached map itself is reproduced in the file (PDF p.14), where the Egypt-Israel and Jordan-Israel files reproduce no maps. Its civilian provision is correspondingly zone-bound and discretionary: the Commission Chairman may authorize civilians’ return to villages and settlements in the Zone and limited locally recruited civilian police there, guided by the twelve-week withdrawal schedule (Article V.5(e)) — contrasted with the Jordan-Israel text’s stated protection of affected villages’ inhabitants in their full rights. Its quantitative Annex does different work from the Lebanon-Israel Annex’s flat 1,500-man ceilings: Annex IV caps each unit type separately for both Parties together — battalions of 600, squadrons of 130 (Syrian cavalry) or 125 (Israeli reconnaissance), batteries of 100 in the English text — prohibits military aircraft and any naval force in the defensive areas, and excludes armour altogether. Its time limits split: prisoners exchanged within twenty-four hours, as in the Lebanon-Israel agreement, but withdrawal from the Zone and reduction to defensive strength spread over twelve weeks, the longest timetable in any of the four texts. Its supervisory machinery matches the Lebanon-Israel form — a five-member Commission, here headquartered at the Customs House near Jisr Banat Ya’qub and at Mahanayim, with no Special Committee or appeal body — and Articles I and III, not I and II, are protected from revision or suspension, as in the Lebanon-Israel and Jordan-Israel texts.

People, organizations, places and events

Ralph Bunche, Mordechai Maklef, William E. Riley, Syria, Israel, Syria-Israel Demilitarized Zone (1949), Palestine Conciliation Commission, UN Security Council

Concepts

Green Line — this Agreement’s Line is drawn midway between the certified truce lines and follows the Syria-Palestine boundary only where the truce lines run along it, with the Demilitarized Zone between Line and boundary where they diverge; the Agreement itself calls it the Armistice Demarcation Line and states in Article II that its provisions are dictated exclusively by military, and not by political, considerations (PDF p.4-6).

How it relates to other sources

  • This is the fourth and last of the 1949 armistices in the wiki as a primary text, after the Egyptian-Israeli General Armistice Agreement of 24 February 1949, the Lebanese-Israeli General Armistice Agreement of 23 March 1949 and the Jordanian-Israeli General Armistice Agreement of 3 April 1949. The four share the preamble form, the Article I principles, the non-prejudice rule and the quintuplicate signature clause, and differ as recorded in Analysis: a midway line and a Demilitarized Zone instead of a boundary line or sector lines, a 24-segment textual delineation with its map reproduced, and a twelve-week withdrawal and reduction timetable.
  • Palestinian Right of Return: Sacred, Legal, and Possible glosses Resolution 194’s “earliest practicable date” as the cessation of hostilities, February 1949 (Armistice with Egypt) to July 1949 (with Syria), as recorded on UN General Assembly Resolution 194; this Agreement, signed 20 July 1949, is the July 1949 armistice that closes that span, and its own text contains no provision on refugees or return — its prisoner and missing-persons provisions (Article VI) and its Chairman-authorized return of civilians to villages and settlements in the Demilitarized Zone (Article V.5(e)) are its only provisions on persons held, missing or returning.
  • The joined letters’ Samakh stationing limit links the Agreement to Samakh, a Sea of Galilee town other sources in the wiki record as evacuated and occupied in April 1948: the letters provide that in the Samakh area Israeli troops shall be stationed in the Samakh Police Station, Sha’ar Hag Golan and Massada only (PDF p.12-13), and Annex II’s second withdrawal sector runs south from El Hammam to the Transjordan frontier. The Agreement itself says nothing about Samakh’s inhabitants.
  • Its transmission copies link it, as with the other three armistices, to the Palestine Conciliation Commission created by Resolution 194 (III): Palestine — Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator: two of its quintuplicate copies go to the Secretary-General for the Security Council and for the Conciliation Commission.

Open questions

  • Annex IV, I.1(c) differs between the two equally authentic texts as printed, checked against the original: the English text caps each field artillery battery at 100 officers and enlisted men, while the French text caps it at 110 (PDF p.11-12 / printed p.9-10). Both figures are recorded as printed; the file gives no third statement that would resolve the difference.
  • Footnote 1 differs between the two columns as printed: the English footnote lists the document as including S/1353, S/1353/Add.1 and S/1353/Add.2, while the French footnote states that the present document replaces the mimeographed document S/1353 (in French), without listing the Addenda (PDF p.3 / printed p.1). Both are recorded as printed.
  • Signatory spellings as printed in this document, checked against the original: Mordechai Makleff, with double f, where The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine and the existing page Mordechai Maklef use Maklef; Yehoshua Pelman, where the Lebanon-Israel agreement prints the second Israeli signatory’s first name as Yenoshua; and Afif Sizri, Fozi Selo and Mohamed Nasser for the Syrian signatories (PDF p.9 / printed p.7). No other source in the wiki so far names Pelman, Rosenne, Selo, Nasser or Sizri, so their spellings rest on the armistice documents alone.
  • The document heading in the text copy prints the document symbol once as “S/1353/Rev.11” (PDF p.3), where the contents page, the contents footnote and the original give S/1353/Rev.1; the reading is treated as an OCR slip for Rev.1 and recorded in the reading notes.
  • Article V, paragraph 5’s final sub-paragraph is printed “(c)” a second time in the text copy after sub-paragraph (d), where its position and the French column’s “(e)” give it as sub-paragraph (e) (PDF p.6 / printed p.4); it is cited as 5(e) above and recorded as printed in the reading notes.

Coverage

PDF p.1-14 of 14, read in full

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