Stand for Israel

Border Conflict

Borders have historically been a fraught topic. Empires, countries, and states since the beginning of time have gone to great lengths to defend and enlarge the borders of their country.

Nowhere are borders more controversial and disputed than in Israel. Since its inception, Israel has had to fight to keep its land, and has more than once been pressured to give up land it justifiably conquered in war. In 1947, prior to Israel’s independence, the UN Partition Plan attempted to define the borders of a Jewish and Arab state. The Arabs rejected the plan out of hand, and after Israel subsequently declared its independence, the neighboring Arab countries invaded and declared war. However, Israel emerged victorious—and with an area 50% larger than had been allotted to it in the Partition Plan. The state at that time did not, though, include the Golan Heights or East Jerusalem. The Six Day War, in 1967, changed that as Israel annexed the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, reuniting the divided Israeli capital. Israel did not completely annex the West Bank, but began settling the area and creating villages.

Though Israel defeated Jordan and Syria and can rightfully claim those areas as their own, many have called for Israel to return to "pre-1967 borders"—in other words, a land without east Jerusalem, without the West Bank or Gaza Strip, and without the Golan Heights. Many who believe the land rightfully belongs to Israel have compared this to France demanding that the United States return the entire Louisiana Purchase, or Mexico reclaiming Texas. Somehow, though no other country in the world would entertain the thought of returning land it conquered in a war, it has become acceptable to envision the future of Israel without many of its key areas.

Israel shares a border with four Arab countries—Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. The Egyptian border is the least disputed; Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula, twice, but returned it to Egypt, and the demarcation line remains the same as when it was first drawn in 1906. Although Egypt temporarily occupied the Gaza Strip, they have since relinquished any claim to it and Gaza’s fate—whether part of Israel or an envisioned Palestinian state—remains uncertain.

Although Israel annexed the Golan Heights after 1967, the annexation was not internationally recognized, and certainly not by Syria. A number of villages along the border, including Shebaa Farms, have been subjects of dispute first between Lebanon and Syria, and then between those countries and Israel. In fact, Israeli control of Shebaa Farms was one of the motivations for Lebanon continuing to attack Israeli settlements. The Lebanese-Israeli border has also been fraught with tension and attacks. After Israel unilaterally withdrew from Lebanon in 2000, the "Blue Line," indicating the border between the two countries, has been recognized by the United Nations as the official border.

After the signing of the Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty in 1994, that border, too, has been relatively quiet. Jordan has withdrawn claims to the previously occupied West Bank, and the bodies of water including the Gulf of Aqaba, the Dead Sea, and the Jordan River, have provided natural demarcation lines and led to comparative peace on the eastern border.

The areas of the Gaza Strip and West Bank are the two most hotly contested areas. Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005 caused a great deal of panic in the Israeli public. Many feared (it turns out, realistically) that unchecked Palestinian control and growth in those areas would lead to more terrorism at Israel’s doorstep. Israel, they contend, needs "defensible borders," borders which strengthen and protect Israeli citizens, not undermine that security.

Many Israeli leaders have been adamant about not returning further to pre-1967 lines, but the pressure from the international community is great, and in the eyes of many, the Gaza withdrawal is viewed as a first step toward capitulating to those demands. Retreating behind pre-1967 borders leaves many Israeli citizens—including those in the Gush Etzion bloc, and residents of Maale Adumim and Givat Ze’ev, defenseless.