Nadene Goldfoot
THE GREEN LINE is not a permanent boundary. It never was and never was intended to become one.
Israel was declared a state on May 14, 1948 when the British mandate ended after 30 years. Israel announced its statehood and about 5 minutes later was attacked by all her Arab neighbors. Attacks on the Jews had started before on November 29, 1947. The Arabs had become violent when they heard the United Nation's resolution on Palestine, and this lasted until the signing of the Armistice Agreements in 1949. This Arab-Israeli conflict was called Israel's War of Independence.
What had started as a civil war between the Arab and Jewish communities in the Land had been started by the Arabs who refused to accept the resolution from the UN. From the beginning of April 1948, units of Arab irregulars crossed into the country from Syria, Lebanon and Egypt to reinforce local Arabs in their attacks on the Jewish neighborhoods. The Arabs were attempting to block the main roads, too.
On May 14, 1948, Israel was invaded by the regular armies of Egypt, Transjordan, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon and there was even a Saudi-Arabian contingent. They had come up from the south. The next day, Azzam Pasha, Secretary-General of the Arab League, proclaimed in Cairo: "This will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and Crusades."
2. He was Vice-President of the Court from 1994 to 1997 and
3. President from 1997 to 2000.
4. He is the former Deputy Legal Adviser of the US Dept. of State.
5. He was the Burling Professor of International Law at the School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University in Washington.
His opinions quoted are not from his position as a judge of the International Court of Justice.
He said that the armistice demarcation lines of 1949 are not permanent borders. The agreements in 1949 preserved the territorial claims of all parties and didn't purport to make definite boundaries between them.
The UN Security Resolution 54 of July 15, 1948 called upon the Arabs to accept a truce and stop their aggression.
Israel had indicated they accepted in principle a prolonging of the truce and that the States members of the Arab League had rejected the many appeals of the UN Mediator and of the Security Council's resolution 53 written on July 7, 1948 for the prolongation of the truce in Palestine.
Israel sees that there is consequently a renewal of hostilities in Palestine shown in the UN Security Council Resolution 54 in 1948.
The demarcation line that emerged in the aftermath of the war was drawn up under the auspices of the UN mediator, Dr. Ralph Johnson Bunche. That new boundary reflected the ceasefire lines of 1949 and was labeled, THE GREEN LINE. A green pencil was used to draw the map of the armistice borders, thus the name.
This 1949 so-called GREEN LINE didn't set out to "demarcate the Palestinian state." THE GREEN LINE referred to demarcation lines separating Israelis from Arab forces at the conclusion of the 1948 War of Independence. The armistice lines were NEVER intended to set permanent borders.
One must remember their history. JUDEA AND SAMARIA, CALLED THE WEST BANK BY JORDAN, was occupied by Jordan until 1967. Because Jordan had attacked Israel and Israel had won the fight-Israel won Judea and Samaria. It was originally supposed to be a part of the Jewish Homeland, and only because Jordan's King Abdullah I had stolen it and made it part of his kingdom-with the okay from England, of course, did it not become part of Israel in the first place in the final talks.
The Armistice Agreement says clearly in Article V:
1. 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.
Remember, the UN offered the Arabs their own Palestine before 1948 when they divided the land and the Arabs refused it on the grounds that they wanted all of the land; their half and the Jews' half. The Jewish contingent had accepted the land promised minus 80% of it which had gone to King Abdullah. They figured something was better than nothing.
As of 1973, modern Israel has never known permanent boundaries. Until 1967, its boundaries consisted of temporary armistice lines, agreed upon in 1949. Since 1967's 6 Day War, and pending a peace settlement, cease-fire lines demarcate the area under Israeli control. The cease-fire lines are 842 km (523 miles) long compared with the armistice lines which were 951 km (570 miles ) long. Most of the urban regions of Israel are less than 2 hours away from the nearest cease-fire lines. Before 1967, the armistice lines bisected Jerusalem and were 20 minutes away from Tel Aviv.
Originally, THE GREEN LINE was a term used to define Israel's borders with Jordan from the 1948 Independence War until the 1967 Six Day War. That's when they first used the green marker negotiating an armistice in 1949 to show a border between the 2 countries.
Today, THE GREEN LINE is used to show the pre -1967 border with Judea and Samaria and East Jerusalem, though East Jerusalem is now united with the rest of the city and is Israel's capital. During the past 20 years of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, THE GREEN LINE had become the generally accepted land marker used in land for peace negotiations.
The Palestinians have a population of about 2.5 million over THE GREEN LINE and believe that all areas over the green line should be part of their future state.
Israel maintains that the old 1949 GREEN LINE borders are indefensible. At its narrowest point from the Mediterranean coast to the demarcation line, Israel is only about 9 miles wide. It has also proposed land swaps of small areas of Israeli territory within the THE GREEN LINE in exchange for incorporating into Israel similar areas over THE GREEN LINE with large Israeli populations. Israel has repeatedly offered as much as 95% of Judea and Samaria for a Palestinian state in exchange for peace and did that at Camp David in 2000. It was refused.
Israel has also reportedly offered Palestinian leadership the option of establishing the capital of a future state in East Jerusalem, a move that is considered controversial by many Israelis, but that offer is now moot. The Palestinians had their chance, and have not changed since 1948. The Pope just recognized Palestine. They'll now have no need to recognize Israel, will they !
The Arabs refuse to recognize Israel as a state, and Obama refuses to back off from demanding a 2 state solution. I have the feeling he expects Israel to back down on all points, even expecting recognition from the Palestinians, whether they are Fatah or Hamas. It's like expecting North Korea to make nice with South Korea. Neither party is anxious for another get-together. Their political and religious positions will not allow them to do so. Many times Fatah and Hamas have united and broken apart. It is Hamas who has the charter of their goal to destroy Israel and kill Jews. Fatah is in agreement with them but just isn't as overtly active in practice. They are more insidious about it.
The EU and Obama, following at their heels, is again pounding the table to come to a peace agreement. Israel has already celebrated their 67th birthday and are living their lives, planning and building on land that they feel is theirs since no peace agreement has been reached, even though they've offered the Palestinians, who had lost the many wars of 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982, etc, etc, everything except the moon.
We've come to the position where Israel can manage even when under attack. For 67 years they've been coping. Their people have turned into warriors defending their land. They're believing in the future and building because they have small children. They are continuing their study of their laws, something that gives them security. It would be nice to have peace with the Palestinians. They've become extremely creative and lead the world in start-up businesses, 2nd to the USA. I believe the Arabs really need it more than the Israelis at this point. They need to alter their culture of death and hate into something much better. Recognizing Israel's rights and wanting peace would be their turn-around. They have brains but are not using them, and their people are not benefiting from their leadership at all. They're led into fighting and are losing their lives faster.
All this points out why Israel feels they have the right to build in land they won in 1967's war that they did not start. Obama keeps saying they must go back to the 1967 lines. Why? To be destroyed? General Obama can lead his own people, but this is not the decision of our Israeli Generals. This would be suicide.
Today, Israel is facing missiles from Lebanon and Syria and a possible A bomb in the near future from Iran. This little gutsy state is determined to live and must do so. 6 million Jews who live there and the 1.7 Israeli Palestinians' lives depend on this state. What would happen to the 6 million Jews of the USA and the 2 million scattered among the rest of the nations think would happen to them if Israel is destroyed? When Israel won the 67 war, Israelis were the heroes of the day. If they lost, all Jews everywhere would be attacked with anti-Semitic ferocity. It would be Nazi Germany all over again. Today there are more anti-Semitic attacks on Jews everywhere because the world leaders are caving into the constant demands of the Palestinians and the anti-Semitism from their brothers. Our world leaders are not leading, they are following. All it would take is some strong leadership in Israel's favor, not in her destruction.
Reference: Facts About Israel, Division of Information, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem
Myths and Facts-by Mitchell G. bard, Joel Himelfarb, 1992
http://www.ejjp.org/8-ejjp-statements/2-the-green-line-israel-palestine.html
http://www.adl.org/israel-international/israel-middle-east/content/AG/the-green-line.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/#.VV6aYdJViko
http://www.mythsandfacts.org/article_view.asp?articleID=191
Israel was declared a state on May 14, 1948 when the British mandate ended after 30 years. Israel announced its statehood and about 5 minutes later was attacked by all her Arab neighbors. Attacks on the Jews had started before on November 29, 1947. The Arabs had become violent when they heard the United Nation's resolution on Palestine, and this lasted until the signing of the Armistice Agreements in 1949. This Arab-Israeli conflict was called Israel's War of Independence.
On May 14, 1948, Israel was invaded by the regular armies of Egypt, Transjordan, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon and there was even a Saudi-Arabian contingent. They had come up from the south. The next day, Azzam Pasha, Secretary-General of the Arab League, proclaimed in Cairo: "This will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and Crusades."
Where were the forces of Israel standing and where were the Arabs standing after the War of Independence in 1948?
This is important. Israel's pre-1967 borders reflect this fact. Professor Judge Stephen M. Schwebel, former President of the INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE wrote the International Law "Justice" and said that the 1949 armistice demarcation lines are not permanent borders. This judge has:
1. served on the International Court of Justice since January 15, 1981. 2. He was Vice-President of the Court from 1994 to 1997 and
3. President from 1997 to 2000.
4. He is the former Deputy Legal Adviser of the US Dept. of State.
5. He was the Burling Professor of International Law at the School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University in Washington.
His opinions quoted are not from his position as a judge of the International Court of Justice.
He said that the armistice demarcation lines of 1949 are not permanent borders. The agreements in 1949 preserved the territorial claims of all parties and didn't purport to make definite boundaries between them.
 |
| Esau, father of Arabs, and twin brother, Isaac, father of Jews. |
The UN Security Resolution 54 of July 15, 1948 called upon the Arabs to accept a truce and stop their aggression.
Israel had indicated they accepted in principle a prolonging of the truce and that the States members of the Arab League had rejected the many appeals of the UN Mediator and of the Security Council's resolution 53 written on July 7, 1948 for the prolongation of the truce in Palestine.
Israel sees that there is consequently a renewal of hostilities in Palestine shown in the UN Security Council Resolution 54 in 1948.
The demarcation line that emerged in the aftermath of the war was drawn up under the auspices of the UN mediator, Dr. Ralph Johnson Bunche. That new boundary reflected the ceasefire lines of 1949 and was labeled, THE GREEN LINE. A green pencil was used to draw the map of the armistice borders, thus the name.
This 1949 so-called GREEN LINE didn't set out to "demarcate the Palestinian state." THE GREEN LINE referred to demarcation lines separating Israelis from Arab forces at the conclusion of the 1948 War of Independence. The armistice lines were NEVER intended to set permanent borders.
One must remember their history. JUDEA AND SAMARIA, CALLED THE WEST BANK BY JORDAN, was occupied by Jordan until 1967. Because Jordan had attacked Israel and Israel had won the fight-Israel won Judea and Samaria. It was originally supposed to be a part of the Jewish Homeland, and only because Jordan's King Abdullah I had stolen it and made it part of his kingdom-with the okay from England, of course, did it not become part of Israel in the first place in the final talks.
The Armistice Agreement says clearly in Article V:
1. 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.
Remember, the UN offered the Arabs their own Palestine before 1948 when they divided the land and the Arabs refused it on the grounds that they wanted all of the land; their half and the Jews' half. The Jewish contingent had accepted the land promised minus 80% of it which had gone to King Abdullah. They figured something was better than nothing.
As of 1973, modern Israel has never known permanent boundaries. Until 1967, its boundaries consisted of temporary armistice lines, agreed upon in 1949. Since 1967's 6 Day War, and pending a peace settlement, cease-fire lines demarcate the area under Israeli control. The cease-fire lines are 842 km (523 miles) long compared with the armistice lines which were 951 km (570 miles ) long. Most of the urban regions of Israel are less than 2 hours away from the nearest cease-fire lines. Before 1967, the armistice lines bisected Jerusalem and were 20 minutes away from Tel Aviv.
Originally, THE GREEN LINE was a term used to define Israel's borders with Jordan from the 1948 Independence War until the 1967 Six Day War. That's when they first used the green marker negotiating an armistice in 1949 to show a border between the 2 countries.
Today, THE GREEN LINE is used to show the pre -1967 border with Judea and Samaria and East Jerusalem, though East Jerusalem is now united with the rest of the city and is Israel's capital. During the past 20 years of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, THE GREEN LINE had become the generally accepted land marker used in land for peace negotiations.
The Palestinians have a population of about 2.5 million over THE GREEN LINE and believe that all areas over the green line should be part of their future state.
Israel maintains that the old 1949 GREEN LINE borders are indefensible. At its narrowest point from the Mediterranean coast to the demarcation line, Israel is only about 9 miles wide. It has also proposed land swaps of small areas of Israeli territory within the THE GREEN LINE in exchange for incorporating into Israel similar areas over THE GREEN LINE with large Israeli populations. Israel has repeatedly offered as much as 95% of Judea and Samaria for a Palestinian state in exchange for peace and did that at Camp David in 2000. It was refused.
 |
| United Fatah and Hamas Terrorists creating Palestine In 1980 I moved to Israel to teach English as a 2nd language. On May 31, 1980, before I got there, the 4th Fatah Organization Convention from Damascus, Syria stated that " The Fatah movement-...aim is the liberation of Palestine in its entirety, and the extermination of the Zionist entity economically, politically, militarily, culturally and idealistically. They are just a little bit nicer than the religious leader in Qatar, Qaradawi, who threatens to kill Jews with his bare hands. |
Israel has also reportedly offered Palestinian leadership the option of establishing the capital of a future state in East Jerusalem, a move that is considered controversial by many Israelis, but that offer is now moot. The Palestinians had their chance, and have not changed since 1948. The Pope just recognized Palestine. They'll now have no need to recognize Israel, will they !
The Arabs refuse to recognize Israel as a state, and Obama refuses to back off from demanding a 2 state solution. I have the feeling he expects Israel to back down on all points, even expecting recognition from the Palestinians, whether they are Fatah or Hamas. It's like expecting North Korea to make nice with South Korea. Neither party is anxious for another get-together. Their political and religious positions will not allow them to do so. Many times Fatah and Hamas have united and broken apart. It is Hamas who has the charter of their goal to destroy Israel and kill Jews. Fatah is in agreement with them but just isn't as overtly active in practice. They are more insidious about it.
The EU and Obama, following at their heels, is again pounding the table to come to a peace agreement. Israel has already celebrated their 67th birthday and are living their lives, planning and building on land that they feel is theirs since no peace agreement has been reached, even though they've offered the Palestinians, who had lost the many wars of 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982, etc, etc, everything except the moon.
We've come to the position where Israel can manage even when under attack. For 67 years they've been coping. Their people have turned into warriors defending their land. They're believing in the future and building because they have small children. They are continuing their study of their laws, something that gives them security. It would be nice to have peace with the Palestinians. They've become extremely creative and lead the world in start-up businesses, 2nd to the USA. I believe the Arabs really need it more than the Israelis at this point. They need to alter their culture of death and hate into something much better. Recognizing Israel's rights and wanting peace would be their turn-around. They have brains but are not using them, and their people are not benefiting from their leadership at all. They're led into fighting and are losing their lives faster.
All this points out why Israel feels they have the right to build in land they won in 1967's war that they did not start. Obama keeps saying they must go back to the 1967 lines. Why? To be destroyed? General Obama can lead his own people, but this is not the decision of our Israeli Generals. This would be suicide.
 |
| Syrian missiles to be used against Israel |
Today, Israel is facing missiles from Lebanon and Syria and a possible A bomb in the near future from Iran. This little gutsy state is determined to live and must do so. 6 million Jews who live there and the 1.7 Israeli Palestinians' lives depend on this state. What would happen to the 6 million Jews of the USA and the 2 million scattered among the rest of the nations think would happen to them if Israel is destroyed? When Israel won the 67 war, Israelis were the heroes of the day. If they lost, all Jews everywhere would be attacked with anti-Semitic ferocity. It would be Nazi Germany all over again. Today there are more anti-Semitic attacks on Jews everywhere because the world leaders are caving into the constant demands of the Palestinians and the anti-Semitism from their brothers. Our world leaders are not leading, they are following. All it would take is some strong leadership in Israel's favor, not in her destruction.
In 1947, the Arabs rejected the UN partition plan which would have created a Palestinian state.
From 1948 to 1967, Judea and Samaria and Gaza were ruled by Arabs. No thought was given to forming their own state. It is ironic that the Arabs demand that Israel do for a Judea and Samaria and Gaza what they were unwilling to do when they occupied the area.
Up to this president, Obama, the US had opposed the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. Their position had been that it is not the answer. President Bush had said that:
"In all likelihood, such a state would become a radical nation dominated by the PLO or Islamic extremists such as Hamas. The strong support for Iraq shown by residents of the territories during the Gulf War is but one recent example of the sort of radicalism that would likely envelop such a country. "
"The greatest danger, however, would be that a Palestinian state could serve as a forward base in a future war for Arab nations that have refused to make peace with Israel. "In Israeli hands, Judea and Samaria represents a tremendous defensive asset whose possession by Israel deters Arab foes from even considering attack along an "eastern front." This is a report by the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies. "Today, and Arab coalition attacking from east of the Jordan "would face very difficult fighting conditions" because if would be fighting uphill from the lowest point on the face of the earth: the Dead Sea and the Rift Valley that runs below it." The mountain ranges in Judea and Samaria constitute "Israel's main line of defense against Arab armies from the east. "
Myths and Facts-by Mitchell G. bard, Joel Himelfarb, 1992
http://www.ejjp.org/8-ejjp-statements/2-the-green-line-israel-palestine.html
http://www.adl.org/israel-international/israel-middle-east/content/AG/the-green-line.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/#.VV6aYdJViko
http://www.mythsandfacts.org/article_view.asp?articleID=191
