Editing 1949 Armistice Agreements (section)

== Cease-fire line vs. permanent border ==<!-- This section is linked from [[West Bank]] -->
The new military frontiers for Israel, as set by the agreements, encompassed about 78% of [[mandatory Palestine]] as it stood after the independence of Transjordan (now [[Jordan]]) in 1946. The Arab populated areas not controlled by Israel prior to 1967 were the [[Jordanian annexation of the West Bank|Jordanian ruled West Bank]] and the [[Occupation of the Gaza Strip by Egypt|Egyptian occupied Gaza Strip]].

The armistice agreements were intended to serve only as interim agreements until replaced by permanent peace treaties. However, it took three decades to achieve [[Egypt–Israel peace treaty|a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt]], and it took another 15 years after that to achieve [[Israel–Jordan peace treaty|a peace treaty between Israel and Jordan]]. To this day, no peace treaty has been signed between Israel and Lebanon<ref group="N">[[May 17 Agreement|A peace treaty between Israel and Lebanon]] was signed in 1983, but it was nullified by Lebanon within 10 months.</ref> nor between Israel and Syria.

The armistice agreements were clear (at Arab insistence) that they were not creating permanent borders. The Egyptian-Israeli agreement stated "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."<ref name="EgyptIsraelArmistice1949" />

The Jordanian-Israeli agreement stated: "...&nbsp;no provision of this Agreement shall in any way prejudice the rights, claims, and positions of either Party hereto in the peaceful settlement of the Palestine questions, the provisions of this Agreement being dictated exclusively by military considerations" (Art. II.2), "The Armistice Demarcation Lines defined in articles V and VI of this Agreement are agreed upon by the Parties without prejudice to future territorial settlements or boundary lines or to claims of either Party relating thereto." (Art. VI.9)<ref name="JordanIsraelArmistice1949" />

As the Armistice Demarcation Lines were technically not borders, the Arabs considered that Israel was restricted in its rights to develop the DMZ and exploitation of the water resources. Further that as a state of war still existed with the Arab nations, the Arab League was not hindered in their right to deny Israel the freedom of navigation through the Arab League waters. Also it was argued that the Palestinians had the right of return and that the Israeli use of abandoned property was therefore not legitimate.<ref>Avi Shlaim (2000) p. 57</ref>

In the [[Knesset]] then Foreign Minister and future Prime Minister [[Moshe Sharett]] called the armistice lines "provisional boundaries" and the old international borders which the armistice lines, except with Jordan, were based on, "natural boundaries".<ref>[http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Foreign%20Relations/Israels%20Foreign%20Relations%20since%201947/1947-1974/2%20Israel-s%20position%20on%20its%20frontiers 2 Israel-s position on its frontiers<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Israel did not lay claim to territory beyond them and proposed them, with minor modifications except at Gaza, as the basis of permanent political frontiers at the [[Lausanne Conference of 1949]].<ref>[http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Foreign%20Relations/Israels%20Foreign%20Relations%20since%201947/1947-1974/3%20Attitude%20of%20the%20parties%20on%20the%20territorial%20issue 3 Attitude of the parties on the territorial issue<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

After the 1967 [[Six-Day War]] several Israeli leaders argued against turning the Armistice Demarcation Lines into permanent borders on the grounds of Israeli security:
* Prime Minister [[Golda Meir]] said the pre-1967 borders were so dangerous that it "would be treasonable" for an Israeli leader to accept them (''[[The New York Times]]'', December 23, 1969).
* The Foreign Minister [[Abba Eban]] said the pre-1967 borders have "a memory of [[Auschwitz]]" ({{lang|de|[[Der Spiegel]]}}, November 5, 1969).
* Prime Minister [[Menachem Begin]] described a proposal for a retreat to the pre-1967 borders as "national suicide for Israel."

The internationally recognized border between Egypt and Israel was eventually demarcated as part of the [[Egypt–Israel peace treaty]].{{Citation needed|reason="There is no record of any International Recognition. The territory was never legally annexed to Israel"|date=September 2011}} The border between Israel and Jordan (except for Jordan's border with the post-1967 West Bank) was demarcated as part of the [[Israel–Jordan peace treaty]].<ref name="Jordan Treaty">{{cite web|url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/jordan_treaty.asp|title=The Avalon Project : Treaty of Peace Between the State of Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan}} {{cite web|url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/jordan_treaty_annex1.asp|title=Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty Annex I|date=26 October 1994|publisher=Yale Law School}}</ref> This occurred after Jordan had [[International recognition of the State of Palestine|recognized Palestine]], which had not declared its borders at the time. In its application for membership to the United Nations, Palestine declared its territory to consist of the West Bank and Gaza, implying that some of Jordan's previous border with Israel is now with Palestine.<ref name="UN Multimedia">{{cite web|url=http://www.unmultimedia.org/radio/english/2011/09/palestinian-authority-applies-for-full-un-membership/|title=Palestinian Authority applies for full UN membership|access-date=27 March 2015|publisher=United Nations Radio|date=23 September 2011|archive-date=12 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012111732/http://www.unmultimedia.org/radio/english/2011/09/palestinian-authority-applies-for-full-un-membership/|url-status=dead}}</ref>