Note: Translation courtesy of the Ha'aretz English edition.
Two Parallel Lines Looking To Meet
(Article by Mazal Mualem, "Ha'aretz", December 15, 1999)
The main dispute over the border between Israel and Syria is focused on a
number of areas between the international border that was drawn in 1923
and the lines that existed on the eve of the 1967 Six Day War, otherwise
known as the June 4 lines.
The border between Syria and Mandatory Palestine was the subject of stormy
negotiations between France and Britain and in 1923, the lines were drawn
along the Hulah Lake, Lake Kinneret and the Jordan River along its entire
length (except for the northern tributaries).
According to that border, the Kinneret is entirely in Israeli control, as
is Hamat Gader, a narrow stretch along the eastern bank of the Jordan
north of where the Jordan spills into the Kinneret, as well as an area
east of the settlements of Dan and Sha'ar Yishuv.
On July 20, 1949, a cease-fire agreement was signed with Syria at
Mahanaim. Syria was the last of the Arab countries to sign a cease-fire
and the only one that at the end of the War of Independence held land
originally designated for the State of Israel according to the UN
partition plan.
According to the cease-fire agreement, the border would be matched to the
1923 lines, but Syria refused to allow Israeli forces into territory it
was holding, and thus, demilitarized zones were formed at Ramat Banias,
Hamat Gader and the area where the Jordan enters the lake.
The biggest issue around that line was Syria's access to the Kinneret.
According to the agreement, the Kinneret and a ten-meter stretch of land
east of it, were to be entirely Israeli.
The reality between 1949 and 1967 was that Syria controled territories
slightly to the west of the 1923 line and in the area north of Ein Gev and
where the Jordan leaves the Kinneret. Syria had access to the lake, which
they used to fire on Israeli fishermen and enabled Syrian fishermen to
sail on the northeast end of the lake. The Syrians also tried to prevent
farmers in the Ein Gev and Haoun area from working their land, and
prevented access to Hamat Gader. An April 1951, an incident in which seven
Israeli policemen were killed essentially cemented Syrian control over the
areas that were supposed to be Israeli.
On June 4, 1967, a day before the outbreak of the war, the Syrians
controlled areas that were considered demilitarized: In the Dan area, the
Syrian army was on demilitarized land, as well as on the eastern banks of
the Jordan, as well as in the northeast on Golan Beach, and at Hamat
Gader.