Many nations are born from conflict. Israel is still in the depth of this conflict. Let’s start with the fact that Israel is surrounded by 22 countries who don’t like its existence, 5 of which are directly on its borders: Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, and Iraq. On much of Israel’s border there is fence, and these fences change depending on the country being bordered. For example the fence between Israel and Jordan is just there, but the fence between Israel and Syria is built with cameras and intelligence because there is more tension along that border. The Golan is very important to the security of Israel. The land is mountainous, offering a better vantage point of the Jordan Valley. Right now having control of the Golan gives Israel control over the Valley, but as we all know, Israel didn’t always have the power in the Golan that it has today.
We have been learning about 3 phases in Israel’s border history, independence in 1948, the 6 day war in 1967, and the present day situation with the borders. Today we toured the Golan Heights with Sarit Zehavi, major in the IDF Military Intelligence Corps, having served for over 15 years. We explored the terrain and discussed these 3 phases in depth.
The original borders set for Israel and the Middle East were drawn by the French and the British to define what land each country would control. This was the Sykes-Picot Agreement signed in 1916. Lebanon was set to be significantly bigger than it was and together with Syria were supposed to be under French control. Iran was part of a larger territory that was supposed to be under British rule. We can see that this plan clearly wasn’t carried out because the French and British aren’t in the Middle East anymore and the land sizes aren’t what they were set to be.
Before declaring independence from the British Mandate, on November 29, 1947 the United Nations General Assembly passed the Partition Plan, an agreement which Israel agreed to but the Palestinians quickly refused and the 2 sides went to war. During the Independence War, Israel was invaded on all sides and the borders weren’t secure whatsoever. Eventually the war ended with a ceasefire.
Why did Israel fire the first shot in the Six Day War during June of 1967? Israel fired the first shot because military intelligence knew that there would soon be an attack. During the Six Day War, Israel captured the Sinai peninsula and Gaza from Egypt, the West Bank from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria. Israel didn’t plan on capturing that much land, and the borders would soon change once more because Israel would give the Sinai back to Egypt, and have only military rule over the West Bank…concessions made for peace. There was a plan to capture the Golan because of its militarily significance, for the safety of the citizens living near the border, and for the water in the Kineret. The Syrians had begun trying to divert water from the Kineret to Syria, and that would have been lethal for all the Israelis. The other reason being security was because of the valley, the Golan has the view of all the land around it because of how high it is and how low the valleys are. People living near the border were constantly faced with artillery being fired by the Syrians and they were constantly living in fear.
Finally, currently the borders of Israel are quiet because of peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan and the fact that the Syrians are too busy killing each other to try to fight the Israelis.