The 1967 borders

 


There may not be a problem with president Obama's statement that the Israel-Palestinian negotiations should start from the 1967 borders. I don't think that this is what the president really meant to say, but inadvertently he made a very pro-Israel statement.

The 1967 war started from the 1948/1949 armistice lines. These were not "borders" but the less permanent and formal armistice lines. Armistice lines are never considered borders as they are established by facts on the ground and not by mutual agreement. The only mutual agreement that preceded these lines was the agreement to stop fighting for a while. To wit: the Arabs invalidated those armistice lines by attacking Israel across them.

The war ended at the current borders. Egypt signed a peace agreement (after badly losing the 1973 war). Therefore establishing a proper border mutually agreed by both parties.

The current western border of Israel is actually a more "formal" border than the 1948 armistice lines ever were: the kingdom of Jordan gave up its claims to the West Bank of the Jordan river (not that Jordan had ever had a legitimate claim to this territory). Jordan's abdication could be made legally only in favor of another sovereign power - Israel. So even though the Jordanian king said that he is giving the territory to the Palestinians, the statement was meaningless since there was no sovereign Palestinian entity to take possession at the time. There is still no such entity and even if it came into existence it would have no rights to any land held by the sovereign state of Israel unless Israel agreed to grant it some rights.

I'm sure that President Obama, being an educated man and a lawyer, meant exactly what he said: the 1967 borders. Which means the borders established AFTER the 1967 war and not the temporary 1948 armistice lines. According to the president it will be up to Israel to decide if it is willing to give anybody sovereignty over a part of that land. I'm sure Israel will be generous but I also don't expect them to grant their land to organizations that proclaim their desire to terminate the state of Israel like both the Fatah and Hamas do.