Green Line refers to the demarcation lines set out in the 1949 Armistice Agreements between Israel and its neighbours (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria) after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The Green Line is also used to mark the line between Israel and the territories captured in the Six-Day War, including the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and Sinai Peninsula (the latter has since been successfully retrieved by Egypt). The name derives from the green ink used to draw the line on the map while the talks were going on.[1]
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The Green Line is not an international or permanent border. Professor Stephen M. Schwebel[2], at the time a deputy legal advisor to the U.S. Department of State, Legal Adviser Office (1961–1981), wrote in the American Journal of International Law (1970) that "...modifications of the 1949 armistice lines among those States within former Palestinian territory are lawful (if not necessarily desirable), whether those modifications are...'insubstantial alterations required for mutual security' or more substantial alterations - such as recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the whole of Jerusalem." In a footnote, he wrote: "It should be added that the armistice agreements of 1949 expressly preserved the territorial claims of all parties and did not purport to establish definitive boundaries between them."[3]
While the line is only an Armistice Demarcation Line[4], in practice it is used to differentiate between those areas which are administered as part of the State of Israel, and the areas outside it, which are administered by the Israeli military or the Palestinian National Authority.[5][6] The extended municipality of Jerusalem constitutes one exception to this: although the parts ruled by Jordan until 1967 fall outside the Green Line, Israel has informally annexed them according to the Basic Jerusalem Law (1980). While other nations' positions on Jerusalem vary, the UNSC condemned Israel's measures at changing the status of Jerusalem [7]
The Golan Heights are another exception, having been informally annexed with the Golan Heights Law (1981), which the UNSC announced as null and void, without any international legal effect[8], Israeli settlements are also essentially subject to the laws of the State of Israel rather than the PNA's laws.
The sections of the Line that delineate the boundaries between Israel, the West Bank and Gaza run through heavily populated regions. The line corresponds to the military front of the 1948 War, and while the considerations dictating its placement were primarily military, it soon became clear that in many places it divided towns and villages, and separated farmers from their fields. Consequently, the Green Line underwent various slight adjustments, and special arrangements were made for limited movement in certain areas.[9]
Jerusalem was divided in half, into East and West Jerusalem and the village of Barta'a, which, partially due to errors on the map, was left with one third of its area on the Israeli side and two thirds outside of it. Kibbutz Ramat Rachel was left almost entirely outside the Israeli side of the Green Line.[9]
According to Avi Shlaim, in March 1949 as the Iraqi forces withdrew and handed over their positions to the Jordanian legion, Israel carried out Operation Shin-Tav-Shin which allowed Israel to renegotiate the cease fire line in the Wadi Ara area of the northern West Bank in a secret agreement that was incorporated into the General Armistice Agreement. The green line was redrawn in blue ink on the southern map to give the impression that a movement into green line had been made.[10]
During the war, Jews residing east of the Line, including the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, were taken prisoner by the Jordanians. All but a few of the Gush Etzion defenders were massacred. The prisoners were returned to Israel after the war.[5] On July 8, 1948, the Jewish inhabitants of Kfar Darom and Naharayim were evacuated by Israel due to military pressure by Egypt and Jordan. Israel also withdrew from villages in the Lebanese Upper Galilee, whereas Syria withdrew from Mishmar HaYarden.
Since Israel's victory in the Six-Day War, Israeli settlements have been established south and east of the Line. From August to September 2005, Israel implemented a unilateral disengagement plan in which the entire Jewish population of the Gaza Strip was evacuated. In 2006, Ehud Olmert proposed a convergence plan that called for Israel to disengage, unilaterally, if necessary, from much of the West Bank (east of the Line). This plan was disrupted by the 2006 Israel-Gaza conflict and the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict.
The majority of Arabs on the Israeli side of the Line fled or were expelled during the war. Those who remained became Israeli citizens and now comprise approximately 20% of Israel's total citizenry. The Umm al-Fahm-Baqa al-Gharbiyye-Tira area, known as "the Triangle", was originally designated to fall under Jordanian jurisdiction, but Israel demanded its inclusion on the Israeli side due to military and strategic considerations. To achieve this, a territorial swap was negotiated with Transjordan, giving the latter Israeli territory in the southern hills of Hebron in exchange for the Triangle villages in Wadi Ara.[5] In the Six-Day War, Israel occupied territories beyond the Green Line inhabited by over a million Palestinian Arabs, including refugees from the 1947–1949 war.[11] The Green Line remained the administrative border between these territories (with the exception of Jerusalem) and the areas inside the Israeli side of the Green Line.
In 1967, East Jerusalem was annexed into Israel, with its Arab inhabitants given permanent residency status. They were also entitled to apply for Israeli citizenship. Domestically, the status of East Jerusalem as part of Israel was further entrenched with the Jerusalem Law of 1980. United Nations Security Council Resolution 478 , determined the law null and void. In 1981, the rule of law of the State of Israel was extended to the Golan Heights with the Golan Heights Law in what can be seen as an informal annexation.
The question of whether, or to what extent, Israel should withdraw its population and forces to its side of the Green Line remains a crucial issue in some discussions surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The near-unanimous international consensus has been displayed in the yearly UN General Assembly vote on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine.[12] Although disputed by Israel, UN resolution 242[13] has made clear the interpretation of international law regarding Palestinian Territory. The Palestinians were not party to the drawing of the Green Line and rejected UN resolution 242 on the basis that it did not specifically call for an independent Palestinian state, but rather spoke of them as refugees. Since 1976, most elements in the PLO have accepted the pre-June 1967 borders as a basis for the establishment of a Palestinian state.[14]
According to Noam Chomsky, claims that the Palestinian leadership reject the international consensus calling for a Palestinian state with borders along the Green Line are not consistent with the documented record.[15] Smaller elements in the Palestinian leadership, such as Hamas, have called for a two state settlement based on the pre-June 1967 borders (the Green Line).[16][17] However, Hamas's official policy continues to deny Israel's right to exist and is committed to its destruction.[18]
According to Hebrew University Geographer Ilan Salomon, the Green Line can be discerned via satellite, marked by the Jewish National Fund pine forests planted to demarcate Israeli space. Salomon and Larissa Fleishman conducted a study regarding Israeli students' knowledge of the location of the Green Line and found that not much more than 1/3 could identify its placement; they furthermore found that "students who identify with left-leaning parties are more familiar with the location of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, can sketch them more accurately and are also more aware of the nature of borders."[19]