JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister; Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuentered Syrian territory on Tuesday, Israeli forces remain in the area It goes on ad infinitum, blurring the boundaries with its northern neighbor.
Since its founding in 1948, Israel has never had fully recognized borders. Throughout its history, its borders with its Arab neighbors have changed as a result of wars, annexations, ceasefires, and peace agreements.
Now, the fall of the Syrian president bashar assad Created situation It could once again reshape Israel’s borders.
as President Assad was overthrown Earlier this month, Israel quickly moved to Syria The demilitarized buffer zone lasted for 50 years. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the move was defensive and temporary, aimed at ensuring that groups vying for power in Syria did not threaten Israel.
But Prime Minister Netanyahu made it clear during a visit to the Syrian side of the buffer zone on Tuesday that Israel plans to stay for a while. Speaking from the windswept summit of Mount Hermon overlooking Syria, he said Israel would remain “until a new arrangement is found that ensures Israel’s security.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israeli troops would remain in a buffer zone on the Syrian border, captured after the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, until an alternative arrangement is in place to “ensure Israel’s security.”
Here we take a closer look at the evolution of Israel’s borders over the years.
founding of israel
In 1947, the United Nations approved a plan to divide the then British Mandate of Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state. The contested city of Jerusalem was to be administered by the United Nations.
Jews wave and cheer in the streets of Tel Aviv on November 30, 1947, after a radio broadcast announces that the United Nations plans to partition Palestine and create a new Jewish state. (AP Photo/Jim Pringle) ,file)
However, this plan was never carried out. Israel declared independence in May 1948, and neighboring Arab states declared war. The war ended with Israel controlling about 77% of the territory, Jordan controlling the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and Egypt controlling the Gaza Strip.
1967 Middle East War
During six days of fighting in the 1967 Middle East war, Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, and the Golan Heights from Syria.
This lightning victory, initially celebrated by Israel, set the stage for a decades-long conflict that continues to have repercussions to this day.
This photo released by the Government Press Office shows Israeli troops advancing toward Egyptian military positions in southern Sinai in June 1967 during the Six-Day War. (AP Photo/Government Press Office, File)
Israel soon annexed East Jerusalem. East Jerusalem is home to the city’s most sensitive Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites, as well as Palestinian populations.
Israel has never formally annexed the West Bank, but has incorporated much of the territory informally. settlement More than 500,000 Jewish Israelis currently live there.
The international community overwhelmingly considers both East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.
Israel also built settlements in the Sinai Mountains. Golan and the Gaza Strip.
Peace agreement with Egypt in 1979
Under the first peace agreement between Israel and an Arab country, Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt and demolished all settlements there.
Israeli Minister, counterclockwise from foreground, Ariel Sharon, Agriculture; Ezer Weitzman, defenseman. Moshe Dayan, foreigner. Deputy Prime Minister Yigal Yadin. Menachem Begin, Prime Minister. and Simha Erlich, finance. On March 22, 1979 in Jerusalem, Congress adjourned with a show of hands during a vote on the US peace proposal for an agreement between Egypt and Israel. (AP Photo/Max Nash, File)
1981 Annexation of Golan
Israel has annexed the Golan Heights, a strategic mountain range overlooking northern Israel. In 2019, then-President Donald Trump became the first and only foreign leader to recognize Israeli rule. The rest of the world still considers the area to be Syrian territory.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced this week that he wants to expand the population of Golan settlers after the fall of Assad.
1982 invasion of Lebanon
After briefly invading Lebanon against Palestinian armed groups in 1978, Israel re-entered the country in 1982 in an operation that occupied southern Lebanon for 18 years. Israel withdrew in 2000 after heavy shelling by the Hezbollah militia.
View of the Golan Heights, Israel, January 1982. (AP Photo/Max Nash, File)
Oslo Accords of 1993
Israel and the Palestinians have reached an interim peace agreement that grants Palestinians autonomy in Gaza and parts of the West Bank, while leaving Israeli settlements intact. The agreement was intended to pave the way for a two-state solution, but repeated peace negotiations have failed.
Palestinians seek their desired state across the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as their capital.
2005 Withdrawal from Gaza
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the time led a unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, expelling all troops and 21 settlements from the territory. Two years later, Hamas militants took control of Gaza and ousted the Palestinian Authority.
An Israeli settler cries in the mud after being dragged out by Israeli soldiers demolishing illegal structures at an outpost outside the Jewish settlement of Yitzhar, near the West Bank town of Nablus, on January 3, 2005. girls. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer, File)
War in Gaza and Lebanon in 2023
Currently being supported October 7 cross-border attack by HamasIsrael continues its invasion of Gaza.
Israeli leaders have not released clear postwar plans, but have indicated they intend to maintain a buffer zone along the Gaza Strip’s border with Israel, along with some kind of long-term military presence. Some hardliners in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition have called for the rebuilding of Jewish settlements.
Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip, seen from southern Israel, December 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Ariel Shalit, File)
In October, Israeli ground forces invaded southern Lebanon after a year of fighting with Hezbollah militants. Under the ceasefire, Israel pledged to withdraw from the land it occupied by late January.
fall of assad
After rebel forces ousted President Assad on December 8, Israeli forces moved into the Syrian side of the demilitarized buffer zone established after the 1973 Middle East war. Israel now controls the zone and targets deep into the country.
Although Israel says the move is temporary, its unrestricted presence has drawn international criticism from the United Nations as well as countries including Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on all countries with a stake in Syria to “work to avoid provoking new conflict.”
Syria’s new government has already lodged a complaint with the United Nations Security Council about Israel’s expansion into Syrian territory. The leader of the largest armed group, Ahmad al-Shalah, has publicly condemned the Israeli operation but said Syria does not seek military conflict with Israel.
Israeli soldiers stand on top of an armored vehicle as they cross the protective fence along the so-called Alpha Line, which separates the Israeli-held Golan Heights from Syria, in the town of Majdal Shams, Tuesday, December 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Delacroix)
Kermit Valensi, a Syria expert at the Israel National Security Institute, said he did not think the Israeli presence would turn into a long-term occupation. He said Israel had little to gain by provoking al-Shara, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, and that a long-term occupation would be costly both economically and to the war-weary Israeli military. He said it would take a while.
“It may take some time for Israel to withdraw. It depends on how the situation in Syria develops,” she said. “If a moderate government emerges along the same lines that Mr. Golani is trying to take, I see no reason to hold on to these territories for a long time.”
