Israeli-Syrian General
Armistice Agreement
July 20, 1949
The Parties to the present Agreement,
Responding to the Security
Council resolution of 16 November 1948, calling upon them, as a further provisional measure under
Article
40 of the Charter of the United Nations and in order to facilitate the
transition from the present truce to permanent peace in Palestine, to negotiate
an armistice;
Having decided to enter into negotiations under United Nations (chairmanship
concerning the implementation of the Security
Council resolution of 16 November 1948; and having appointed representatives
empowered to negotiate and conclude an Armistice Agreement;
The undersigned representatives, having exchanged their full powers found to
be in good and proper form, have agreed upon the following provisions:
With a view to promoting the return of permanent peace in Palestine and in
recognition of the importance in this regard of mutual assurances concerning the
future military operations of the Parties, the following principles, which shall
be fully observed by both Parties during the armistice, are hereby affirmed:
1. The injunction of the Security Council against resort to military force in
the settlement of the Palestine question shall henceforth be scrupulously
respected by both Parties. The establishment of an armistice between their armed
forces is accepted as an indispensable step toward the liquidation of armed
conflict and the restoration of peace in Palestine.
2. No aggressive action by the armed forces-land, sea or air-of either Party
shall be undertaken, planned, or threatened against the people or the armed
forces of the other; it being understood that the use of the term planned in
this context has no bearing on normal staff planning as generally practiced in
military organizations.
3. The right of each Party to its security and freedom from fear of attack by
the armed forces of the other shall be fully respected.
With a specific view to the implementation of the resolution
of the Security Council of 16 November 1948, the following principles and
purposes are affirmed:
1. The principle that no military or political advantage should be gained
under the truce ordered by the Security Council is recognized.
2. It is also recognized that no provision of this Agreement shall in any way
prejudice the rights, claims and positions of either Party hereto in the
ultimate peaceful settlement of the Palestine question, the provisions of this
Agreement being dictated exclusively by military, and not by political,
considerations.
1. In pursuance of the foregoing principles and of the resolution of the
Security Council of 16 November 1948, a general armistice between the armed
forces of the two Parties-land, sea and air-is hereby established.
2. No element of the land, sea or air, military or pare-military, forces of
either Party, including non-regular forces, shall commit any warlike or hostile
act against the military or pare-military forces of the other Party, or against
civilians in territory under the control of that Party; or shall advance beyond
or pass over for any purpose whatsoever the Armistice Demarcation Line set forth
in article V of this Agreement; or enter into or pass through the air space of
the other Party or through the waters within three miles of the coastline of the
other Party.
3. No warlike act or act of hostility shall be conducted from territory
controlled by one of the Parties to this Agreement against the other Party or
against civilians in territory under control of that Party.
1. The line described in article V of this Agreement
shall be designated as the Armistice Demarcation Line and is delineated in
pursuance of the purpose and intent of the resolution
of the Security Council of 16 November 1948.
2. The basic purpose of the Armistice Demarcation Line is to delineate the
line beyond which the armed forces of the respective Parties shall not move.
3. Rules and regulations of the armed forces of the Parties, which prohibit
civilians from crossing the fighting lines or entering the area between the
lines, shall remain in effect after the signing of this Agreement, with
application to the Armistice Demarcation Line defined in Article
V, subject to the provisions of paragraph 5 of that article.
1. It is emphasized that the following arrangements for the Armistice
Demarcation Line between the Israeli and Syrian armed forces and for the
Demilitarized Zone are not to be interpreted as having any relation whatsoever
to ultimate territorial arrangements affecting the two Parties to this
Agreement.
2. In pursuance of the spirit of the Security
Council resolution of 16 November 1948, the Armistice Demarcation Line and
the Demilitarized Zone have been defined with a view toward separating the armed
forces of the two Parties in such manner as to minimize the possibility of
friction and incident, while providing for the gradual restoraton [restoration]
of normal civilian life in the area of the Demilitarized Zone, without prejudice
to the ultimate settlement.
3. The Armistice Demarcation Line shall be as delineated on the map attached
to this Agreement as annex I. The Armistice
Demarcation Line shall follow a line midway between the existing truce lines, as
certified by the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization for the Israeli
and Syrian forces. Where the existing truce lines run along the international
boundary between Syria and Palestine, the Armistice Demarcation Line shall
follow the boundary line
4. The armed forces of the two Parties shall nowhere advance beyond the
Armistice Demarcation Line.
5. (a) Where the Armistice Demarcation Line does not correspond to the
international boundary between Syria and Palestine, the area between the
Armistice Demarcation Line and the boundary, pending final territorial
settlement between the Parties, shall be established as a Demilitarized Zone
from which the armed forces of both Parties shall be totally excluded, and in
which no activities by military or pare-military forces shall be permitted. This
provision applies to the Ein Gev and Dardara sectors which shall form part of
the Demilitarized Zone.
(b) Any advance by the armed forces, military or pare-military, of either
Party into any part of the Demilitarized Zone, when confirmed by the United
Nations representatives referred to in the following sub-paragraph, shall
constitute a flagrant violation of this Agreement.
(c) The Chairman of the Mixed Armistice Commission established in article
VII of this Agreement and United Nations observers attached to the
Commission shall be responsible for ensuring the full implementation of this
article.
(d) The withdrawal of such armed forces as are now found in the Demilitarized
Zone shall be in accordance with the schedule of withdrawal annexed to this
Agreement (annex II).
(e) The Chairman of the Mixed Armistice Commission shall be empowered to
authorize the return of civilians to villages and settlements in the
Demilitarized Zone and the employment of limited numbers of locally recruited
civilian police in the zone for internal security purposes, and shall be guided
in this regard by the schedule of withdrawal referred to in sub-paragraph (d) of
this article.
6. On each side of the Demilitarized Zone there shall be areas, as defined in
annex III to this Agreement, in which defensive forces only shall be maintained,
in accordance with the definition of defensive forces set forth in annex IV to this Agreement.
All prisoners of war detained by either Party to this Agreement and belonging
to the armed forces, regular or irregular, of the other Party, shall be
exchanged as follows:
1. The exchange of prisoners of war shall be under United Nations supervision
and control throughout. The exchange shall take place at the site of the
Armistice Conference within twenty-four hours of the signing of this Agreement.
2. Prisoners of war against whom a penal prosecution may be pending, as well
as those sentenced for crime or other offence, shall be included in this
exchange of prisoners.
3. All articles of personal use, valuables, letters, documents,
identification marks, and other personal erects of whatever nature, belonging to
prisoners of war who are being exchanged, shall be returned to them, or, if they
have escaped or died, to the Party to whose armed forces they belonged.
4. All matters not specifically regulated in this Agreement shall be decided
in accordance with the principles laid down in the International
Convention relating to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, signed at Geneva on 27
July 1929.
5. The Mixed Armistice Commission established in article VII
of this Agreement shall assume responsibility for locating missing persons,
whether military or civilian, within the areas controlled by each Party, to
facilitate their expeditious exchange. Each Party undertakes to extend to the
Commission full co-operation and assistance in the discharge of this function.
1. The execution of the provisions of this Agreement shall be supervised by a
Mixed Armistice Commission composed of five members, of whom each Party to this
Agreement shall designate two, and whose Chairman shall be the United Nations
Chief of Staff of the Truce Supervision Organization or a senior officer from
the observer personnel of that organization designated by him following
consultation with both Parties to this Agreement.
2. The Mixed Armistice Commission, shall maintain its headquarters at the
Customs House near Jisr Banat Ya'qub and at Mahanayim, and shall hold its
meetings at such places and at such times as it may deem necessary for the
effective conduct of its work.
3. The Mixed Armistice Commission shall be convened in its first meeting by
the United Nations Chief of Staff of the Truce Supervision Organization not
later than one week following the signing of this Agreement.
4. Decisions of the Mixed Armistice Commission, to the extent possible, shall
be based on the principle of unanimity. In the absence of unanimity, decisions
shall be taken by majority vote of the members of the Commission present and
voting.
5. The Mixed Armistice Commission shall formulate its own rules of procedure.
Meetings shall be held only after due notice to the members by the Chairman. The
quorum for its meetings shall be a majority of its members.
6. The Commission shall be empowered to employ observers, who may be from
among the military organizations of the Parties or from the military personnel
of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization, or from both, in such
numbers as may be considered essential to the performance of its functions. In
the event United Nations observers should be so employed, they shall remain
under the command of the United Nations Chief of Staff of the Truce Supervision
Organization. Assignments of a general or special nature given to United Nations
observers attached to the Mixed Armistice Commission shall be subject to
approval by the United Nations Chief of Staff or his designated representative
on the Commission, whichever is serving as Chairman.
7. Claims or complaints presented by either Party relating to the application
of this Agreement shall be referred immediately to the Mixed Armistice
Commission through its Chairman. The Commission shall take such action on all
such claims or complaints by means of its observation and investigation
machinery as it may deem appropriate, with a view to equitable and mutually
satisfactory settlement.
8. Where interpretation of the meaning of a
particular provision of this Agreement, other than the preamble and articles
I and II, is at issue, the Commission's interpretation
shall prevail. The Commission, in its discretion and as the need arises, may
from time to time recommend to the Parties modifications in the provisions of
this Agreement.
9. The Mixed Armistice Commission shall submit to both Parties reports on its
activities as frequently as it may consider necessary. A copy of each such
report shall be presented to the Secretary-General of the United Nations for
transmission to the appropriate organ or agency of the United Nations.
10. Members of the Commission and its observers shall be accorded such
freedom of movement and access in the area covered by this Agreement as the
Commission may determine to be necessary, provided that when such decisions of
the Commission are reached by a majority vote United Nations observers only
shall be employed.
11. The expenses of the Commission, other than those relating to United
Nations observers, shall be apportioned in equal shares between the two Parties
to this Agreement.
1. The present Agreement is not subject to ratification and shall come into
force immediately upon being signed
2 This Agreement, having been negotiated and concluded in pursuance of the
resolution of the Security
Council of 16 November 1948, calling for the establishment of an armistice
in order to eliminate the threat to the peace in Palestine and to facilitate the
transition from the present truce to permanent peace in Palestine, shall remain
in force until a peaceful settlement between the Parties is achieved, except as
provided in paragraph 3 of this article.
3. The Parties to this Agreement may, by mutual consent, revise this
Agreement or any of its provisions, or may suspend its application, other than articles
I and III, at any time. In the absence of mutual
agreement and after this Agreement has been in effect for one year from the date
of its signing, either of the Parties may call upon the Secretary-General of the
United Nations to convoke a conference of representatives of the two Parties for
the purpose of reviewing, revising, or suspending any of the provisions of this
Agreement other than articles I and III.
Participation in such conferences shall be obligatory upon the Parties.
4. If the conference provided for in paragraph 3 of this article does not
result in an agreed solution of a point in dispute, either Party may bring the
matter before the Security Council of the United Nations for the relief sought,
on the grounds that this Agreement has been concluded in pursuance of Security
Council action toward the end of achieving peace in Palestine.
5. This Agreement, of which the English and French texts are equally
authentic, is signed in quintuplicate. One copy shall be retained by each Party,
two copies communicated to the Secretary-General of the United Nations for
transmission to the Security Council and the United Nations Conciliation
Commission on Palestine, and one copy to the Acting Mediator on Palestine.
DONE at Hill 232 near Mahanayim on the twentieth of July nineteen forty-nine,
in the presence of the personal deputy of the United Nations Acting Mediator on
Palestine and the United Nations Chief of Staff of the Truce Supervision
Organization.
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