UNCCP – Territorial questions/Armistice line – Letter to Israel

UNITED NATIONS CONCILIATION COMMISSION FOR PALESTINE

Letter dated 3 September 1949 addressed to Mr. Reuven Shiloah, Head of the Delegation of Israel,
by the Chairman of the Conciliation Commission

Dear Mr. Shiloah,

During a preliminary examination of your Note of 31 August, the Commission noticed that on the subject of territorial proposals you refer on several occasions to the Armistice Agreements between Israel and Egypt, Lebanon, the Hashemite Jordan Kingdom and Syria.

In this regard, the Commission would like to observe that in its opinion any reference to the Armistice Agreements in connection with the final settlement of the territorial question is Palestine should be considered in the light of the clauses contained in the texts of the Armistice Agreements themselves, according to which “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 considerations”. (Art.2, para. 2 of the Israeli-Lebanese General Armistice agreement), and “The Armistice Demarcation Line is not to be construed in any sense as a political or territorial boundary, and is delineated without prejudice to rights, claims and positions of either Party to the Armistice as regards ultimate settlement of the Palestine question”. (Art.5, para. 2 of the Armistice Agreement with Egypt, Art. 6, para.9 of the Armistice Agreement with the Hashemite Jordan Kingdom and Art.5, para. 1 of the Armistice Agreement with Syria).

The Commission feels that it has to draw your attention to its point of view on this subject, in order to avoid all possible misunderstanding in the future.

Yours sincerely,

Chairman of the
Conciliation Commission