Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Almost unanimously, Israelis believed that they would remain in control of these territories
until a full peace treaty was signed with Arab states and the Palestinians. Some thought that a
peace treaty would never be signed, others that reaching a peace agreement would take a very
long time. Each group had a different list of what Israel should give up or retain, with east Je-
rusalem and the Golan Heights at the top of the “keep it” list and the Sinai and the Gaza Strip
at the bottom.
Widening the Jerusalem Corridor and then having an Israeli presence in the Jordan
Valley — to ensure the security of Jerusalem and the border with Jordan, respectively —were
considered the highest priorities at the beginning. By the mid-1990s, a distinction was made
between “settlement blocs”— several highly populated settlements very near Israel's border
with the West Bank that most Israelis wanted to keep — and the larger number of small settle-
ments deeper inside the West Bank, which they were willing to give up. Among the main large
settlements were the Etzion Bloc and Ma'ale Adumim.
In general, there was a consensus among the major Israeli political parties on keeping east
Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, and parts of the West Bank and a widespread willingness to give
up Sinai, the Gaza Strip, and most of the West Bank. Broadly speaking, most Israelis agreed
with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's formula: peace in exchange for territory, with Israel re-
turning more captured territory if it received a more benefi cial and secure deal.
CHANGES AFTER PEACE WITH EGYPT
During the Yom Kippur War of 1973, Israel advanced farther into Egypt and Syria but, as part
of the ceasefi re agreements, returned to the post-1967 lines. Israel's peace treaty with Egypt in
1979 included its full withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula; it returned that territory to Egypt in
1982, which gave Cairo control over the oilfi elds in the western part. In exchange, Egypt agreed
to limit its military presence in the Sinai and to have an international force there to help ensure
peace. The international border between Israel and Egypt became the same as that defi ned by
the British and the Ottomans back in 1906.
There was, however, a dispute regarding a small area called Taba (under half a square mile,
or a square kilometer), at the northern tip of the Gulf of Eilat, which Israel claimed had mis-
takenly been given to Egypt in the 1906 settlement. After several years of dispute, the two coun-
tries submitted the issue to an international committee formed for the purpose. The group
ruled in Egypt's favor, and in 1989, Israel returned the land, which mainly consisted of a resort
hotel. As part of the agreement, it became a zone that Israelis could enter without formally
passing into Egypt or needing a visa.
Annexation of the Golan Heights
Israel's border in the July 20, 1949, armistice agreement with Syria deviated slightly from the
1923 border between the Palestine Mandate and Syria because Syria had seized 26 square miles
(67 square kilometers) after the 1948 war. According to the pre-1948 border, three small areas,
including a 33-foot-wide (10-meter-wide) strip on the northeast shore of the Sea of Galilee, all
of the Jordan River, and the Banyas spring belonged to Israel. Israel recaptured these parcels
in 1967. After the Yom Kippur War of 1973, Israel released 5 percent of the captured land of
