The revolution and pacts (62). The 1949 Armistice Agreements (I). An overview. Between February and July 1949, General Armistice Agreements (GAAs) were signed between four Arab states (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria) and Israel. Iraq, which had participated in the war with an expeditionary force, did not conclude an agreement since it did not have a common border with Israel; its forces just left the arena. Egypt was the first Arab State to enter into armistice negotiations with Israel under UN auspices. The Egyptian-Israeli Agreement set the pattern of principles, procedure and machinery for all the other agreements. The basic assumption was that the agreements were intended to eliminate the threat to peace in Palestine and facilitate the transition to permanent peace. All negotiations were mediated on behalf of the UN by Ralph Bunche. This set of agreements had ‘hypothetically' put an end to the first round of the Arab-Israeli conflict: the 1948 War. The failure of the UN Conciliation Commission for Palestine to achieve more comprehensive peace treaties created a de facto situation that turned the General Armistice Agreements into quasi-permanent arrangements that regulated the relations between Israel and its Arab neighbours until the third round of the Arab-Israeli conflict: 1967 War. The text of all four GAAs included some similarly worded clauses. Article I, clause 2, for example, reads: “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.” Article II, clause 2, declares that: “No element of the land, sea or air military or para-military forces of either Party, including non-regular forces, shall commit any warlike or hostile act against the military or paramilitary force of the other Party, or against civilians in territory under the control of that Party.” Other clauses specify the settlement of problems specific to the terrain and the military situation of each of the different frontiers. Moreover, all four agreements also provided for a mechanism of supervision and settling of disputes. The UN operated a Truce Supervisory Organisation (UNTSO), staffed by a corps of officers from different countries, headquartered in a piece of no-man's-land in Jerusalem, and empowered to investigate complaints of violations of the GAAs. Such complaints were also adjudicated by Mixed Armistice Commissions (MACs), each chaired by a senior UN officer. Complaints of major violations were referred by the Parties to the UN Security Council, which based its discussions on reports prepared by the UNTSO chief of staff. [email protected]
