The revolution and pacts (69). The 1949 Armistice Agreements (VII). GAAs violations. From the outset, the Arab-Israeli General Armistice Agreements (GAAs) were plagued by discord and disagreement. One basic disagreement concerned the level of responsibility the contracting states had to shoulder for violent activities along the borders, the scope and intensity of which had reached their highest in the early 1950s, and all were equally in breach of the GAAs. Moreover, they were more often violated and the violations ranged between cross-fire incidents and massacres. On several occasions, it was not possible for UN observers to determine ‘who fired the first shot'. Most of the ‘incidents' involved sniping, firing, assaulting, killing, kidnapping, looting and destroying... Many of the violations, some of which were brought before the Security Council itself, related to the demilitarised zones, which had thus became a source of friction, instead of fulfilling their intended role as a buffer. In March 1949, after the Egyptian-Israeli GAA of February 24, 1949, Israel forces carried on with a push South arriving at Umm Rashrash (Eilat). Discussion of complaints by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan/Israel Mixed Armistice Commission during the year 1952 resulted in: (1) Jordan was condemned for 19 violations (of the General Armistice Agreement); while Israel was condemned for 12. Statistics taken from The Official Records of The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan/Israel Mixed Armistice Commission : Period from January 1, 1953 through October 15, 1953 indicate that discussion of the 171 Israeli complaints by the Mixed Armistice Commission resulted in Jordan being condemned for 20 violations of the General Armistice Agreement. Meanwhile, discussion of the 161 Jordanian complaints by the Mixed Armistice Commission resulted in Israel being condemned for 21 violations of the General Armistice Agreement. As part of its dispute with Syria over use of the Demilitarised Zone created by the Israel-Syria Armistice Agreement, Israel from 1951 refused to attend meetings of the Israel/Syria Mixed Armistice Commission. The UN Security Council, in its resolution of May 18, 1951, criticised Israel's refusal to participate in Mixed Armistice Commission meetings as being “inconsistent with the objectives and intent of the Armistice Agreement”. sami.elshahed@yahoo
