The borders of Israel in ancient times were defined roughly by… well this is where it starts to get complicated. There is the area described in the Torah, the areas controlled before King David, the areas controlled by David and Solomon and the area controlled but defined by foreign rulers such as the Romans. Like all maps in ancient times the lines were fluid, and described in rough geographic terms, often using names and markers that have disappeared since.
The creation of the lines of the Modern State of Israel are just as fluid. With the creation of modern Zionism, an effort was made to define the lines of what would be Israel. This story is worth a book, but the truncated version is that from roughly 1909 with the founding of Tel Aviv and the formation of the first Kibbutz a year later, Jews attempted to create a foothold everywhere they could by buying land from Arabs and living there. By the 30s and 40s this sometimes meant terrorism (on both sides) and even pitched battles to protect homes and farms.
From 1945 to 1947 there were almost constant skirmishes between Arabs and Jews, only sometimes mediated by the British. Following the vote in 1947 by the UN to establish Israel there was a rush to expand/define the borders as much as possible. The end of fighting in 1948 seemed to establish a set border for Israel. That all changed in 1967.
Almost everywhere we went was defined or changed in some significant way by the 1967 war. What happens to the land Israel won in that war is at the core of the peace process. All the land won and given away (returned?) in wars and peace agreements almost seem trivial to these lines (of course nothing is trivial on this topic).
Below a map from PBS with its own views, biases and issues.
Before I went to Israel I had the fairly standard liberal view, which is to say “Establish two economically viable states and things will calm down”. What this trip reinforced for me is how difficult that really is. The lines as draw in 1947 and 1948 were established by the British with crude maps, ignorant of where people lived and then redrawn by where the front lines were prior to the ceasefire. Since 1967 some areas have seen significant changes.
Do you return to the original lines ignoring the Arab villages split for no reason by the “Green Line”? Do you force Israelis to abandon not crude settlements but actual suburban neighborhoods and go back to old lines? What do you do with Jerusalem?
Understanding the “hard line” Israeli answer (of course there is no such thing as one Israeli answer to anything, but ignoring that) was much easier after this trip. When you can stand in one place and see a thriving farm literally in the shadow of what used to be two foreign powers it is a little easier to understand not wanting to give up an inch of territory.
If my notes are right the above should be looking into Lebanon
The most striking area for some reason was the day we met with an Israeli Arab (more on this later) and stood on an overlook which sits on the “Green Line” (the Green Line is the 1948 border). From that outlook you could see straight into the port city of Hadera and see the Mediterranean. It is easy to understand what some call “paranoia” might not be so crazy after all when you see a distance that I could walk in a day is all that stands between an army splitting the country in two.
Standing on the Green Line on a very windy day. The Arab village behind and below me was split in 1948 because it sits on both sides of a river and the British maps weren't precise.
Picture taken looking into Syria from a former Israeli military post on the Golan Heights. Some maps have this spot as Israel, some as Syria, some as "UN monitored". With the proper equipment the Israeli military can see what movies are playing in Damascus from here.
In Israel everyone has an opinion on what those lines mean and what they should look like. There are those who think the borders should look like they did at the time of the bible, those who want safety through cooperation with their Arab neighbors, those who want safety though strength and military protection, and many other points of view.
In many ways this trip made me less certain of what Israel should (and maybe does?) look like. In a country where disputes about borders are now determined by lawsuits, it’s easy to forget that even the US has borders forged in wars. But I know what North Carolina looks like, and I can draw a picture of it without making anyone mad. You can’t say the same thing about Israel, and I am struggling to figure out what that means for the people who live there.
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