April 3, 1949
Israel signs an armistice with Jordan, the third of four such agreements it signs with Arab states to end the War of Independence, after Egypt (February 24) and Lebanon (March 23) and before Syria (July 20). Israel does not sign peace treaties with its Arab neighbors or with the Palestinian Arabs. No international borders are fixed or recognized.
The war leaves the city of Jerusalem divided into Arab and Jewish sectors, not to be reunited until the June 1967 war. Judea and Samaria, the West Bank of the Jordan River, are spoils of war for Jordan’s King Abdullah. He and his successor, King Hussein, control the area until June 1967 and maintain claims to it until 1988.
The armistice with Jordan results from negotiations that began in 1948.
Mediated negotiations started in March in Rhodes under the auspices of U.N. chief negotiator Ralph Bunche, who wins the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in the Middle East. Israel wanted to ensure that any agreement would grant Jews access to holy places and would remove Iraqi troops from the West Bank and the swathe of territory called the Arab Triangle near Haifa.
On April 24, 1949, Jordan, as part of its Greater Syria Plan, annexes the West Bank in a move regarded by most of the world, including the Arab League, as illegal. Nonetheless, Jordan seeks the return of the West Bank and East Jerusalem for two decades after losing them in the Six-Day War until renouncing all legal and administrative claims in July 1988, opening the way for the Palestinians to negotiate for their own control of the West Bank.
The Yale Law School’s Avalon Project has the complete armistice agreement.
