June 15, 1949
Thirteen months after Israel declared its independence, the state is in the midst of signing armistice agreements with its enemies after making significant territorial gains from its unexpected battlefield successes. Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett delivers an address to the Knesset to discuss the status of armistice agreements ending the war and the resulting demarcation lines that define at least temporary boarders for the state.
He reaffirms Israel’s willingness to negotiate agreeable and sustainable terms of peace with its neighbors. He says: “Israel is ready, as she has always been, to negotiate on the frontiers with any of the states with which she has an armistice agreement. Negotiations on this subject must, of course, form part of overall peace negotiations. If the approach is to be realistic, such negotiations must, in accordance with the Security Council Resolution of November 16, 1948, be a direct extension of the armistice agreements.”
Sharett explains that despite Israel’s desire to negotiate for lasting peace, it will not accept its Arab neighbors using political leverage to gain territorial concessions.
In the armistice agreements it signs with Egypt (February 24, 1949), Lebanon (March 23, 1949), Jordan (April 3, 1949) and Syria (July 20, 1949), Israel stands firm on keeping all the land gained during the War of Independence, retaining areas in the Negev Desert, the western Galilee and the coastal plain.
By choosing to go to war rather than accept the November 1947 U.N. partition plan, the Palestinian Arabs and leaders of neighboring states lost large areas that could have been part of an Arab state.
