The maps presented below are only a few that could be used in learning and teaching about Israel and the Middle East. CIE wishes to thank Aliza Cramer Elias and her team at the Institute for Curriculum Services for allowing CIE to promote the use of the maps that they produced, found here in English and in Spanish. Diplomacy and war reflect the changing contours of states and borders along the evolution of Israel and the modern Middle East. We wish to thank the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs for allowing us to use some of their published maps. Others were made for CIE use. Max Fisher has assembled 40 maps of the Middle East from ancient times to the present, each with a brief introduction. This is a first-rate collection with almost no noticeable bias and with a devotion to accuracy. In addition, Michael Izady’s collection, the Gulf2000 project, focuses on eight countries of the Persian/Arabian Gulf. Izady also lists other map collections, including the Library of Congress, rich in historical items. The University of Texas also has a fine collection of Middle East maps, most of them drawn from the public-domain collection created by the CIA. Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs provides contemporary and historical maps of Israel and its neighborhood. For Spanish-language maps, please click here. For Hebrew-language maps, please click here.

Map of the Separation of Transjordan, 1921

As shown in this map, the British in 1921 separated a new emirate, Transjordan, from what officially became the Mandate for Palestine the next year. The British officially maintained political and military control of both areas until withdrawing in 1948.

Map of U.N. Partition Plan, 1947

The United Nations General Assembly approved Resolution 181 on Nov. 29, 1947, to divide the British Mandate of Palestine into an Arab state and a Jewish state along the lines in this map, with an international zone around Jerusalem.

Maps of Israel|November 29, 1947|Spanish|German

Allon Plan Map, 1967

Drafted by Minister of Labor Yigal Allon after the June 1967 war, the plan envisages Israeli retention of a series of settlements and military installations along the Jordan Valley as buffers to a potential Arab land attack from the east.

Maps of Israel|July 26, 1967