Green Line (Israel)

Israel's 1949 Green Line (dark green) and demilitarized zones (teal)

The Green Line, or 1949 Armistice border, was the armistice line of the State of Israel with Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, as stipulated in the armistice agreements signed in 1949, after the 1947-1949 Palestine War. Its name was given because on the printed maps before the Six Day War, it was marked in green. Other nicknames for the green line are "June 4, 1967 borders", "'67 borders" and "48 borders".

On the official map of the State of Israel, decided by the Ministerial Committee for Security Affairs of the Government of Israel in October 1967, based on the ceasefire lines of the Six Day War, the green line is not marked.

Israel's borders before 1967 reflected the deployment of Israeli and Arab forces following the armistice agreements after the War of Independence and the changes that took place in the early 1950s. Officially it was not a border line but the line of separation of forces between Israel and its neighbors.

Most parts of the Green Line today serve as an administrative border between the territories over which Israel's sovereignty applies, and territories administered by it through a military government or according to agreements with the Palestinian Authority. For example, in the cooperation agreement signed between the Magen David Adom organization and its counterpart the Palestinian Red Crescent in December 2005, it was determined that the green line would define the border between the organizations' geographical areas of activity.

Green Line's Form

The Green Line encompassed 78% of Mandatory Palestine which, starting in 1922, no longer included the eastern part of the Jordan. It more or less overlapped the border of the mandate area with Syria and Lebanon, most of the border with Egypt, and the border with Jordan in the Arava and Tirat Zvi to Hamat Geder. A large part of the mountain area in the center of the country was occupied by Jordan in 1948. This area was annexed by Jordan and called the "West Bank" (Arabic: دِفة الغربية), that is, the area west of the Jordan River, to distinguish it from the rest of the Kingdom of Jordan at the time, which was located east of the Jordan River. In Israel the area is called "Judea and Samaria". A narrow strip along the southern coastal plain came under Egyptian military control, and was called the "Gaza Strip" (Arabic: قصر غزة).