The state of Israel, bordered by Egypt on the west, Syria and Jordan on the east, and Lebanon to the north, has undergone several geographical adjustments coinciding with diplomatic and military developments since its inception. Some involve border shifts while others are gains or losses in territory.
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Here are five of those changes:
1. Arab forces from Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon invaded Israel in May 1948, a day after its creation. Following the cease-fire in January of 1949, Israel had acquired western Galilee, a large swath of land through central Palestine to Jerusalem and part of Jerusalem itself.
2. Following the Six-Day War of 1967, in which Israel made simultaneous air attacks against Egyptian, Syrian, and Jordanian air bases, the nation acquired the Golan Heights, the West Bank of the Jordan River, the Sinai, Jerusalem’s Old City, and the east bank of the Suez Canal, effectively expanding its territory by 200 percent.
3. In 1979, following two years of peace talk efforts, the Knessett approved a peace treaty which was signed in a White House ceremony by Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, together with President Jimmy Carter. Soon after, Israel began withdrawal from the Sinai.
4. The Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace, signed on Oct. 26, 1994, was established to settle relations between the two countries. The treaty adjusted land and water disputes and provided cooperation for tourism and trade. After the signing, the Jordan and Yarmouk Rivers, the Dead Sea, the Emek Ha’arva/Wadi Arabs and the Gulf of Aqaba became the designated borders between the two countries.
5. Mahmoud Abbas was elected Palestinian president in 2005 following the death of Yasir Arafat. Though Abbas and Ariel Sharon had agreed to a cease-fire, Abbas had had little control over Palestinian militant groups. In an attempt at peace, Israel began its withdrawal of Gaza as well as some isolated areas of the West Bank’s 120 settlements.
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