An armistice agreement concluding the 1948 War between Israel and Jordan, signed in Rhodes, Greece, on 3 April 1949. It left a large portion of the territory west of the Jordan River, consequently known as the West Bank, under Jordanian control, with Jordanian forces taking over certain positions from Iraqi forces. Part of the armistice line, separating the West Bank from Israeli territory and bisecting the city of Jerusalem, came to be known as the Green Line. Around Latrun, west of Jerusalem, as well as in small areas inside the city, a no man’s land was established. The rest of the armistice line followed the 1922 border between Palestine and Transjordan. The total length of the armistice line was 637km, of which 330km constitute the border between Israel and the West Bank. Jordan officially annexed the West Bank in 1950, a move that was only recognized by Britain and Pakistan. Israel took control of the West Bank as a result of the 1967 Six Day War, and in 1988 Jordan waived all claims to the territory.

Known in the Arab world as the October War, and in Israel as the Yom Kippur War, a war fought between Israel, Syria and Egypt in October 1973. The war began with a surprise attack by Egyptian and Syrian forces in the midst of the Jewish fast of Yom Kippur. Despite their initial advances in Sinai and the Golan Heights, respectively, the Israeli forces repelled the Egyptians and Syrians and managed to cross the Suez Canal. Towards the end of the war, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 338, calling for a ceasefire and negotiations based on Resolution 242. The war ended with a ceasefire, followed in early 1974 by separate disengagement agreements with Egypt and Syria. Though the aftermath of the war saw the territorial status quo remain largely unchanged, within several years Israel and Egypt would sign a peace treaty, involving an Israeli withdrawal from Sinai. Following the war, the Agranat Commission was set up in Israel to investigate possible failures in the Israeli political and military leadership in preparing for the war. The publication of the commission's report triggered a political crisis that led to the resignation of Prime Minister Golda Meir and Minister of Defense Moshe Dayan. Casualties in the war numbered over 2,000 on the Israeli side, and several thousand on the Arab site.

A law enacted by the Knesset on 15 December 1981, by a vote of 63 For, 21 Against, by the initiative of Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and his government. The law unilaterally extended Israeli jurisdiction and administration to the Golan Heights. This effectively constituted an annexation of the territory that was occupied from Syria during the 1967 Six Day War, except for a small portion detached from it as part of the 1974 Israel-Syria Disengagement Agreement. Two days later, UN Security Council Resolution 497 declared the law “null and void”. The majority of the international community does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights and continues to consider it occupied Syrian territory.

An agreement between Israel and Syria facilitating withdrawals by both countries’ armed forces following the 1973 War, signed on 31 May 1974 in Geneva, Switzerland, ending a period of attrition warfare following the ceasefire. As part of the agreement, Israel agreed to withdraw from territories it held beyond the 1967 ceasefire lines. The agreement delineated two disengagement lines, with the buffer zone between them monitored by the newly-established United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF). It also contained provisions for a mutual exchange of POWs. The lines established in the agreement continue to serve as the de facto border between Israel and Syria. A similar agreement was signed between Israel and Egypt on 18 January 1974.

A proposal for the partition of Palestine put forth by the Jewish Agency Executive in July 1946 in response to the work of the Anglo-American Committee and parallel to the Morrison-Grady Scheme. The plan called for a Jewish state to be established over the coastal plain, the Galilee and the Negev, with an Arab state roughly covering the modern-day West Bank, and the Jerusalem area to be placed under international administration.

A summary of proposals as to the route of the West Bank Separation Barrier as suggested by Israeli NGO Council for Peace and Security from 2003 to 2009. The Council has served as amicus curiae in various cases regarding the barrier before the Israeli High Court, with its proposals having a significant effect on the revised route.

Reference map of Arab localities that were destroyed during or as a consequence of the 1948 War, as part of the process known in the Arab World as the Nakba (Catastrophe).

Reference map of Palestinian localities that were destroyed during the 1967 Six Day War.

A map of the “Little Triangle”, an area containing Arab localities that was under Jordanian control at the conclusion of the 1948 War, but was ceded to Israel as part of the 1949 Israel-Jordan Armistice Agreement.

A “national defense scheme” for the Jewish population in Palestine authored by Elimelech ‘Avner’ Zelikowitz, a member of the Haganah, the largest Zionist militia, in June 1937. The plan was prepared in response to a request by Haganah leadership, ahead of the possible termination of the Mandate for Palestine and outbreak of a Jewish-Arab civil war. The scheme detailed the military, financial and territorial outlines of the Jewish war effort, based on a phased advancement from north to south.