The northern boundary

The special location of the northern border of Palestine, and the specific problems and conditions associated with this line, dictated that it should be physically marked in an accurate and precise manner. The northern boundary was a ‘superimposed boundary’ signifying that it was placed through a settled area that was previously devoid of any other borderlines. It was to become a clear political separation line between two separate political units with a different set of rules, laws and administrative systems. People who found themselves on both sides of the new line had to adjust to its existence, and only its accurate demarcation could help the local inhabitants to get used to it. The borderline was supposed to follow projecting geographical landscape elements such as ridges and streams, in order to facilitate its administration by the various authoritative bodies, and in order to ease the change for the local population. Nevertheless, only along some parts of its course, and mainly along its western part, was it indeed a clear and outstanding separation line. Without clear and prominent marks, one could not recognize that a borderline passed through the region. The majority of Palestine’s eastern boundary line, which was determined shortly afterwards, passed along salient landscape elements – the Yarmuk river, the Jordan and the Arava Rift. Beyond that, it was only an administrative separation line between two British mandated areas. The southern boundary was marked in 1906, although it passed through a desolate desert region, and the fact that it wasn’t accurately marked didn’t bother anybody. In addition the British rulers of Egypt and Palestine did not relate to the borderline as a line that limited their movements. The northern border of Palestine separated the protectorates of two sovereign superpowers – Great Britain and France. The Middle East – and Palestine in particular – was fixed in the consciousness of the people who ruled it, and it was directly controlled by the countries concerned, unlike distant mandate regions in Africa or the Pacific Ocean. Therefore an accurate agreement, which would be determined by a boundary committee, was obligatory. This committee was supposed to pass

along the full length of the proposed line, to figure out all the details, and to mark the boundary in clear way. These complications led to a demarcation process that lasted for more than two years, until all the difficulties were alleviated and a final agreement was reached. Even after that, certain problems concerning the borderline’s delimitation were raised.