ABSTRACT
Israel is a nation whose continuing state of belligerency with its neighbors has been punctuated by seven wars. In its pursuit of peace, it faces a difficult dilemma with respect to the question of territory and borders. There are few parallels to the Arab-Israeli conflict: it revolves around mutual challenge both to national sovereignty and to territorial boundaries. Israel’s willingness to engage in territorial compromise does not guarantee Arab agreement on the sovereignty issue, but without an expressed willingness, discussions over such an agreement cannot even begin. The Land of Israel has experienced two stages of division, and is now in its third. The first partition, in 1922, separated Transjordan from Western Palestine. The second partition, in 1949, was the product of the armistice agreements between a newly established Israel and surrounding Arab states. In 1967, the third stage of partition was initiated by Israel’s conquest of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Sinai and the Golan Heights.
