The Israel–Syria Mixed Armistice Commission (ISMAC) was the United Nations commission for observing the armistice between Israel and Syria after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as part of the Mixed Armistice Commissions (MAC). The fourth and last truce agreement, the 1949 armistice agreement, was signed between Israel and Syria on 20 July 1949 on Hill 232 near Mahanayim, ending the formal conflict in the former Mandatory Palestine. The Israeli side was represented by Lieutenant Colonel Mordechai Maklef, Yehoshua Penman and Shabtai Rosenne, while the Syrian side was represented by Colonel Fawzi Selo, Lieutenant Colonel Mohamed Nasser and Captain Afif Sizri. While the armistice agreements with Syria concluded the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, they did not mark the end of the Arab–Israeli conflict.
A feature of the Israeli-Syrian General Armistice Agreement (GAA) was the provision for the establishment of a special demilitarized zone (DMZ) between the countries. The DMZ established by the GAA between Israel and Syria was "defined with a view toward separating the armed forces of the two parties in such manner as to minimize the possibility of friction and incident, while providing for the gradual restoration of normal civilian life in the area of the DMZ, without prejudice to the ultimate settlement". This provision had to be made because of the divergent viewpoints of the two parties during the armistice negotiations as to the sovereignty of the areas within the boundaries of the former Mandatory Palestine, which had been occupied by Syrian troops. A compromise agreement was finally reached under which the disputed areas were to be completely demilitarized. The armistice demarcation lines between Syria and Israel outside of the DMZ coincided with the international boundary.
The Israeli-Syrian DMZ comprised 250 square kilometres of land, divided into three areas, to the east and to the northeast of the Sea of Galilee. Under the provisions of the GAA, the Chairman of the Israeli-Syrian Mixed Armistice Commission (ISMAC) was given responsibility for the "gradual restoration of normal civilian life in the area" and it was his task to authorize the "return of civilians to villages and settlements in the DMZ". The chairman of the Israel-Syrian Mixed Armistice Commission was given duties and powers in addition to those held by the chairman of the other three Mixed Armistice Commissions.
The Headquarters of the ISMAC was situated at the Customs House near Daughters of Jacob Bridge and at Mahanayim, The overall HQ of the controlling body of the 4 MACs, the UNTSO, after 3 relocations ended up in Government House in Jerusalem.
With the instigation of the final truce to the 1948 Arab-Israeli War the only areas of the northern sector of former British Mandatatory Palestine not occupied by Israel were those areas along the Jordan River controlled by Syria. Israel insisted on retaining all the territory it had occupied that had been designated for an Arab state. However, it demanded that Syria not be allowed to remain in the areas that Syria had occupied. UN acting mediator Ralph Bunche was able to convince Syria to withdraw on the understanding that the sovereignty of the 3 Israel-Syria DMZs created (totalling 172 square kilometres or 66.5 square miles) would remain undetermined until a final peace settlement was achieved.
Practically, all the work carried out by the ISMAC was centered upon the problems arising in the DMZ. The pattern of disputes concerning the DMZ generally followed three lines:
(a) disputes about establishing of new and rebuilding of old settlements in the area;
(b) disputes about the number of civilians to be readmitted into the area; and
(c) disputes about the removal of military installations in the area.
On the first point: In 1950, a new kibbutz at Beit Katzir was established in the southern DMZ. Like most of their kibbutzim in troubled areas, it was fortified with trenches with a double-apron of barbed-wire fence from behind which its settlers sallied out to cultivate the surrounding land, digging irrigation canals to channel the water from the Sea of Galilee with such vigour that before long no Arab farmer in the area was allowed into the stretch of land between the kibbutz and the lake. The MAC decided that the new settlement at Beit Katzir erected by returning Israelis had been established without the agreement of the Chairman of the MAC, it was fenced in, so as to be more the nature of a military outpost and that the fence should therefore be removed. Israel complied with that decision.
The second point "the return of civilians" to the DMZ gave rise to a good deal of disputes. The chairman of the MAC could interpret his duties and powers under the GAA only in such a way so as to permit the return of Syrian and Israeli civilians in numbers corresponding to the number of Syrian and Israeli civilians prior to the end of the British Mandate. According to this principle, the MAC Chairman authorized Syrian and Israeli civilians to return to the DMZ to resume their civilian life there as of 8 September. By the end of January 1950, the number of Israelis returned to the area under this ruling, roughly equalled the number of Israelis who had resided there at the end of the mandatory regime.
The number of Syrians returned by the end of January 1950 amounted to approximately 75% of those living there at the expiration of the Mandate. At first, Syrian representatives opposed the ruling of the chairman and requested that the number of returning civilians be limited. At a later stage, however, the Syrian representatives accepted the Chairman of the MAC's ruling as to the number of returning refugees, but the Syrian delegation were still opposed to the MAC Chairman's ruling that new settlements may be erected by returning settlers, both Arab and Israeli.
This Syrian attitude appeared to the Chairman of the MAC to be partly motivated by the disparity of economic conditions under which the returning Arab and Israeli civilians live. The returning Israeli settlers were well equipped with building materials, machinery, and agricultural implements and were therefore, in a position to speedily establish permanent settlements that Syria considered of potential military value. On the other hand, returning Arab refugees often arrived completely destitute in their former villages, most of which have been leveled by Israeli forces prior to their withdrawal from the area after the signing of the Israeli-Syrian Armistice Agreement.
The Chairman of the ISMAC felt there was no doubt that the dispute could have been easily resolved if the economic conditions of civilians returning from both sides could have been somewhat equalized by providing the returning Arab refugees with building materials and with agricultural implements. However, the Chairman of the ISMAC and the Chief of Staff UNTSO had no means at their disposal to assist the rehabilitation of Arab refugees returning to their homes nor were they in a position officially to enlist the co-operation of any of the other United Nations agencies in the area that might conceivably be concerned with this problem. However, the representative in Beirut of the United Nations Relief for Palestine Refugees (fore runner of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees established on 8 December 1949)
and the International Red Cross did provide limited aid to the returning Arab refugees.
As to the third point, the ISMAC, with the co-operation of both parties, had by 12 February 1950 completed the removal of military installations, mines and fortifications from the demilitarized zones as specified in the GAA.
The DMZ was split into three zones: northern, central and southern:
Section A (c.1,000 acres): The northern sector of Al-'Abisiyya - Khan al-Duwayr at the extreme north of Palestine