Article Accepted for SURVEY REVIEW

COMPREHENSIVE PROCESS-DRIVEN BOUNDARY MAKING MODEL: A CASE STUDY OF THE JORDAN–ISRAEL BOUNDARY

Borders not only define the sovereignty of states but also their natural and economic resources as well as their long-term capacity for maintaining their cultural and societal identity. Unclear definition of boundaries is among the primary reasons for territorial conflicts that frequently lead to armed confrontations between nations.

The overall responsibility for defining boundaries and resolving border disputes naturally belongs to the political leadership. However, most of the work is done behind the scenes by professionals, border experts from a range of disciplines – including international law, surveying and mapping. Surveying engineers play a principal role throughout the boundary-making process. Their professional responsibility extends beyond the technical support of boundary negotiations and also includes involvement in delimiting boundaries in peace treaties, and responsibility for boundary demarcation, documentation, and maintenance. Their failure in performance may lead to boundary conflicts.

The modern theory of boundary making developed at the end of the 19^th century and the beginning of the 20^th century. Until that period, the terminology was not clear, and even basic terms such as delimitation and demarcation were often confused.

Lord Curzon [6], Sir Henry McMahon [13], Col. Sir Thomas Holdich [9], and C.B. Fawcett [8] defined the basics of the modern theory of boundary making. Other prominent figures in this area outside Great Britain were mainly Haushofer from Germany, and Lapradelle from France. The advantages of their practical involvement in boundary making, encompassing continents, and their timeliness gave their publications special impact. The publications of Lapradelle [12] and Jones [10] reflect an important major step in separating the practical stages of boundary making. In their publications, they divided the process into three or four basic stages: Allocation, Delimitation, Demarcation, and in addition, overall Boundary Administration (Figure 1). Although Jones also refers to additional activities that he considers of great importance, such as a detailed description of the demarcation, the basic theoretical stages still remain the above-mentioned stages.

In spite of the fact that international boundaries are an important element in stabilizing the relations between nations, an up-to-date, internationally agreed model of the boundary-making process does not exist. Moreover, there has been no comprehensive attempt to extend the description of the early three or four phases. The lack of such a model leads to insufficient technical support for statesmen with regard to delimiting the boundary and the practical arrangements associated with it.

The objective of this article is to describe a comprehensive boundary-making model that may assist the different negotiating parties in reaching an agreement and then lead them through the differing professional ways of demarcating the boundary in the field and making it sustainable.

A new extended boundary-making model is proposed and its relationships with the existing four-stage model are graphically presented in figure 1. This model was developed based mainly on the experience gathered during the boundary making between Israel and Egypt and between Israel and Jordan. The different stages of the model are described with reference to these case studies emphasizing our conclusions regarding technical recommendations which are of general relevance.