The Map of Defense Interests

Map #2

War remains a threat in the Middle East. The area needed for defense in a conventional war on the eastern front extends over the Jordan River Valley and the Judean Desert and is marked on the map of defense interests in pink (map #2). This security zone is required also to create a buffer between the Arab-Muslim space and Israel, because otherwise the former will extend up to 15 kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea. Israel also needs to provide for current security against terrorist attacks that disrupt the day-to-day life of its population. The territory required to meet this type of threat is a band of separation marked on the map in purple. In addition to the areas required for defense, the map also presents the area defined as Greater Jerusalem, and the area required to preserve water resources (in blue dots), as will be explained below.

A. The Eastern Front and Transportation Arteries Leading to it
Defense on the eastern front requires the IDF to deploy itself along the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. Two major north-south emergency arteries are marked: the Jordan Valley road from Beit She’an to Ein Gedi (Route 90) and the Allon Road from Mehola to Ma’aleh Adumim and its planned extension to ‘Arad (Route 80). The staging areas for IDF forces in the case of such a large-scale war extend up to a line two to four kilometers west of the Allon Road. According to a widespread assessment in the IDF, there are at least four strategic east-west arteries for moving mobilized forces from the population centers on the coastal plain to the front: the North Trans-Samaria Road (partly paved) to the northern Jordan valley, the Trans-Samaria Road (fully paved) to the central Jordan Valley, the Ma’aleh Beit Horon Road to Jericho (Route 45), and the Trans-Etzion Road to the Dead Sea. Corridors two kilometers to each side of these arteries (set off on the map by red lines) are required to ensure free and secure movement in times of emergency. Likewise, deployment of strategic installations (controlling terrain, early warning stations, and command posts) are required on the eastern slopes of the mountain range, and these have been added to the pink areas on the map. Control over these areas has no "demographic cost" because the Palestinian population there is extremely sparse (with the exception of Jericho, which has already been handed over to the PA).

B. The "Band of Separation" on the Green Line
Current security, which focuses on preventing terrorism within the State of Israel, requires Israeli control of a band of separation along the Green Line. The width of this band varies in accordance with the population densities in the urban areas along the coastal plane, as marked on the map in purple. The band reaches a maximum width of eight kilometers near the Jerusalem and Dan (Tel Aviv) metropolitan areas, and narrows to the north and south to a minimum of three kilometers in the area of Mt. Gilboa in the north and in the Beer Sheva area in the south. The air space around Ben-Gurion Airport marked on the map (a radius of 18 km from the edge of the runway) largely overlaps the area of this security strip. The band of separation also contributes to broadening the Israel’s "narrow waist, " in particular in the Netania area where the distance from the Green Line to the Mediterranean is only 15 km. This security band includes, in northwest Samaria, an especially dense Palestinian population, but elsewhere in the band the Palestinian population is relatively sparse.

C. Defense of the Israeli Settlements in Judea and Samaria
Current security also includes protection of the Israeli residents in the Judea and Samaria settlements and on its roads. Preventing disruption of day-to-day life requires exclusive IDF control of the transportation arteries. The major arteries marked on the map are, first, the north-south artery on the mountain range (Route 60), and also the east-west arteries — the North Trans-Samaria Road, the Trans-Samaria Road, the North Trans-Benjamin Road, the South Trans-Benjamin Road, the Ma’aleh Beit-Horon Road, the Trans-Etzion Road, and the Trans-Judea Road. Likewise, current security also requires Israeli control over some strategic points and over the area of the major intersections, as marked on the map in purple circles.

Greater Jerusalem
Jerusalem, Israel’s capital, is the national-religious focus of the Jewish people. There is a Jewish majority in the city of Jerusalem and in the areas surrounding it. Jerusalem is also a strategic crossroads of the first order. Even though the discussion of the issue of sovereignty in the Jerusalem area has been postponed to the permanent settlement, there is a broad Israeli consensus about preventing any erosion of the control of the "Greater Jerusalem" area at least in the interim period. This area extends from the Trans-Etzion Road in the south to the Beit Horon Road in the north, and in the east up to the planned extension of the Allon Road (Route 80). The territory of Greater Jerusalem joins up in the east to the area required for defense in a war on the eastern front, and to the north and south it touches on the security band along the Green Line.

 

 

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