89. Protocol to the Syrian-Israeli Disengagement Agreement1
PROTOCOL TO AGREEMENT ON DISENGAGEMENT BETWEEN ISRAELI AND SYRIAN FORCES
Concerning the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force
Israel and Syria agree that:
The function of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) under the Agreement will be to use its best efforts to maintain the ceasefire and to see that it is scrupulously observed. It will supervise the Agreement and protocol thereto with regard to the areas of separation and limitation. In carrying out its mission, it will comply with generally applicable Syrian laws and regulations and will not hamper the functioning of local civil administration. It will enjoy freedom of movement and communication and other facilities that are necessary for its mission. It will be mobile and provided with personal weapons of a defensive character and shall use such weapons only in self-defense. The number of the UNDOF shall be about 1,250, who will be selected by the Secretary General of the United Nations in consultation with the parties from members of the United Nations who are not permanent members of the Security Council.
The UNDOF will be under the command of the United Nations, vested in the Secretary General, under the authority of the Security Council.
The UNDOF shall carry out inspections under the Agreement, and report thereon to the parties, on a regular basis, not less often than once every fifteen days, and, in addition, when requested by either party. It shall mark on the ground the respective lines shown on the map attached to the Agreement.
Israel and Syria will support a resolution of the United Nations Security Council which will provide for the UNDOF contemplated by the [Page 373] Agreement. The initial authorization will be for six months subject to renewal by further resolution of the Security Council.2
- Source: National Archives, RG 59, Records of Joseph Sisco, Box 32, Briefing Book: Syrian-Israeli Disengagement Documents, Under Secretary Sisco. No classification marking. All three signers, Shafir, Shihabi, and Siilasvuo, initialed each page. There is an addendum to the protocol sent from President Nixon to Prime Minister Meir that states “the Government of Syria agrees to the following on a reciprocal and identical basis: 1. It will refrain from placing any weapons, including SAM’s, which can reach the defense line of the other side in an additional ten-kilometer zone beyond the western edge of the agreed zone of limitation. 2. It agrees that the UNP shall conduct regular inspections to assure compliance with this provision.” There is no signature. (Ibid., Box 33, Briefing Book: Syrian-Israeli Disengagement, 1974, Folder 2)↩
- UN Security Council Resolution 350 establishing the UNDOF was adopted on May 31. For text, see Yearbook of the United Nations, 1974, p. 205.↩
- General Siilasvuo wrote “Geneva 31 May 1974” after his signature, and General Shihabi’s signature is in Arabic.↩