Explained | UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF)

• India evacuated an Indian soldier from Tel Aviv after he suffered a head injury in an accident while serving the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in Golan Heights.

• The UNDOF is a peacekeeping force that is mandated to maintain a ceasefire between Israel and Syria and supervise the disengagement between militaries of the two countries.

• The soldier was brought to the Army’s Research and Referral Hospital in Delhi for further treatment from Israeli city in a military aircraft amid escalating tension between Israel and Lebanon.

• The Army, the Indian Air Force, Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) and Department of Military Affairs (DMA) were involved in evacuation of the soldier.

United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF)

• On October 6, 1973, war erupted in the Middle East between Egyptian and Israeli forces in the Suez

• Canal area and the Sinai, and between Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan Heights. 

• On October 24, 1973 as fighting between Egypt and Israel reached a critical stage, the Security Council decided to set up a second United Nations Emergency Force II (UNEF II). 

• The Force was immediately moved into place between the Israeli and Egyptian armies in the Suez Canal area, and its arrival effectively stabilised the situation. However, no new peacekeeping operation at that time was established on the Syrian front.

• In the Israel-Syria sector tension remained high, and from March 1974 the situation became increasingly unstable. 

• Meanwhile, diplomatic initiatives were devised, which resulted in the conclusion of an Agreement on Disengagement between Israeli and Syrian forces.

• On May 30, 1974, the United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim provided the Security Council with the text of the Agreement, and its Protocol, which called for a United Nations force to supervise the implementation of the Agreement. 

• On May 31, the Security Council passed a resolution, which called for the creation of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF).

Its mandate is to:

i) Maintain the ceasefire between Israel and Syria.

ii) Supervise the disengagement of Israeli and Syrian forces.

iii) Supervise the areas of separation and limitation, as provided in the May 1974 Agreement on Disengagement.

• The 1,200 strong force became operational on June 6, 1974.

• The Agreement established an Area of Separation and an Area of Limitation.

• Area of Separation is a demilitarised zone controlled by UNDOF, approximately 80 km long and from 200m wide in the south to 8 km wide in the north. 

• Area of Limitation is an area of Israeli or Syrian territory in which the number and type of military personnel and equipment is restricted. 

• The Agreement also allows Syrian civilians to return to their homes in the area of separation.

• UNDOF ensures that the agreed limitations in armaments and forces are being observed in these areas. 

• The terrain is hilly and is dominated in the North by Mt Hermon, the highest permanently manned UN position sitting at an altitude of 2,814 m. 

• The AOS is delineated and marked on the ground by barrel lines.

• The Security Council extended the mandate of the UNDOF in the Golan for six months until December 31, 1974 and requested the Secretary-General to ensure that the Force has the required capacity and resources to fulfil its mandate “in a safe and secure way”.

• The mandate of UNDOF has been renewed every six months. The UNSC stressed that Israel and Syria are obliged to “scrupulously and fully respect” the terms of the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement.

What is Golan Heights issue?

• The Six-Day War was fought between June 5 and June 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria

• Between June 5 and June 10, Israel defeated Egypt, Jordan, and Syria and occupied the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. 

• This occupation has resulted in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians as well as Syrians.

• The Golan Heights is a region in southwest Syria. Before the Israeli occupation, the Golan was home to over 140,000 Syrians, most of whom were driven out of their homeland and into Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) status. 

• Most of the Syrian cities, towns and villages in the Golan were destroyed by Israeli occupation forces, who in turn have built illegal settlements despite all international condemnation. 

• Syria tried to regain Golan Heights in the 1973 Middle East war, but was thwarted. Israel and Syria signed an armistice in 1974 and the Golan had been relatively quiet since.

• On December 14, 1981, Israel annexed the Occupied Syrian Golan. The international community responded with Security Council Resolution, which unanimously called this move “null and void”. 

• Since then, every year the UN General Assembly passes a resolution titled “The Occupied Syrian Golan” which reaffirms the illegality of the Israeli occupation and annexation. 

• In 2000, Israel and Syria held their highest-level talks over a possible return of the Golan and a peace agreement. But the negotiations collapsed and subsequent talks also failed.