Representation of the State’s Border in Israeli Textbook Maps, 1948-1967

Abstract

This article examines the representation of Israel’s border in textbook maps from 1948 to 1967. This examination illustrates that the maps served as an ideological apparatus that conveyed and preserved the spatial perception from the beginning of the Zionist movement. Spatial perception that deviated from the state’s territory in the east and can be perceived as one of the infrastructures that enabled to appropriate the appropriation of the Occupied Territories after the Six-Day War.

The ambiguous, contradictory manner in which the border was formed created a controversial, unresolved issue in the public consciousness. The perception that appeared in the textbook maps was the result of the geographical, state, and security-related discourses.

The geography discourse dealt with the tension between Israel’s territory and the regional geographical unit known as the Land of Israel that extended to Jordan’s east bank. The state discourse maintained continuity with the imaginary demarcation line from the establishment of Zionist settlements. The two discourses undermined border sovereignty and exceeded it in the east.

The security discourse added another factor that enabled the appropriation of the Occupied Territories, as the territorial expansion embodied in this discourse provided a relief to the sense of stress created by the representation of a border under siege.

The Conquest Maps depicts the state’s border as dynamic in the sense of being subject to change and expansion. This in turn reinforces the legitimacy of expansion by military means and the appropriation of the Occupied Territories.