UNITED NATIONS TRUCE SUPERVISION ORGANIZATION

United Nations Truce Supervision Organization: translation

(UNTSO)

The firstUnited Nations(UN) peacekeeping operation established in the Middle East, it was originally constituted by UN Security Council Resolution 50 (29 May 1948) to provide advisory and observation support to theJerusalem-basedPalestineTruce Commission. In August 1949, the truce commission observers were reassigned formally as UNTSO by UN Security Council Resolution 73 and assigned the mission of supervising the separatearmistice agreementssigned at the end of theWar of Independence(1948—49) between Israel andEgypt,Lebanon,Syria, andJordan.After each of theArab-Israeli wars, the mission of UNTSO was slightly modified. Following theSinai War(1956), its personnel patrolled theSinai Peninsulaeven though the 1949 Israeli-Egyptian armistice agreement was declared null and void because of Egypt's support forfedayeen terror raids into Israel, and UNTSO peacekeepers supported theUN Emergency Force(UNEF) interposed between Israeli and Egyptian forces. After theSix-Day War(1967), UNTSO remained in place to supervise the cease-fires between Israel and its Arab interlocutors. After theYom Kippur War(1973), UNTSO staffers were used as an experienced manpower pool for disengagement forces established in theSinai Peninsula(UN Emergency Force II) and on theGolan Heights(UN Disengagement Observer Force).

See alsoArab-Israeli Conflict.