statement released on 23 November, reiterated its stance that continued Israeli occupation of northern Ghajar is a violation of Security Council Resolution 1701. Demarcation of the border An essential part of the interpretation of the mandate concerns territorial aspects, namely the tracing of a border. The reference for the demarcation operation is the so-called Blue Line. This line is based on the deployment of the IDF prior to March 14, 1978, when Israel launched its first large-scale invasion. That line converges in major parts with the 1949 armistice line which in turn is the same as the Mandate line of 1923. The Mandatory powers Britain and France demarcated the border between their respective Mandates, Palestine and Lebanon. In 1923, 38 boundary markers were placed along the 49 mile boundary and a detailed text description was published. 9 It might be stated that actually the first defined and traced border Israel disposed of was the one with Lebanon, even though the two countries never negotiated such a border. Lebanon and Israel succeeded as independent states in 1943, respectively in 1948 on the territory of the mandates Lebanon and Palestine. On the basis of the Vienna Convention on the Succession of States in respect of Treaties, a new state will succeed into earlier border treaties. 10 This principle is based on the doctrine of uti possidetis, which confirms that territory and other property remain with its possessor at the end of a conflict, unless provided for by treaty. In 1964 the Organization of African Unity passed a resolution stating that the principle of stability of borders – the key principle of uti possidetis – would be applied throughout Africa. The principle was furthermore affirmed by the International Court of Justice in the 1986 Case Burkina-Faso vs. Mali. The First Arab-Israeli War of 1948 ended in a series of armistice agreements mediated by the UN on the island of Rhodes. The armistice line between Israel and Lebanon was traced along the earlier international border between the French and British Mandates of Lebanon and Palestine. Given the absence Israel’s definition of its territory and thereby the extension of its jurisdiction, the existence of this borderline should not be underestimated. However, Israel has notoriously violated that boundary and the hostilities with the PLO and later Hizbullah created a frontier space where actually a clear border had initially existed. On the notions of frontier and border, see the next section. The 2000 Blue Line differs in about a half dozen stretches from the 1949 line, though never by more than 475 meters. When Israel withdrew in May 2000, the Lebanese government did not want to participate in the border demarcation. The UN then conducted its own survey. The UN cartographer and his team, assisted by UNIFIL, worked on the ground to identify a line to 9 Agreement between His Majesty's Government and the French Government respecting the Boundary Line between Syria and Palestine from the Mediterranean to El Hámmé, Treaty Series No. 13(1923), Cmd. 1910. Also Louis, 1969, p. 90. 10 The Convention was promulgated in 1978 in the aftermath of the decolonization process, it went into force in 1996. Article 11 lit a states that a succession of states does not as such affect a boundary established by a treaty. 7