Mixed Armistice Commissions

The Mixed Armistice Commissions (MAC) is an organisation for monitoring the ceasefire along the lines set by the General Armistice Agreements. It was composed of United Nations Military Observers and was part of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization peacekeeping force in the Middle East. The MAC comprised on four sections to monitor each of the four truce agreements, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan/Israel MAC, the Israel/Syrian MAC, the Israel/Lebanon MAC and the Egypt/Israel MAC. The various MACs were located on the cease fire lines and, through close liaison with headquarters in Jerusalem, were charged with supervising the truce, investigating border incidents, and taking remedial action to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.

From the Arab Israeli conflict the United Nations inaugurated the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO), this became the premier UN peacekeeping organization in the Middle East. It was clearly given a bi-fold mission which reads as follows: "first, to observe and report on the truce which was established on June 18, 1948, and, secondly, to maintain the organization of the Mixed Armistice Commissions (MAC).

Included in each General Armistice Agreement was a clause which provided for the creation of Mixed Armistice Commissions (MACs). The MACs were composed of an equal amount of representatives from the participating factions to the Armistices (one MAC for Israel and each of her bordering countries). UNTSO provided the chairman which was always its ranking member. In the same accord, UNTSO provided each MAC with a number of observers to detail the nature of complaints (regardless of which country who had lodged the grievance) in order to preserve the Truce. Logistic and administrative support grew within UNTSO as the observers were placed in remote locations. This requirement laid the foundation for UNTSO's existing support structure as we know it today.

UNTSO formed four separate Mixed Armistice Commissions (MACs), with five members in the case of Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan/Israel MAC and the Israel/Syrian MAC with seven in the case of Egypt/Israel MAC and Lebanon/Israel MAC, of whom each Party to the Agreement designated two in the case of HKJ/I MAC and the I/S MAC with three designated from each party I/E MAC and I/L MAC and whose Chairman was to be the United Nations Chief of Staff of the Truce Supervision Organization or a senior officer from the Observer personnel of that Organization designated by him following consultation with both Parties to the Agreement, who cast the deciding vote in any violation investigation. The observers’ responsibilities consisted of investigating complaints brought by one or both parties, observe the ceasefires to theoretically supervise the execution of the provisions of the GAAs and to report to the UN. The partiality mechanism inherent in MAC voting soon damaged relations with both sides. UNTSO chairmen sided with one or other of the parties during an investigation, but they had no effective mechanism to sanction the guilty. UNTSO’s role was simply to supply the UN with “adequate and objective information of such kind as may be required, rather than to enforce agreements or make peace.”

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