Interview with 2022 Raymond Milefsky Award winner Dr Haim Srebro

In 2022, IBRU awarded the fifth annual Raymond Milefsky award to Dr Haim Srebro, to honour his long career as Director General of the Survey of Israel and his founding of the Working Group on International Boundaries of the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG). IBRU’s Philip Steinberg interviewed Dr Srebro.

What is the role of the surveyor in negotiating and delimiting boundaries? How is FIG advancing that role?

Surveyors prepare a preliminary geospatial database for decision makers on both sides in order to create a common boundary allocation and to initiate the beginning of a process that will end in a boundary agreement. Surveyors are competent experts who should prepare, with the support of legal experts, an unequivocal definition of the boundary delimitation in a peace or boundary agreement. They utilize coordinates, a geodetic reference system, maps, and other required materials.

Proper comprehensive and active involvement of surveyors in the boundary-making process prevents boundary disputes that may arise because of technical and practical reasons.

As a professional international organization, FIG is advancing that role by sharing methodologies and the actual practice of states, as reflected in FIG Publication 59 on International Boundary Making and FIG Publication 76 on International Boundaries on Unstable Ground. A proper professional boundary documentation, together with ongoing boundary maintenance, supports long-term boundary stability, which prevents disputes, friction, and even wars.

The Israel-Jordan Joint Boundary Commission’s Joint Team of Experts is now almost 30 years old. What tasks remain for it, now that the boundary has been delimited?

International boundaries require continuous maintenance and overhaul services. Otherwise, their condition deteriorates. The Israel-Jordan boundary follows a land section (the Aravah Valley) with sand dunes and seasonal water floods, unstable river sections (the Jordan and Yarmouk Rivers), a lake (the Dead Sea) that’s contracting due to global warming and over-exploitation, and a marine section (the Gulf of Aqaba/Eilat).

The river boundary has proved particularly challenging. The wording of the peace agreement indicates that the boundary line should follow natural, gradual changes but not man-made changes in rivers. In one case a high river bank collapsed, blocking the river, which was diverted for hundreds of meters. In another case, a dam was built on the river, to create a reservoir in order to divert a large volume of the river's water to one of the sides. In another case, the river had to be temporarily diverted vertically (through pipes) in order to dig a canal for a crossing gas pipe and other obstacles. Since these rivers are boundary rivers, each case requires numerous professional activities, including many meetings and decision-making events, as well as monitoring and field inspection.

You’ve recently been involved in maritime boundary negotiations between Israel and Lebanon, two states that are technically at war with each other. How were negotiators able to overcome this tension?

Whenever I negotiate international boundary settlements, I view the representatives of the other side as partners and colleagues and not as enemies. Of course, we all know that they represent another state and that each state has its own interests and needs, but the main goal is to bridge gaps in order to achieve a logical and fair solution that favours both states and both peoples. Any agreed solution is more important than any unilateral position, since the main goal of the negotiations is not to produce papers, but instead, to achieve stability in both regions. I believe in joint work and in a joint agreement. That is why I always require that a joint professional team like the JTE be formed at the beginning of the process. This was the way it was done with my Egyptian colleagues from 1979 onwards, with my Jordanian colleagues from 1994 onwards, and with my Cyprian colleague in 2010. I consider all of them as friends.

There is always the need to coordinate with the politicians. However, once there is a basic understanding between the politicians that there are grounds for negotiation because of mutual interests on both sides, the task of building trust between the professional partners is much easier, as long as we act honestly and fairly towards each other.

This was also the case with our Lebanese partners. I clarified with them at the beginning that our common goal is to achieve stability, that stability is required for the people in Lebanon as much as it is required for the people in Israel, and that I am concerned about the future of the children in Lebanon and not only about the future of the children in Israel. We live in the same neighbourhood; therefore, we must solve our problems together. Thus, I don't see a big problem to overcome preliminary tensions between states when negotiating with Lebanese professional representatives, despite the formal status of war between Israel and Lebanon. Unfortunately, this is not the case regarding the

political representatives of the two states, as well as between professional representatives when politicians ban them.[1]

Legal professionals often portray boundary delimitation as more of an ‘art’ than a ‘science’. As a surveyor, would you agree?

I think that the boundary delimitation itself is mainly a scientific process, taking into account legal considerations; however, it involves a lot of creativity and willingness to succeed. The negotiation process itself, including the negotiation towards an agreed delimitation, requires a lot of creativity and positive psychology, so I would portray that part as an art.

But cartography as well has artistic elements. As Director General of the Survey of Israel, I initiated delimitation of a marine cadastre in Israeli territorial waters in the Mediterranean Sea. During the delimitation process, the design of a cadastral block was needed around an island whose nickname is: "the island of love". The delimitation of the boundaries of this block can be thought of as a piece of art, and since it is located 3-4 miles from the maritime boundary with Lebanon, it can be considered as a message of love…

[1] IBRU intended for Dr Srebro to share the 2022 Milefsky Award with a representative of the Lebanese delegation, but this was stymied by Lebanon’s prohibition on its citizens engaging in activities with Israeli citizens.