Nadene Goldfoot
American and European press have misled readers and listeners about how Jews happen to be living in Judea and Samaria. Jews are sticklers for doing the right thing. Our whole religion is mostly a matter of doing the right thing and that's something that's pounded into our whole being. So how would we be out to do the wrong thing and cheat the Palestinians? Not true.
Israel was brought to life again on May 15, 1948. Negotiations had been going on with England, who held the mandate for over 30 years. Yucky malaria infested swampy land was bought and paid for. So was the desert-type land. Any land was legally contracted. The total land of Palestine was a waste, an unwanted waste of what had once been a Jewish empire originally. The state went through the UN and was voted on as a state. Legally, every point had been covered. Our founding fathers didn't want to be accused of anything illegal.
Israel has a darned good court system. They can be in competition with any court in the world for fairness. When the Israeli government has given its approval for the building of a Jewish village, town, building or home, it has to advertise its intentions in the Arab newspapers and invite any Arabs who have claims to the land to come forward with them. We do similar things of advertising in our newspapers in the USA. When there are no claims for at least 6 months, the courts rule and also have a thorough review of facts. The court system bends over backwards to be fair to all Arab claimants. The same goes if there is a claim. Everything is investigated. The courts have forbidden the Israeli government from confiscating any Arab-owned land since 1980. The government hasn't authorized any new building since the Israeli-Palestinian "peace process" began in 1993.
The state bends over backwards to make sure that building does not take place on Arab-owned land. Authorized and unauthorized Jewish communities were built on unoccupied, uncultivated and uninhabited "waste land." No Arab homes were destroyed. No Arab residents were expelled. No Arab farmland was taken in creating any Jewish communities.
There are land ownership laws of Judea and Samaria dating to when the land was under Turkish rule (Ottoman Empire) and are respected by all governments since then including Israel. All the wasteland belongs to the state of Israel, not private owners. There have been almost no Arab buyers of such land because it involved paying past taxes on it for anyone who bought it.
One of my friends in Safed was an American lawyer who of course would have to take the bar in Israel to practice. He said it was far more complicated than anything he had ever seen because of the rules left over from the Ottoman Empire that were still in effect. It was too much for him and he tried teaching English in the local high school, finding that needed a skill he didn't have as well.
Along comes the far left of Israel, also without any background in legal matters, such as Peace Now and other groups who have been overly zealous in wanting to be fair with the Palestinians about land and obviously not trusting anyone who have challenged any building at all with their worthy human rights projects without being able to back them up with true facts. They haven't been able to prove any of their conclusions in the courts.
Both groups want to be fair. Our Jews are not followers. Each one is a leader in his own mind. Israel even has a Freedom of Information law, but the leftists who attack the system haven't been able to come up with one document that supports their claims about Jewish "settlements" on "privately owned Arab land" that's ever been brought to someone's attention. They allowed themselves to be the victims of hearsay instead of the facts. Americans think they are the land of the free. Israel's freedom of speech and writing sometimes undermines itself. Israelis seem to understand it, but the outside press doesn't and takes advantage of it. Let any Jewish Israeli say something against their state saying they are wrong and it makes headlines in every paper in the world an hour later.
Judea and Samaria, what Jordan has dubbed "West Bank" was Jewish land long ago. In 933 BCE Judea was the Kingdom of Judah of the Jews. When King Solomon, King David's son was dead, Judah was divided into two parts. Judah was the southerly of two Jewish kingdoms. The northern part became the Kingdom of Israel. This land is precious to Jews, especially to the religious Jews who have moved there to live. That's why they are there. The tribe of Judah lived in Judah along with most of the tribe of Benjamin. They also took in the tribe of Simeon which was isolated in the extreme south. It had become poor without advantages of exits to the sea and were not on the trade routes. It was like being a city that the freeway had bypassed. Jerusalem sat in Judah which means the Temple was there. It was able to preserve Mosaic monotheism in a purer form than Israel did. The monarchy was the house of David and it went from father to son peacefully with a few exceptions, like Athaliah 843-37. There were a few others.
Then along came the Assyrian expansion which overwhelmed Israel in the north but was stopped at the walls of Jerusalem in 701 BCE. Finally in 586 the Babylonians overwhelmed it and the city and state fell to them. They took large numbers of Jews and deported them to other parts of the Middle East. The Jewish exiles in Babylonia continued to keep Judaism alive. Prophets continued with their work from there and you will find great parts of the Bible that were composed from their exile. So Judea has special meaning for Jews.
Samaria was the capital of Israel in the north. It was founded in 880 BCE by King Omri who bought it from from Shemer (I Kings 16:24). The site is about 7 miles NW of Shechem, today's city of Nablus on a slight elevation that dominated the countryside. It was made up of 25 acres and royal palace. The biblical patriarchs camped under its walls. It had been marked as the territory for the tribe of Ephraim and was picked as a city of refuge and the center of the House of the tribe of Joseph. Joseph is buried there. Finally it became a Roman city with people being the Samaritans. In 1967 the population was 44,000 of mostly Moslems and has become the center of fanatical Arab nationalism. A small Jewish community had existed there in Shechem. Samaria is also the name to the entire northern region of the central highlands. I believe that is what is referred to when they say Judea and Samaria or "the West Bank", which Jordan named it as it is land west of the Jordan River.
1967's War against Israel lasted 6 days with Israel being the winner. This area had been in Jordan's hands, but since they were one of the attackers, lost it to Israel. Before that, Jordan didn't allow Jews to even be in East Jerusalem. I remember when the war was over that the solders were able to dance and pray at the Western Wall for the first time and how everyone cried in joy.
The PLO was founded in 1964. At that time this area of Judea and Samaria and Gaza were under Arab rule. The PLO wanted to liberate the land, not Judea and Samaria and Gaza which they already had, but Israel! They were talking about Israel within the 1967 borders. Their official PLO insignia is on the map including all of Israel. The Muslims speak of their religious savior coming to take all the land and of course they hate Jews. They hate this well known remnant of the 12 tribes of Israel, Judah and Levi, born when Jacob had 12 sons, "the traditional division of Israel into 12 tribes: Reuben, Simeon (Levi), Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Ephraim, and Manasseh." They don't even have a reason to hate us, except that there is the remnant of us who refuse to convert to Islam, which is not a good reason to hate a people. The land they are living on in their eyes must be "Judenrein", free of all Jews. They are not tolerant such as Americans and Israelis are. There are 1.4 million Arabs living in Israel who are citizens.
Resource: FrontPage Magazine http://frontpagemag.com Are Jewish Settlements built on Arab Land? by Rachel Neuwirth and John Landau, Daily Mailer.FrontPage
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0020_0_20039.html
American and European press have misled readers and listeners about how Jews happen to be living in Judea and Samaria. Jews are sticklers for doing the right thing. Our whole religion is mostly a matter of doing the right thing and that's something that's pounded into our whole being. So how would we be out to do the wrong thing and cheat the Palestinians? Not true.
Israel was brought to life again on May 15, 1948. Negotiations had been going on with England, who held the mandate for over 30 years. Yucky malaria infested swampy land was bought and paid for. So was the desert-type land. Any land was legally contracted. The total land of Palestine was a waste, an unwanted waste of what had once been a Jewish empire originally. The state went through the UN and was voted on as a state. Legally, every point had been covered. Our founding fathers didn't want to be accused of anything illegal.
Israel has a darned good court system. They can be in competition with any court in the world for fairness. When the Israeli government has given its approval for the building of a Jewish village, town, building or home, it has to advertise its intentions in the Arab newspapers and invite any Arabs who have claims to the land to come forward with them. We do similar things of advertising in our newspapers in the USA. When there are no claims for at least 6 months, the courts rule and also have a thorough review of facts. The court system bends over backwards to be fair to all Arab claimants. The same goes if there is a claim. Everything is investigated. The courts have forbidden the Israeli government from confiscating any Arab-owned land since 1980. The government hasn't authorized any new building since the Israeli-Palestinian "peace process" began in 1993.
The state bends over backwards to make sure that building does not take place on Arab-owned land. Authorized and unauthorized Jewish communities were built on unoccupied, uncultivated and uninhabited "waste land." No Arab homes were destroyed. No Arab residents were expelled. No Arab farmland was taken in creating any Jewish communities.
There are land ownership laws of Judea and Samaria dating to when the land was under Turkish rule (Ottoman Empire) and are respected by all governments since then including Israel. All the wasteland belongs to the state of Israel, not private owners. There have been almost no Arab buyers of such land because it involved paying past taxes on it for anyone who bought it.
One of my friends in Safed was an American lawyer who of course would have to take the bar in Israel to practice. He said it was far more complicated than anything he had ever seen because of the rules left over from the Ottoman Empire that were still in effect. It was too much for him and he tried teaching English in the local high school, finding that needed a skill he didn't have as well.
Along comes the far left of Israel, also without any background in legal matters, such as Peace Now and other groups who have been overly zealous in wanting to be fair with the Palestinians about land and obviously not trusting anyone who have challenged any building at all with their worthy human rights projects without being able to back them up with true facts. They haven't been able to prove any of their conclusions in the courts.
Both groups want to be fair. Our Jews are not followers. Each one is a leader in his own mind. Israel even has a Freedom of Information law, but the leftists who attack the system haven't been able to come up with one document that supports their claims about Jewish "settlements" on "privately owned Arab land" that's ever been brought to someone's attention. They allowed themselves to be the victims of hearsay instead of the facts. Americans think they are the land of the free. Israel's freedom of speech and writing sometimes undermines itself. Israelis seem to understand it, but the outside press doesn't and takes advantage of it. Let any Jewish Israeli say something against their state saying they are wrong and it makes headlines in every paper in the world an hour later.
Judea and Samaria, what Jordan has dubbed "West Bank" was Jewish land long ago. In 933 BCE Judea was the Kingdom of Judah of the Jews. When King Solomon, King David's son was dead, Judah was divided into two parts. Judah was the southerly of two Jewish kingdoms. The northern part became the Kingdom of Israel. This land is precious to Jews, especially to the religious Jews who have moved there to live. That's why they are there. The tribe of Judah lived in Judah along with most of the tribe of Benjamin. They also took in the tribe of Simeon which was isolated in the extreme south. It had become poor without advantages of exits to the sea and were not on the trade routes. It was like being a city that the freeway had bypassed. Jerusalem sat in Judah which means the Temple was there. It was able to preserve Mosaic monotheism in a purer form than Israel did. The monarchy was the house of David and it went from father to son peacefully with a few exceptions, like Athaliah 843-37. There were a few others.
Then along came the Assyrian expansion which overwhelmed Israel in the north but was stopped at the walls of Jerusalem in 701 BCE. Finally in 586 the Babylonians overwhelmed it and the city and state fell to them. They took large numbers of Jews and deported them to other parts of the Middle East. The Jewish exiles in Babylonia continued to keep Judaism alive. Prophets continued with their work from there and you will find great parts of the Bible that were composed from their exile. So Judea has special meaning for Jews.
Samaria was the capital of Israel in the north. It was founded in 880 BCE by King Omri who bought it from from Shemer (I Kings 16:24). The site is about 7 miles NW of Shechem, today's city of Nablus on a slight elevation that dominated the countryside. It was made up of 25 acres and royal palace. The biblical patriarchs camped under its walls. It had been marked as the territory for the tribe of Ephraim and was picked as a city of refuge and the center of the House of the tribe of Joseph. Joseph is buried there. Finally it became a Roman city with people being the Samaritans. In 1967 the population was 44,000 of mostly Moslems and has become the center of fanatical Arab nationalism. A small Jewish community had existed there in Shechem. Samaria is also the name to the entire northern region of the central highlands. I believe that is what is referred to when they say Judea and Samaria or "the West Bank", which Jordan named it as it is land west of the Jordan River.
1967's War against Israel lasted 6 days with Israel being the winner. This area had been in Jordan's hands, but since they were one of the attackers, lost it to Israel. Before that, Jordan didn't allow Jews to even be in East Jerusalem. I remember when the war was over that the solders were able to dance and pray at the Western Wall for the first time and how everyone cried in joy.
The PLO was founded in 1964. At that time this area of Judea and Samaria and Gaza were under Arab rule. The PLO wanted to liberate the land, not Judea and Samaria and Gaza which they already had, but Israel! They were talking about Israel within the 1967 borders. Their official PLO insignia is on the map including all of Israel. The Muslims speak of their religious savior coming to take all the land and of course they hate Jews. They hate this well known remnant of the 12 tribes of Israel, Judah and Levi, born when Jacob had 12 sons, "the traditional division of Israel into 12 tribes: Reuben, Simeon (Levi), Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Ephraim, and Manasseh." They don't even have a reason to hate us, except that there is the remnant of us who refuse to convert to Islam, which is not a good reason to hate a people. The land they are living on in their eyes must be "Judenrein", free of all Jews. They are not tolerant such as Americans and Israelis are. There are 1.4 million Arabs living in Israel who are citizens.
Resource: FrontPage Magazine http://frontpagemag.com Are Jewish Settlements built on Arab Land? by Rachel Neuwirth and John Landau, Daily Mailer.FrontPage
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0020_0_20039.html
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