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Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Israel's Villages, Towns, Cities of Judea and Samaria Legal

Nadene Goldfoot
Do you really think that Israel, a land of much respect for law and of not doing to others that which you would not wish them to do unto you,  would break a law purposefully in living on land  that they did not have a legal right to be on?

Israel was reborn in 1948.  From 1949 to 1967 they were forbidden to live in Judea and Samaria, their old homeland.  Originally they were to have much more than the piece they were allotted through dealings with England and had to settle for much less.  During this time the Arabs refused to make peace with the new Israel. 

The surrounding nations of Israel attacked her in 1967 hoping to put an end to her, and they lost.  Israel won the battle in 6 days, much to the Arab's dismay.  From 1967 to  1977 the Labor Party of Israel established only a few residential places in what is commonly called "The Territories", meaning Judea and Samaria.  Still, the Arabs refused to make peace with Israel. 

In 1977, after the Likud government went along with more residential communities established in Judea and Samaria, the Egyptian President Sadat went to Jerusalem and we had peace with Egypt.  One year later Israel froze these communities in their growth.  They were hoping that in doing this, other Arabs would join the Camp David peace process, but none would do so.  Israel was reaching out to them showing that they were seious about making peace with the Arabs. 

No matter what Israel was ready to do to attain peace with their neighbors, no one was willing to do so except Egypt. Because of that, we gave back the Sinai to Egypt.   Arabic writings have been found that make references to the Crusades and how it might take time to expell the Zionists like they did the Crusaders.  For example, in the Syrian President Hafez Assad's office is a portrait on his wall of Saladin defeating the Crusaders.  His point is that Christian sovereignty in Palestine was temporary, and that Jews will be temporary, also, so they are merely waiting and biding their time. 

Actually seeing building going on in Jewish communities may make the Arabs realize that they don't have all the time in the world, and that they should come together for talks of peace.  That may be why they are hurrying  to the UN to create their own state of Palestine without ever talking and settling the many peace issues with Israel. 

As long as the Arabs refuse to talk of peace and continually send rockets, missile, and mortars into the tiny country of Israel, Israel mut be on guard to defend their population.  International legal scholar Stephen Schwebel says that "a country acting in self-defense may seize and occupy territory when necessary to protect itself.  The state may require, as a condition for its withdrawal, security measures designed to ensure its citizens are not menaced again from that territory.

Eugene Rostow, former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs in the Johnson Administration, says that Resolution 242 gives Israel a legal right to be in Judea and Samaria.  It allows Israel to administer the territories it won in 1967 until a just and lasting peace in the Middle East is achieved.  Israel is not to be forced back to the fragile and vulnerable 1949 Armistice Demarcation Lines. "

Both Judea and Samaria had been held by Jordan up to 1967 illegally, so Israel's claim is superior to Jordan's claim, stated Rostow.    Jordan was there because of their aggression in 1948 against Israel.  Israel's came about because of their legitimate right of self-defense.  The lesson here is not to make war on your enemies.  There is no guarantee you will win and if you lose, you lose territory.  There has to be a penalty for being an aggressor and taking lives, so that is what has happened to the Arabs.  I'm afraid they are very sore losers. 

Israel has every right to live in communities in Judea and Samaria.  Most all the communities happen to be populated by observant orthodox Jews who have a reverence and love of the their ancient land and of their history.  So many of the important events in the Bible happened in these places.  They have a very legal claim to be there that is galling the Arabs who are tying to convince people that it is not.  Being there is not the obstacle to peace.  The Arabs are aggravated about it because they see what  they have lost in attacking Israel in the first place.  They have refused for 63 years to make peace with Israel, and Israel continues to be healthy and grow despite the fact. 

Any stipulation that Israel has to back up to the 67 line before they won the war or even the 1948 lines is an insult to all democracies who are trying to live in peace.  Giving such leeway to an aggresive Arab group who shows their determination to destroy Israel is a threat to all democracies everywhere, not just to Israel.  Let the Palestinians sit down and talk seriously about being a good neighbor and how much they want peace.  Israel has been giving into acts of peaceful overtures all along.  It's their turn, now.  Israel left all of Gaza.  What have the Palestinians done but bomb Israel? 

Reference: Myths and Facts a concise record of the Arab-Israeli conflict  by Mitchell G. Bard PhD,  Joel Himelfarb, p. 268-269

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