Who Were the Samaritans of the "West Bank?"

Nablus, 2007 in the shuk and its candy display

Whatever Happened to Israel=Kingdom of Samaria?

Nadene Goldfoot
We know that the West Bank is really the ancient site of Judea and Samaria.  What were they?
Israel was the first and only state created by King Saul in the 11th century BCE, and after him governed by King David and then his son, King Solomon.

The empire of Judah split off from the empire of Israel and was the southerly of the two kingdoms in 933 BCE. after the death of King Solomon.  It was made up of the tribe of Judah, most of Benjamin and it is thought to also had absorbed the tribe of Simeon which was isolated in the extreme south.  Judah was the poor state as they had no access to the sea which was the trade route.  It never got involved with international problems and people there led a more tranquil life.  It included the city of Jerusalem and the Temple, so preserved Mosaic monotheism in a purer form.

Israel, the northern state,  was sometimes called the kingdom of Samaria after the city which became its capital in about 890 BCE.  The tribes left there were from Manasseh, Issachar, Zebulun, Naphtali, Asser, Dan, and living in what is now known as Transjordan were the tribes of Reuben, Gad and part of Manasseh.  Israel was much larger than Judah.  In its 210 years it had 19 kings of 9 dynasties.  10 died in violence and 7 ruled for less than 2 years.

When Israel and Judah separated, the ancient city of Shechem, today renamed Nablus,  which was connected to Israel, became the religious center of the Northern Kingdom.  The political capital was transferred by King Omri to his newly built city of Samaria about 883 BCE.  The Israelite kingdom continued to exist until it fell before Assyria.

Samaria, the former Israel and also the city,  was attacked by the Assyrians in 722 BCE.  The King of Assyria, Shalmaneser besieged it and at the end of 3 years they were able to take it. He died one year before it was taken in 723 BCE, so the city actually fell to Sargon who carried away 27,290 people.  The people taken away were the more prominent and dangerous, the rich, the priests, and the ruling class.   The people were deported to various parts of Assyria and to the cities of the Medes.  Colonists, which were Cutheans (a member of a group of people of ancient Babylonia who were sent as colonists to Samaria),  were sent to take their place.  The colonists were soon troubled by lions in the district which they thought were divine visitations due to their ignorance of the manner of the god of the land.  They sent for an Israelite priest and settled at Beth-el, with the result that a mixed form of religion was established, partly Israeli (Jewish) and partly idolatrous brought in by the colonists.  In 720 Syria again united against the common enemy and a fresh campaign began.  The political existence of Samaria came to an end.  Only Hosea and Amos, biblical prophets, worked in the Northern kingdom of Samaria.  Elijah and Elisha tried to check idolatry and social injustice when they saw it.

Today, the name only refers to a small group of people living in Nablus (Shechem) and they called themselves “Bene Ysirael” or “Shomreem.”  The people of Samaria were thought of as the remnant of Israel.

A man named Josiah kept the people away from high places and collected money to repair the Temple from the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim and of the remnant of Israel.  Later, their claim to participate in the building of the Temple was rejected by Zerubbabel because of their mixed origin.

Sargon sent colonists to Samaria from many cities of Babylonia as a precautionary measure.  There happened to be 3 importations of foreigners by Sargon, Esar-haddon, and by Assurbanipal.  They occupied the site of the defunet kingdom of Israel, then called Samaritan, consisting of the poorer Israelites and other aliens ruled over by an Assyrian governor.  It was deprived of its priestly caste so had to ask for the services of a priest.

Samaria later found itself governed by a Persian strap.  It became the natural refuge for all who were dissatisfied with the reforms taking place in Jerusalem.  The priest, Manasseh, was a malcontent.  the governor of Samaria under Darius was Sanballat.  His daughter was married to Manasseh, the son of the high priest at Jerusalem.  Because he had married a foreigner, Manasseh was expelled by Nehemiah and so settled in Samaria in about 430 BCE.  It must have been Manasseh who fixed the Israelite character of the Samaritan's religion.

A century later in 332 BCE, Alexander the Great gave permission to build a Temple on the holy hill of Gerizim, near Shechem.  This became the center of Samaritan worship.  The Temple was in existence for about 200 years when it was destroyed.  Samaria was then occupied by John Hyrcanus.  Mt. Gerizim was sacred to the Samaritans because the idols of Laban were buried there.  The Samaritans used to light beacon-fires to deceive the Jews as to the appearance of the new moon.  Usually they sided against the Jews and with their enemies.  The country passed into the hands of the Romans around 135 BCE and Samaria was rebuilt and embellished by Herod.  His wife, Mariamne was a Samaritan.  The city of Shechem was occupied by the Romans, who called it Flavia Neapolis, where the name of Nablus comes from.

Judea of the south, the newer state, and Samaria , the older state, in reality, Israel of the north, were the Jewish homeland.  This is where Jacob's 12 sons, who created the 12 tribes of Israel had lived.  This is where Moses had led the 600,000  Jews on the exodus.  This is what the Arabs are depriving us of, our own homeland in their zeal to create their  Palestine that they have talked about for the past 65 years. Israel or Samaria had Shechem/Nablus and Judea had Jerusalem as their religious centers.  The Samaritans were not considered true Jews as they had created such a mixed religion.

Http:///.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=110&letter=S     From 2009
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

What The Colonies Are That Palestinians Complain About

Nadene Goldfoot
A gang of Palestinian Arabs protested when Obama came to visit Judea-Samaria, or as they call it, the West Bank.  They are angry because Obama didn't bring change.  They are living in colonies, they say, not their Palestine. They'd better have a talk with Abbas.

These young Arabs forget that where they are living was originally Jewish Homeland.  In fact, after WWI the British took back their promise to the Jews of their Jewish Homeland and gave away 80% of it to Jordan.  Right now Israel is about 80% Jewish and 20% Muslim with 1.4 million Arabs as citizens.  Judea-Samaria is made up of about 75% Muslims and 17% Jews and 8% Christians.  But Palestine is to be Judenrein, so they're planning  to kick out all but the Muslims.

 Where they are living and calling colonies are such cities as Ramallah  which is 6 miles from Jerusalem.  "Modern Ramallah was founded in the mid-16th century by the Haddadins, a Jordanian tribe of brothers descended from Ghassanid Christian Arabs. The Haddadins, led by Rashid Haddadin, arrived from east of the Jordan River near the Jordanian town of Shoubak. The Haddadin migration is attributed to fighting and unrest among clans in that area."

It is the capital of the Palestinian Authority.  27,092 live in this historically Christian city where the Christians are now a minority.  The British army lived here in December 1917.  It came into Jordan's hands when they attacked in 1948 until 1967.  Jordan had jailed many Palestinains.  In Israel's hands they could for the first time visit Israel and the Gaza Strip and deal in commerce.  However, they were leaders of the Intifada that started in December 1987.

 Headlines today say, " PA to impose a curfew on Ramallah during (Obama) visit;  Palestinian lawyers demand Obama's arrest for crimes US army committed. " Hundreds of Palestinians gathered in the center of Ramallah on Wednesday to protest against US President Barack Obama’s planned visit to the city. "The protest was organized by the radical Islamist group Hizb ut Tahrir, which seeks the establishment of an Islamic caliphate." "

  Hebron was called Kiriath-Arba in the "Old Testament", or our Torah.  It is only 18 miles from Jerusalem.  Abraham bought a plot of land from the Hittites, the Cave of Machpelah so that he could bury his wife,  Sarah.   This is history both Jews and Muslims share.  That's where it ends.  

This ancient city was once a part of the Jewish state of Judah, a state created by the followers of King David.  It was one of the cities of refuge.  David reigned here for 7 1/2 years before moving his capital to Jerusalem. A Jewish community continued here through the Byzantine Period and under Arab rule.   It is one of 4 sacred Jewish towns;   Hebron, Tiberias, Safed and Jerusalem.  Jews lived here continuously.  By 1890 there were 1,500 Jews living there with established yeshivot and religious schools.  In 1925 the great Lithuanian yeshivah of Slobodka was brought there.

In 1929, when stocks fell in the USA, Arabs were all in an uproar and massacred many Jews of Hebron.  Survivors were forced to leave.  30 Jewish families returned in 1931.  The Arabs rioted again in 1936, when things were bad for Jews in Germany.

After the Six Day War of 1967, some Jews came back to Hebron, descendants of those who had to leave or die, and they established Kiryat Arba which is east of the main city.  3,700 lived there in 1988.

Bethlehem has been taken over by the Muslims.  It is only 5.25 miles away from Jerusalem.  This was the birthplace of King David where "the Book of Ruth" occurred.  Christians say this is where Jesus was born.  The Roman Emperor, Constantine and his mother Helena built the Church of the Nativity here in 330 CE. From 1948 to 1967 it was under Jordanian rule and came into Israel's hands from the Six Day 1967 War.  In 1948 there were 7,500 Christians living here and 2,500 Muslims.  By 1968  there were 32,000 people.

Nablus, originally called Shechem is one of today's  Palestinian "colonies".  It's so old its origins go back to the Canaanites with walls that date from about 2,000 BCE, and like others, was in Jordanian territory from 48-67 and now controlled by Israel.  It was under Egyptian control  back in their 12th dynasty.  Our biblical patriarchs camped under its walls and it was taken by Simeon and Levi (Gen. 34), 2 of the 12 sons of Jacob.  It became the territory for Ephraim, another of the 12 sons and their desendants.  It was a Levitical city and a city of refuge as well as the center of the House of Joseph.  Joseph is buried here. The Assyrians had attacked in 721 BCE and took many of the 12 tribal members, leaving Judah, Levi and some of Benjamin's descendants.   In 1967 it had 44,000 people, mostly all Muslims with a tiny Samaritan community and has for decades been a center of fanatical Arab nationalism.  A small Jewish community formerly existed here.

Jericho lies in the Jordan valley 825 ' below sea level, sort of like Death Valley in California. When we drove from Tsfat to Jerusalem we went through Jericho.   It is one of the oldest settlements in the world and its first city wall goes back to the Neolithic Period of 5,000 BCE and then destroyed by Joshua (Josh.6).  It was revived only during the reign of the Jewish King Ahab of 870 BCE by Hiel the Bethelite.  (I Kings 16:34).  When King Herod of Judea (appointed by Romans) ruled and built himself a palace there where he died.  The Romans then destroyed Jericho in 68 CE and it was later rebuilt where it is now.  It is now surrounded by orange groves and banana plantations.  3,000 lived there in 1946 and Arab refugees moved there in 1948, numbering 61,000 in 1961.  Most fled over the Jordan before Israel troops arrived during the Six Day War. and some 8,500 lived in Jericho and another 2,000 in its vicinity at the time of the 1967 census.

Jenin is mentioned as Gina in the Tel el Amarna tablets and is probably the biblical En Gannim (Joshua 19:21) , called Ginaea in Roman times and had a small Jewish community in the 17th century CE.  It was a center of Arab nationalist fanaticism in the 1930's and was part of Jordan from 1948-1967.  In 1967 there were 8,346 apart from 5,019 Arab refugees in the vicinity.

During the Six Day War, Jordan had attacked Israel despite a message sent to Hussein by PM Levi Eshkol that if she remained out of the attack she would not be attacked.  Israel's Jerusalem and border towns were heavily shelled by the Jordanians.  Later on June 5, Israeli troops began their moves against the Jordanian positions and cut off Jordanian "east"Jerusalem (including the Old City) which fell on June 7th.  The entire area west of the Jordan river, including Bethlehem, Hebron and Nablus fell to the Israeli army.

"King Hussein of Jordan signed on with Egypt to attack Israel.  He wrote:  The armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon are poised on the borders of Israel...to face the challenge, while standing behind us are the armies of Iraq, Algeria, Kuwait, Sudan and the whole Arab nation."  They had 465,000 soldiers against Israel who won against them all in 6 days.  

According to the UN statistics of 2010, The West Bank population is 2,568,555 and East Jerusalem has 192,800.  Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate claim 57,000.

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramallah
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Bank
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_Palestinian_territories
http://wikitravel.org/en/Ramallah
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/67_War.html

Living With Terrorisms: A Personal Experience

Nadene Goldfoot                                                     

Israeli robot to pick up packages left on ground-
may have a bomb in them  

I lived in Israel from 1980 to the very end of 1985. My first lesson was how to live with terrorism. The first time I saw a loaf of bread outside on the patio of the building I was living in was a surprise. It wasn't wrapped; just a loaf of bread sitting there. I wanted to pick it up and put it in the garbage can, but nearby friends screamed at me not to pick it up, but to leave it. It could contain a bomb! Was I ever surprised. Then my friends went in and called the bomb squad. People have to be extremely careful of everything.

I went shopping in the Hadar area of Haifa. There was a bakery box on the ground, possibly containing cookies. Again, I saw the bomb squad come with a robot that shot the box when the crowd was far enough away. That was to do away with any possible bomb inside the box.

When we went into any store, there was always someone at the door that had to search our bags and purses, just in case. At the door of the junior high that I taught at sat several students whose job it was to search all people entering.

What a surprise I had when I moved into my apartment building in Safed. I had the ground floor apartment, and it had black bars on the windows to prevent terrorists from entering! It was a small window in our living room, too. I was thankful to get this apartment as I had easy access to the patio outside where I had clothes lines. There were many nights that I had nightmares of terrorists breaking in, breaking those bars.

At the school we had bomb drills, and a bomb shelter. In fact, all apartment buldings had bomb shelters. Safed was in the Northern Galilee and very close to Lebanon, as all of Israel is very close to someplace dangerous, so the country has to be protective. Just a few years ago Safed was shelled in the Lebanon-Israel War and many building were damaged. My neighbors wrote to me about their experience. Nearby was a school and a graveyard filled with students from a terrorist attack on the school! It seems that terrorists like to attack women and children especially. I remember a day when the school showed the community all of the containers that are used to conceal bombs of some sort or other. Big or small, every manufactured container was used. As soon as children start toddling around, they have to be taught not to pick a thing up outside.

Not only stores and schools have to check out people, but Israel's borders have checkpoints where people are entering. On November 2, 2002, a van with boxes of jeans wanted to go through. Soldiers found that one of the men inside was wanted. Soldiers found in the last searched box an explosive belt being delivered to a suicide bomber.

Two weeks later, a taxi was found two very heavy computers and inside again were explosive belts, plus a bag with a gun.

On June 8, 2008, an 18 year old Palestinian was arrested at the Hawara checkkpoint near Nablus because he was carrying 6 pipe bombs, an ammunition cartridge and bullets, and a bag of gunpowder. The military police said that it was routine for them to find bombs every day. They also find knives and other weapons. Three weeks earlier they arrested a Palestinians carrying 5 pipe bombs that he had on his chest to act as an explosives belt.

As recently as October 5, 2008, two pipe bombs were found in a package that a Palestinian man at the Hawara checkpoint near Nablus was carrying.

Anti-Israel propaganda is trying to make a case that Israeli soldiers are harassing Palestinians at checkpoints. Soldiers are not trying to harass, only trying to do their job. At one checkpoint north of Jerusalem, a Palestinian woman pushing a baby stroller was found to have concealed in it a pistol, 2 ammunition clips and a knife. On another occasion a woman was hiding her brother's gun in her underpants. Another woman hid a hand grenade under her baby!

Everytime our soldiers relax their policy and leave checkpoints, terrorists take advantage to launch more attacks on Israeli citizens, so it's necessary. The campaign of violence and terror that the Palestinians continue against Israelis causes checkpoints to exist. The goal is protection, not humiliation of Palestinians.

Reference: Mitchell Bard M&F #310 Does Israeli Use Checkpoints to Deny Palestinians Their Rights?
My experiences in Israel