What The "West Bank"" Means to Jews and Arabs

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                  

The WEST BANK is a new political name after 1947  for JUDEA and SAMARIA, states created about 3,000 years ago by Joshua and Moses's 600,000 Israelites,  freed from Egypt's bondage of 400 years.  Judea was one of 12 states created by the tribe of Judah, and Samaria was simply the hill of land  surrounding  their capital (Samaria)  of the Northern  kingdom of ISRAEL, the compilation of the 12 states of Jacob's sons. It was Joshua who delegated land sites to each tribe, decided by what he knew each tribe was capable of holding and using the land.  Canaan was land that Abraham had lived upon.  It was their original home before the draught that forced them into Egypt.  Now they were returning, better late than never.  

 In Hebrew, Samaria was called Shomron.  It was founded in 880 BCE by Omri, king of Israel.  In 1947, the terminology was noted by the United Nations in the Partition Plan for Palestine with the statement: "the boundary of the hill country of Samaria and Judea starts on the Jordan River...

Judaism was born through Moses' s laws from G-d during the Exodus.  The Israelites spent their lives studying  and practicing it wherever they lived.  Jerusalem was built by David and his son, Solomon.  Jews have considered this land THEIRS, even after they were exiled.  They prayed 3 times a day for the time to return.  Judaism went forward, spawning Christianity and then later, Islam.  Now their two "children" have decided that they are Judaism's replacement theories or religions, but the Jews are faithful to the parent.  

Israel (Yellow) with Shechem, the northern land made up of 10 of the tribes,  that was conquered by Nebuchadnezzzar II who  inherited the Assyrian Empire and after he conquered Judah in 597 BCE and again in 586 BCE,  exiled the people to Babylon;   and Judah, the southern land with the power source of Jerusalem, was left with 3 tribes; Judah being the largest with Simeon and Benjamin.  

The hilly land was even bought from its owner, Shemer (I Kings 16:24) originally. Heb. shemer, guard). Shemer was the owner of a hill in central Israel that Omri king of Israel,  bought, fortified, and named Samaria after its former owner (1Kgs.16.24; 1Chr.6.46). This man’s name is Shamar in KJV of Chronicles. 

The site, 7 miles NW of Shechem, today's Nablus,  was on a hilltop giving them a view of the wide countryside.  The city was composed of 25 acres.  Omri was king  of Israel from 887 to 876 BCE and was founder of a dynasty.  When young, he was a general against the Philistine city of Gibbethon.  He had subdued Moab.  The Assyrians called the kingdom of Israel by his name for the rest of its existence.  Note that this was recorded and known by all as a purchased land owned by the king for his kingdom.  

Some of the Jews never left the land, but the last king of Israel was Hoshea (730-721 BCE. From then till 70 CE, other Jewish obeying rulers for other lands were sitting on the throne.  The Romans burned down the Temple and Jerusalem.  Bar Kokhba tried to take Jerusalem back in 132 but lost the battle after 3 years.  

Britain held a 30 year mandate to be responsible for Palestine-named by Romans for Philistines,  enemies of Israel that started on April 24, 1920.   

No one took care of the land, and it died, turning into swamps for mosquitoes and flies and such.  Only when Jewish escapees from pogroms attempted a return to their native land did the land actually flourish.  They bought land from Arabs who couldn't afford to pay the taxes to the Turks of the Ottoman Empire and wanted to leave for better cities such as Paris.  So the land had a short respite, lying fallow, waiting for the Jews' return.  

Arabs follow Mohammad (570-632).  He thought he was the Arab prophet and so had revelations caused by the angel Gabriel of which later was dictated into the book, the Koran.  It should be known that Mohammad would go on the Meccan trade caravans and often met Jews and Christians and would discuss life.  He could not read or write.  Many Jewish tribes lived in Arabia near Mecca and Medina.  

To Arabs, it was land they wandered through on camels.  They did have one occasion when Mohammad, who knew many of the Jewish tales told outside their tents to groups of listeners, knew about the Temple.  

In Islamic tradition, the Prophet Muhammad's flight to Jerusalem and through the heavens on his winged horse, Buraq, is known as the Isra  Isra:  was the night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem  on his flying horse, Buraq.  The Buraq: was a supernatural creature with the head of a human and the body of a horse. The name "Buraq" may come from the Arabic word bariq, which means "shine" or "brilliance". Mi'raj: The ascent through the seven heavens.  This is the Arab claim of Jerusalem belonging to the Muslims.  

In 1947, the United Nations proposed partitioning Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, with Jerusalem under international control. However, fighting between Jewish and Arab militias broke out in Jerusalem immediately after the plan was adopted. The conflict led to the establishment of Israel on May 14, 1948 and the first Arab-Israeli War.                                  

Prince Abdullah of Arabia needed land and the British gave him Jordan. The period started during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, when Jordan occupied and subsequently annexed the portion of Mandatory Palestine that became known as the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.  The Jordanian administration of the West Bank officially began on 24 April 1950, and ended with the decision to sever ties on 31 July 1988.  The territory remained under Jordanian control until it was occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six Day War and eventually Jordan renounced its claim to the territory in 1988.

During the December 1948 Jericho Conference, hundreds of Palestinian notables in the West Bank gathered, accepted Jordanian rule and recognized Abdullah as ruler.

The Judea and Samaria Area is administered by the Israel Defense Forces Central Command, and military law is applied. Administrative decisions are subject to the Command's chief. The incumbent chief of Central Command is Aluf Nitzan Alon.

The future status of the region is a key factor in the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict.  Judea/Samaria (including East Jerusalem) and Gaza Strip are considered occupied Palestinian territories by the United Nations, the United States, the International Court of Justice, the European Union, and by non-governmental organizations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and B'Tselem. The Supreme Court of Israel has considered the section of Judea/Samaria which excludes East Jerusalem to be Israeli-occupied territories.

On 13 May 2012, a bill to extend Israeli law to the Israeli settlements in the Judea and Samaria Area initiated by Knesset member Miri Regev (Likud) first approved by the majority of the Ministerial Committee for Legislation was rejected in a second round of votes after prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had instructed his ministers to vote against the bill.

We have 6 major Jewish populated towns in Judea and Samaria.  ARIEL, BELTAR ELLIT, MA'ALE ADUMIM, MODI'IN ILLIT, EFRAT, and HAR BRACHA.  

In 1967, the Six-Day War saw Israeli forces capture the Jordanian-annexed West Bank, marking the beginning of the ongoing Israeli occupation of the territory. Following its capture, the right-wing Israelis began to refer to the territories by their Hebrew-language names and argued for their integration into Israel on historical, religious, nationalist, and security grounds

                                                                

                           Areas A, B, and C:  The West Bank was divided into Areas A, B, and C through the Oslo Accords, with Area A under full Palestinian control, Area B under shared Palestinian and Israeli control, and Area C under full Israeli control, essentially splitting the territory into zones based on administrative and security jurisdiction; Area C comprises the largest portion of the West Bank, encompassing around 60% of the land. Arabs have been encroaching on the C land, building without permits,, etc. squatting. 

Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the United States and Israel, won a 2006 West Bank parliamentary election over the Western-backed Fatah faction, led by Mahmoud Abbas, which had been administering the Palestinian Authority (PA). The Hamas victory brought sanctions and boycotts by the U.S., the EU and Israel of the new, Hamas-led joint Palestinian leadership.

In 2007, Abbas dissolved the Hamas-led administration in the West Bank and created an emergency cabinet that favored Fatah. The power struggle between the two Palestinian factions led to a split between the West Bank and Gaza, with Western powers supporting the Fatah-administered West Bank diplomatically and economically, while blockading the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.

Ever since then, Israel has had their hands full fighting off terrorists, and trying to protect Judea and Samaria along with Israel proper.  Everyone has been so quick to want to take Judea and Samaria away from the Jewish country and turn it into an Arab country named Palestine.  May I remind the world;  there is but one Jewish state in the world;  ISRAEL, while there are at least 49 Muslim majority states in the world that does not need another in the UN!  There are 57 Muslim countries in the world, according to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation's (OIC) member list. Among these, 49 countries have a Muslim-majority population.

Some of those who do not support the creation of an independent Palestinian state do support Israel's annexation of the West Bank, including members of the current far-right Israeli government led by Netanyahu.

Resource:

Tanakh, Stone Edition

New Jewish Encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordanian_annexation_of_the_West_Bank

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judea_and_Samaria_Area

https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/muslim-countries-in-the-world-2024/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/will-israel-annex-west-bank-after-trump-takes-office/

Safia Of A Jewish Tribe, Banu Nadir, In Arabia

 Nadene Goldfoot                                        

                                Ofra Haza of Yemen, the famous Jewish Israeli singer . I'm using her to represent the lovely Jewish women of Yemen, where most Jews of Arabia were living.  They lived within their Jewish tribes, with names starting with Banu....

A Yemenite Jewish family on Shabbat reading from Psalms

Banu (بنو) is Arabic for "the children of" or "descendants of" and appears before the name of a tribal progenitor. The English counterpart would be "House of", for example the House of Saud. Another example of the usage is the Bani Quraish, the tribe from which Muhammad came, for which a Quranic Surah is also named.  

                              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_vIydVt7wc

About in the year 600, Safia or Ṣafīyyah bint Ḥuyayy was born to the chief of the Jewish tribe of Banu Nadir.  Safiyyah was born in Medina to Huyayy ibn Akhtab, the chief of the Jewish tribe Banu Nadir. Her mother, Barrah bint Samawal, was from the Banu Qurayza tribe. Her maternal grandfather was Samaw'al ibn 'Adiya, a celebrated pre-Islamic Arabian Jewish poet from the Banu Harith tribe.  

Some of the Jewish tribes of Arabia historically attested include:Banu Harith or Bnei Chorath;  Banu Qaynuqa

• Banu Shutayba; Jafna Clan of the Banu Tha'laba who were exiled members of the Banu Ghassan - while both tribes were not Jewish, they did have Jewish members; whereas the Jafna Clan was solely Jewish;  Banu Zaura;  Banu Zurayq In Islamic lore, Labid ben Asam was a Jewish sorcerer who cast a spell on Muhammad that made him ill for several months and prevented him from having sexual relations with his wives;  Banu Quda'a — Himyarite tribe of converts to Judaism;  Banu Qurayza — sub-clan of the al-Kāhinān, located in Yathrib (Medina);  Banu Nadir — sub-clan of the al-Kāhinān, located in Yathrib (Medina);  Banu Juw — sub-clan of the Banu Qaynuqa, Fled to North Africa.
• Banu Aws and Banu Awf.  

According to a source, Safia was married off to Sallam ibn Mishkam, who later divorced her. Sallam ibn Mishkam ibn Al-Hakam ibn Haritha ibn Al-Khazraj ibn Kaab ibn Khazraj was a member of the Nadir tribe. He was a distant cousin of the tribal chief, Huyayy ibn Akhtab, and he was also related to the Abu’l-Huqayq branch of the tribe. His house bordered on the territory of the Qurayza tribe, and Sallam, who had many friends among the local pagans as well as the Jews, was apparently on good terms with the Qurayza tavern-keeper next door.  At some stage, Sallam married Safiyya bint Huyayy, but they were later divorced. It is possible that the whole family changed their minds about this match amicably and early, before Sallam and Safiyya actually lived together.  Sallam ibn Mishkam (died 628) was a Jewish warrior, rabbi and poet who lived in Medina, Arabia, in the early seventh century.

 Safia was probably about 13 when married to Sallam.  When the Banu Nadir were expelled from Medina in 625, her family settled in Khaybar, an oasis near Medina. Her father and brother went from Khaybar to join the Meccan and Bedouin forces besieging Muhammad in Medina during the Battle of the Trench. When the Meccans withdrew Muhammad besieged the Banu Qurayza. After the defeat of the Banu Qurayza in 627 Safiyya's father, a long-time opponent of Muhammad, was captured and executed by the Muslims.  In 627 or early in 628, Safiyya was married to Kenana ibn al-Rabi, treasurer of the Banu Nadir; she was about 17 years old at that time.  Kenana ibn al-Rabi' also known as Kenana ibn al-Rabi'a and Kenana ibn al-Rabi ibn Abu al-Huqayq, was a Jewish Arab tribal leader of seventh-century Arabia and an opponent of Muhammad. He was a son of the poet al-Rabi ibn Abu al-Huqayq. Ibn al-Rabi' was killed during early Muslim clashes with the Banu Nadir.

 At that time she was hit in the face and retained a scar, said to be caused by her husband over a dream she told him about where he raged in jealousy.  Now she had one divorce and was a widow with the 2nd marriage and with her father deceased, had lost his protection.  

Mohammad won a battle with the Jews where her father was killed  and took her for himself as another wife.   "From the information provided in the Hadith, it can be reasonably concluded that Safiyah did not have a choice in this marriage; rather she was war booty for Muhammad, a not uncommon practice at the time. There do exist passages in ibn Sa'd's "Tabaqat" or lives that indicate that Muhammad gave Safiyah the choice between marrying him and returning to her people:

Safia had gone through 2 Jewish marriages where she had been badly treated-not the usual with Jewish marriages in other places.  She found herself living with the head of her people's enemy and was treated well.  She would have been worse off if she returned to her people, she figured. There she remained.  

The Jewish tribes of Arabia were ethnic groups professing the Jewish faith that inhabited the Arabian Peninsula before and during the advent of Islam. In Islamic tradition, the Jewish tribes of the Hejaz were seen as the offspring of the ancient Hebrews. According to historical Muslim sources, they spoke a language other than Arabic, which al-Tabari claims was Persian. This implies they were connected to the major Jewish community of Babylonia. Certain Jewish traditions record the existence of nomadic tribes such as the Rechabites, which converted to Judaism in antiquity.

Jewish records relate Jewish settlement in Arabia's peninsula of SW Asia

even in biblical times, but strong evidence of being there from the 1st

century CE with 3,000 scattered all over the country and increased through

the conversion of Arabs to Judaism, especially in the South where even 

some rulers, like Dhu Nuwas embraced Judaism.  In the 6th and early 7th

centuries there was a large Jewish population in HEJAZ and especially in

Medina and around this city.  Judaism spread from Medina to the South.

Smaller Jewish communities also existed in BAHREEN, at Makna on the 

Gulf of Akaba, at Adhruh between MAAN and PETRA, and further north at

JARBA.   After the rise of Islam in 632, these Jews and those of Yemen 

were allowed to survive on the payment of special taxes as Jews now 

became Dhimmis (2nd class).  Most of the Hejazi Jews were either expelled

or killed.  Most Jews of Arabia now lived in Yemen, Hadramaut and Aden.  

Jews had become assimilated to their Arab neighbors not only in language 

and culture but in manners and customs, social organization and mentality.

Only a couple of thousand Jews were left in the entire peninsula of 

Arabia by 1992 with nearly all in Yemen.  The overwhelming majority had 

emigrated to Israel.  Yemen in 2011 was listed as having a population of

23,580,000 and was 99% Muslim., an Islamic State. .  Saudi Arabi itself

was listed with 27,601,038 population and 100% Muslim, an Islamic State.

A lone Jewish person remains in Yemen, down from seven a month ago, according to a new United Nations report about the treatment of religious minorities in conflict zones.                                

A report of March 2022, which was published by the U.N. special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, described the treatment of religious minorities around the world. “that Jew is undoubtedly Levi Salem Musa Marhabi, who has been illegally imprisoned and tortured by Ansar Allah since 2016,” said Jason Guberman, executive director of the American Sephardi Federation, referring to the Houthi rebel forces by their official name, Ansar Allah.   “In recent years, the rise in situations of conflict and insecurity has impacted communities of every religion or belief system, subverting their enjoyment of fundamental human rights, including freedom of religion or belief,” the report noted.  One Jew was left in Yemen.                                           

        Older Arab men of Oman

Note that Oman is a neighbor of Yemen.  the Jews of Muscat in his memoirs Travels in Arabia, vol. 1.of Benjamin of Tudela;  He mentions that there are "a few Jews in Muskat (sic), who mostly arrived there in 1828, being driven from Baghdad . . .by the cruelties and extortions of the Pacha Daud." He also notes that Jews were not discriminated against at all in Oman, which was not the case in other Arab countries (they did not have to live in Ghettos, nor identify themselves as Jews, not walk in the road if a Muslim was walking on the same street, as was the case in Yemen). The Jews of Muscat were employed mostly in the making of silver ornaments, banking, and liquor sale. Despite the lack of persecution in Oman, the community is believed to have disappeared before 1900. During World War II, a Jewish American Army enlisted man, Emanuel Glick, encountered a small community of Omani Jews in Muscat, but this community consisted mostly of recent migrants from Yemen.Omani officials have begun to reach out to Jewish American and Israeli leaders. The American Jewish Committee recently hosted a meeting at which: "Israeli and Omani leaders gathered at AJC to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Middle East Desalination Research Center, one of the success stories of efforts to deepen Arab-Israeli cooperation. Speakers include Sayyid Badr, secretary-general of the Foreign Ministry of Oman; Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni; and Charles Lawson of the U.S. State Department. (Video: Israeli, Omani Leaders Celebrate.)  Why isn't Oman on the Abrahamic Accords yet?  In line with the Arab League position in relation to Israel, Oman does not officially recognize the state of Israel and took part in the boycott of Israel during much of the 20th century.

Resource:

https://dbpedia.org/page/Banu_(Arabic)#:~:text=Banu%20(%D8%A8%D9%86%D9%88)%20is%20Arabic%20for,Quranic%20Surah%20is%20also%20named.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_tribes_of_Arabiahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sallam_ibn_Mishkam

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sallam_ibn_Mishkam

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenana_ibn_al-Rabi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Oman#:~:text=Despite%20the%20lack%20of%20persecution,of%20recent%20migrants%20from%20Yemen.