JUDEA and SAMARIA: AKA The West Bank-The HEART of Judaism

 Nadene Goldfoot                                          

Judea and Samaria are the heart of Judaism.  No one has a religion as old as Judaism that is still vital, in fact, has made a comeback after almost being destroyed in the Holocaust.  Our religion started about 4,000 years ago and remains relevant. 

One cannot fathom that the history that developed into Judaism can understand that the feeling for this runs in our blood and our minds.  Taking this place away from Jews after promising its return to them is like taking away Washington DC from the USA and giving it to China, or giving Mexico city to Great Britain.  It's heart and soul of our people, whether they realize it or not.

There is no comparison in the world as to how Jews  feel about this land. What these boys see is not beauty, it's their history that they are looking at, knowing what took place here.  Their ancestors' blood and vitality are mixed with this soil.  It's where it all happened for them.  

                                             

  Judaism is not a religion whose aim is to convert others to their belief.  Islam is the opposite; their aim is to convert Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, any religion to theirs. Arabs came to this land only lately , in the 1880s, looking for work from the Jews.  Those Arabs here before were spotty, and ready to leave after the treatment of the Ottoman Empire, Turks only interested in getting tax revenues out of them. The Arabs were able to live in other places, and left for Damascus, Beirut, Paris, anywhere where living was easier than here with the swamps and mosquitoes and weeds that were prevalent.  The year 1916 marked four centuries since Palestine had become part of the Ottoman Empire, also known as the Turkish Empire.  This had been Turkish land, not Palestinian Arab land.                                                   

Part of Judaism is the promise, found in the Old Testament, of living on this particular piece of land, a promise G-d required of us made by Moses.   This is part of our history.  The promise was made to G-d, not to man. Why is this so important?  We don't know why but it hasn't worked out very well living in other places since 70 CE.  We've tried and have been served up an awful lot of anti-Semitism. Jews live here now, hoping to  survive in peace, knowing that the gestapo cannot come breaking down their door and dragging them away. There are those Arabs who are still trying to drive them out, however, killing those in the middle of the night, children, everyone in a home, a community.   

                                                  

 Balfour Declaration, (November 2, 1917), statement of British support for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” It was made in a letter from Arthur James Balfour, the British foreign secretary, to Lionel Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild (of Tring), a leader of the Anglo- Jewish coalition. 

Lord Rothschild was an active Zionist and a close friend of Chaim Weizmann, and he worked to formulate the draft declaration for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. On 2 November 1917, he received a letter from the British foreign secretary, Arthur Balfour, addressed to his London home at 148 Piccadilly. In the letter, the British government declared its support for the establishment in Palestine of "a national home for the Jewish people". The letter became known as the Balfour Declaration.

                               LordLionel Walter Rothschild,          

Rothchild was a British banker, politician, zoologist and soldier, who was a member of the prominent Rothschild family. As a prominent Zionist leader, he was presented with the famous Balfour Declaration which pledged to a Jewish national home in Palestine. Rothschild was the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews from 1925 to 1926.  This was not just a happenstance letter.  It had merit and weight considering who it was from. It may have not been in the best of legal terms, but it was the plan behind it that counted to the Jewish people..                     

Jews are a documented people in the Bible, the Old Testament and their living in Israel.                           

This is probably why the League of Nations decided to house Jews back in the land of Palestine and said they'd get this country back, (Great Britain) to help create the Jewish Homeland.   The history of this land was well-known in Christianity and of course, in Judaism, and it was of the empire of Israel, land of Kings Saul, David and Solomon, to most known through King David's psalms, quoted by many of all religions. 

                                 

Part of the history of Arabs with Mohammad's birth  was to invade other countries, take their land and building mosques over their  churches, synagogues, etc. Arabs have been doing this ever since he died in 632.

                                               

Secretary of State James Baker had to learn that the hard way when he tried to get Arabs and Jews together for a meeting about peace.   No matter who was attending, every Arab happened to be representing the PLO, terrorism, and Baker didn't want any of that. The USA had reason to dislike the PLO since they were on Saddam's side, but to the Jews, they were murderers, terrorists, despicable.  They were beyond reason.  

                                                    

James Baker's opposition to Israel-Morocco accord further undermines his diplomatic legacy;   At the 1991 Madrid Conference, Baker succeeded in bringing together delegations from Israel, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Egypt together in the same room, as well as the Palestine Liberation Organization, which attended as part of the Jordanian team.  The agreement followed Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Sudan also signing normalization agreements with Israel in September and October 2020. Along with Egypt and Jordan, Morocco became the sixth Arab League country to normalize ties with Israel. As part of the agreement, the United States agreed to recognize Morocco's claim to the disputed Western Sahara territory while urging the parties to "negotiate a mutually acceptable solution" using Morocco's autonomy plan as the only framework. This is what James Baker was against.

                                             

 Golda Meir (1898–1978) was an Israeli politician who helped found (1948) the State of Israel and later served as its fourth prime minister (1969–74). She was the first woman to hold that post.  She's been there since the beginning, just like a George Washington of the USA.  She was a woman of great wisdom.  This is what the Palestinian leadership has done with the Jewish people, erase their past connections to the land of Israel.  

Not all our American and Jewish leaders have  been that religious, but they all feel a sense of nationalism and the need for the Jews' own land, a sense of belonging there.   Living on the land again as in the past has been their #1 priority. It was up for grabs and who got it was up to those who won the 1st world war.  They had the power to make that decision, a decision without more fighting.  Britain had been given a 30 year mandate over the land, and they were very wishy-washy about what to give to Jews, despite Balfour's promise.    Arabs got 90% of land that had been promised and planned for the Jews, and actually were going against the Balfour Declaration.                                                

A few years ago, they were up against Arabs like Hanan Ashrawi, female, professor of English literature at Beit Zeit University, who didn't know her Middle East history at all and told Baker that the majority of people with her saw this initiative with him as an attempt to bypass the PLO, and they living in the (Occupied territories) would not carry out any political steps without direct orders-instructions--from the PLO in Tunis.  

Arafat's thinking was fear of being replaced with other Arabs, but finally realized they had to allow these others to take their place in the Baker confab.  The participants were Faisal Husseini, Hanan Ashrawi, Saeb Erekat, and 7 other leaders and they met with Baker. First thing they told Baker was that they were PLO's delegation.  Baker let them know they couldn't speak with him as they had backed Saddam Hussein.  Erekat said, "if the US could get Iraq out of Kuwait, then they could get the Israelis out of the (Occupied Territories.) Baker said that was true but they wouldn't do it.  The UN said Jews and Arabs were to negotiate. Up to this very day, that's been impossible.As of 1967, they have been determined to say no to anything the Jews have presented.  That's 55 years of NOs.  

  Young IDF paratroopers  seeing Jerusalem's wall for the first time since Jordan held it  in 1967. That was a deal England made that feathered their nest, though cut off a lot of land from the Jewish Homeland plan.  

 The grandparents of these men had been able to be in Jerusalem but not them, though it was a part of Israel born in 1948.  During World War II (1939–45), Abdullah actively sided with the United Kingdom, and his army, the Arab Legion—the most effective military force in the Arab world—took part in the British occupation of Syria and Iraq in 1941. In 1946 Transjordan became independent, and Abdullah was crowned in Amman on May 25, 1946. So good-bye Jewish Homeland and hello Jordan.                                    

The next day  Israel hit Baker with news that they were building a new neighborhood of homes for Israelis in Judea-Samaria, Israel's original homeland, where Moses and Joshua had designated where the 12 tribes were to live. With the Ottoman Empire actually owning the land, Jews were able to build up Tel Aviv first which was along the Seacoast, easy for them to reach and not upsetting the Ottomans.  Jerusalem was the other place they were building back after being destroyed by the Romans and then being taken over by Islamists by about 637 CE. 

                                              

                            Baker with Arafat

  The Jewish reasoning was to tell Baker that they were not about to negotiate away any part of Judea-Samaria.  Baker was so mad.  He saw it as destroying his mission that was given to him. He had no feeling at all about their religious history there. He was only interested in his own success story.  

  Since 1967, Israel felt they had the right to do this;  it was their land, and they got it back after it was promised to them in the first place. They remembered when it was given away to Abdullah of Trans-Jordan by Britain.  Jordan fought against Israel in 67 war and lost, and that gave Israel the land, free and clear, won by defense; the land west of the Jordan River, that Arabs and Brits called the West Bank- erasing the memory of its historical origins with Jews.                            

Judea-Samaria originally was one of the 12 "states" of the 12 tribes of Israel.  It was made up of the tribe of Judah, 4th son of Jacob and Leah.  When Solomon died in 933 BCE, the northern part of the empire left the southern end of Judah in a Civil War.  Then in 721 BCE, that northern section was attacked by the Assyrians and the best people were kidnapped and taken away to parts unknown on the way back to Assyria.

                                               

Romans came along about 150 BCE and occupied Jerusalem, ending by burning down Jerusalem and the holy Temple of Solomon  in 70 CE who had finished his task of building it.  

    Here is Nicki Haley on the right, who had to deliberate with people like the Palestinians, Hanan Ashraw, smiling here, but one who drove me up the wall in her arguments and lack of understanding of the history of the land.  The person best understanding the Israeli position about Judea and Samaria was Nicki Haley, USA Representative at the UN. How she was chosen for this role was a miracle.  

                                                   

Judea was best known as the tribal land that included Jerusalem. It, along with a little of the tribe of Benjamin, were the remaining Jews after the attack of Babylon and who had to remain there for about 70 years before many returned.  That's how we got our handle of Jews; the Jews of Judea.  Samaria was the land surrounding the 2nd capital, the capital of the northern tribes  before they were whisked away by the Assyrians, the capital  of the Northern kingdom of Israel, called Samaria. This had been founded by King Omri of Israel in 880 BCE.   

 Resource:

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

Israel and the Arabs by Ahron Bregman and Jihan El-Tahri     

Jerusalem Declared City of David Second Time in History

Nadene Goldfoot                                                    

On December 6, 2018, Jerusalem was again formally declared the city of David by the USA by recognizing Jerusalem  as the city created by the House of David, Israel's 2nd King.  Washington's President Donald Trump had taken the plunge and recognized this fought over ancient city as Israel's capital.  The expectation was that there would be a hysterical panic of many watching countries who will threaten this decision.  
                                                   

Judeans being taken away to Babylon 

Jews have been waiting for 26 centuries as biblical exiles who vowed by the rivers of Babylon when they were forced to march there by Nebuchadnezzar b: 605-d: 562 BCE who had attacked Jud

ah and taken away 8,000 of the aristocracy population as captives. and resettled them in Babylonian 597 BCE. 
                                                       

Nebuchadnezzar 

"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and also wept when we remembered Zion(Jerusalem).  On the willows within it we hung our lyres.  For there our captors requested words of song from us, with our lyres playing joyous music.  "Sing for us from Zion's song!"  How can we sing the song of HASHEM upon the alien's soil?"  If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill.  Let my tongue adhere to my palate.  If I fail to recall you, if I fail to elevate Jerusalem above my foremost joy.  Remember, HASHEM, for the offspring of Edom, the day of Jerusalem:  for those who say, "DESTROY!  DESTROY!  TO ITS VERY FOUNDATION.  "O VIOLATED DAUGHTER OF BABYLON, PRAISEWORTHY IS HE WHO REPAYS YOU IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE MANNER THAT YOU TREATED US.  PRAISWORTHY IS HE WHO WILL CLUTCH AND DASH YOUR INFANTS AGAINST THE ROCK.  
                                                 

"One of the jobs of the Levites was to sing songs in the Temple. Travelers arriving in Jerusalem could hear their haunting and inspiring voices from miles away as they approached the Holy City. Their renown was far and wide – so much so that when they arrived as exiles in Babylon, the Babylonians ask them to, “Sing for us the songs of Zion.”  Only they were being cruel about it.  They were rubbing in the fact that they were captives no longer able to do so.  
                                                     

The chapter in Psalms does not tell us the fate of the Jews who gave that answer. One traditional source says that Nebuchadnezzar killed 80,000 Jews. His response to their refusal to sing was a massacre.  
                                                      

We were taught from this that no matter what the occasion of personal joy, the memory of Jerusalem must come first.  From this verse stems the custom that a bridegroom places ashes on his head before the marriage ceremony and the custom that a glass is broken after the ceremony in memory of Jerusalem. 
                                                     

Babylonian Court-200,000 people
one begging for mercy

That's what heads of state did in those days to change people's cultures and religions.  Then in 586 BCE they invaded Judah again, captured the whole city and destroyed their Holy Temple, laying waste other cities and exiling masses of the population.  The king, Zedekiah,  was a nominee of Nebuchadnezzar himself but even he had  rebelled.  For doing that, he was taken to Riblah where he was slain."  It sounds to me like the Babylonians had treated infants like the Nazis did during the Holocaust by bashing the babies against rocks to kill them off, because this is mentioned in Psalms and the comment was that they were treated like this so they should be treated in the same way.  It's the lesson of not treating others in a manner you wouldn't want to be treated-referred in later days by Hillel as THE GOLDEN RULE.  
                                                     

Judeans returning to Jerusalem from Babylon 

Persia overcame the Babylonian Empire, including Palestine.  It was their King Cyrus who decided on an enlightened policy towards his subject peoples and in 538 BCE, granted permission to the exiles of Judah in Babylon to return to their homeland and rebuild the Temple.  For this the Jewish exiles regarded  Cyrus as a Divine agent.  
                                                         

Netanyahu was not afraid of the consequences of this great moment.
There were repercussions, but not as terrifying nor as monumental a decision
it was to tell the world that this was Israel's capital, and it became ONE!
No more a divided city.  The Palestinian Arabs in the eastern section would be
treated as the rest of the city.  Jerusalem, a city bearing many names; Zion,
City of David, City of Righteousness, the Faithful City, the City of G-d, The Holy City, City of Truth, Ariel...It has much to look up to.  Trump continued to keep
another promise and that was to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem.
 The United States Embassy officially relocated to Jerusalem on May 14, 2018, to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the Israeli Declaration of Independence.

The reaction came from the United Nations who are never in tune with Israel.  Within 10 days the 15 members of their Security Council were handed a draft resolution that denied the declarations legal consequences and told Washington to rescind its move.  As if that weren't enough of their blowing a dissonance sound against Israel, the UN General Assembly's condemnation of this move  had a vote of 128- 9 with 29 abstentions and 21 absentees.  That means 50 in all were too frightened to join Trump in this declaration and hid behind this veil.  They threw in that making any decisions were null and void and must be rescinded.  
                                                        

.

Trump could trump this with Nicki Haley, the UN Ambassador who vetoed the Egyptian- drafted resolution on December 18, 2018,  and added that Washington saw in it "AN INSULT THAT WON'T BE FORGOTTEN!"  Now the UN is not a police force.  They can admonish but have no legal power.  
                                                   ירושלים
Jerusalem's history is documented to the hilt in the Torah.  It continued to be documented in the following books that make up the set of the Tanakh or (Old Testament/Bible to English speakers.  The most read book in the world is THE BIBLE.  The name, JERUSALEM, is in the Tanakh 660 times.  It is in the New Testament 146 times.                               

                                                   עיר דוד
"City of David. Second Samuel recounts David's conquest of Jebus, exploiting the secret watershaft from the spring Gihon outside the city wall to its exit within the city. From that time on David "took up residence in the fortress, and called it the City of David" ( 5:9 ).His subsequent construction of a palace made Jerusalem a royal city. His decision to rule from Jerusalem elevated a city, poorly situated for either trade or military activity, to capital status. The politically neutral city, belonging to neither the northern nor southern tribes, also became his personal property."


Resource: magazine: The Jerusalem Report, January 8, 2018, O JERUSALEM!
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
Tanakh The Stone Edition  : Psalms 137
https://www.jewishhistory.org/by-the-rivers-of-babylon/
https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionaries/bakers-evangelical-dictionary/jerusalem.html
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/us-opens-embassy-in-jerusalem-recognizing-city-as-true-capital-of-israel