Israel was a Jewish State for 1500 years, until the Roman Empire
conquered it 2000 years ago and renamed it “Palestine”. Since then it was ruled
by foreigners UNTIL the Jewish people re-established their sovereign rule in
1948, with the same language, laws, customs and religion as 2000 years before.
Jews lived in Palestine continuously since the Roman conquest, and thus
have maintained a continuous presence in the region for 3500 years.
The Jews scattered around the globe for 2000 years since the Roman conquest, yearned and prayed to
return. Jewish prayer, art, poetry and culture is infused with the love of
Israel and the desire to return.
The West Bank
“The West Bank” refers to Judea and Samaria, west of the Jordan River
and east of the armistice line (“Green Line”) that delineated the Jewish and
Arab military forces at the end of the 1948-9 war.
Between 1949-1967, the West Bank was occupied by Jordan. It was the only
time in history that Jews were prohibited from living in there. No separate Palestinian
State ever existed there, and the “Palestine Liberation Organisation” renounced
any claim to it until Israel occupied it in the 1967 war.
The highlands of Judea and Samaria strategically dominate the coastal
plains of Israel and provide its water sources. The Jordan Valley is Israel’s
only viable line of defence against attacks from the east.
What are “Settlements”?
“Settlements” refers to Jewish communities in the West Bank, which was
occupied by Jordan from 1949-1967, then by Israel since 1967.
After 1967, such communities were re-established in strategic locations
like the Tel Aviv – Jerusalem corridor, which had repeatedly seen heavy
Arab-Jewish hostilities. Others constitute a revival of Jewish communities
where they had flourished for hundreds or thousands of years, sometimes dating
back to biblical times.
The Settlements today house about a half-million people, mainly in five
blocs: all within a few kilometres of the Green Line, and representing about 7%
of the area of the West Bank.
Legal Position
Jewish connection to the land runs long and deep, and the Jewish People
have better title to the land than any other people.
In 1924, after World War 1, The League of Nations assigned
administration of the region, including the West Bank, to Britain under its
Mandate for Palestine, to foster the establishment of a national home for the
Jewish people. The Mandatory borders are permanent and irrevocable under
international law.
The Green Line is an armistice line, not a recognised border. It has no
legal force under international law, and doesn’t correspond to any prior
administrative border. The parties to the Armistice Agreement formally
acknowledged that any future borders are subject to negotiated agreement
between them.
The Fourth Geneva Convention’s Article 49(6) has been grossly
misinterpreted to be a prohibition against the occupying power’s citizens. In
fact, it’s a set of injunctions to prevent forcible deportations and mass
transfers of peoples as perpetrated by the Nazis. It doesn’t prevent civilians voluntarily
moving to occupied territory. No Jewish Israelis in the West Bank were
transferred there, and many didn’t even move there - they were born there!
Jordan’s belligerent occupation of the West Bank in 1949 was illegal. In
1967, Israel ended this illegal occupation in a war of self-defence, by taking
control of the territory. Thus Israel has the strongest claim of sovereign
title to the West Bank.
Ethnic Cleansing?
The Palestinian-Authority demand for a freeze on “settlement activity”
as a pre-condition for peace negotiations is a violation of the Oslo Accords.
It is also a violation of human rights to demand ethnic cleansing of an
area. Why should a Jew be forbidden to live somewhere simply because he is
Jewish?
If a new Arab State is to be established in the region, why shouldn’t
Jews live side by side with Muslims, Christians and others, in peace and
security, just as they do in Israel?
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