Annexation of Judea--Samaria Land

Nadene Goldfoot                                           

Judea's Jewish KFAR ADUMIM, east of Jerusalemabout 15 kilometers (9 miles) to the northeast of Jerusalem
Population: 4,513

Kfar Adumim is a mixed religious-secular Israeli settlement in the Judah. It is located in the Judean Desert, on the southern bank of Wadi Qelt, about 2 miles northeast of the town Ma'ale Adumim. It is at 367 meters above sea levelThe international community considers Israeli towns in the Judea-Samaria illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.  Kfar Adumim was established in September 1979. Its first settlers were 10 families that had seceded previously from the group which founded Ma'ale Adumim and had been living in Mishor Adumim.
Oslo agreement was in 1995. 

 Ma'ale Adumim 4.3 miles from Jerusalem was first a Nahal village established by the IDF.  Nahal is a corps combining military training with farm work.  Its members become farmers when their service ends.  They were first military points like any other unit of the IDF. 

                                                                       
Three days before the last Israeli elections on April 6, Netanyahu made a speech about Judea and Samaria.  "I will not uproot a single settlement, and I will ensure that we’ll control all the area West of the Jordan river. Will we move to the next stage?   The answer is yes, we will move to the next stage—to the gradual extension of Israeli sovereignty in the areas of Judea and Samaria. I also do not distinguish between the settlement blocs and the lone settlements, every settlement like that is for me Israeli."  Netanyahu is a member of Likud, and they have stood with him on this ever since December 31, 2017.  They have a good majority in parliament.  
                                                             

Samaria is the top half, the northern part
Judea is the bottom half, the southern part

Judea and Samaria are divided into areas A,B, and C.  This annexation that is on the table only is applying to the section where Jews live.  A bi-national state is not what Israel wants to be nor was designed to be.  This has been the fear of many.  Area A since the Oslo decisions is not designated for the Jewish Israelis.  " Some right-wing politicians have also called for annexing all Area C lands—which represent most open land areas in the Judea- Samaria  and are sparsely populated by Palestinians.  
                                                   

Israel's highway connecting Judea-Samaria to Israel
in Area C. 

update: Area C is home to 300,000 Palestinians in 532 residential areas. It is also home to 389,250 Israelis, in 135 cities, towns and villages as well as 100 outposts unrecognized by the Israeli government. Area C forms a contiguous territory, administered via the Judea and Samaria Area administration.

    "Area C is the largest of the 3 areas, about 72to 74% of land, but the Jewish communities constitute a tiny fraction of area C.  Arabs, just like Jews in area C, must obtain permits in order to build residences.  "Arabs have been found building without permits, however.  Here is an example of what is happening.

"The illegal “building intifada” being waged by the Palestinian Authority on state lands in Area C of Judea and Samaria, (the West Bank), has become the latest battleground for the radical Left in conjunction with foreign-funded Israeli so called human rights NGO’s such as B’tselem and Bimkom.

This unlawful land theft is being carried out with the full support of the EU, foreign aid organizations and the UN."

Area A , about 18% of land, is home designed for the Arabs only; no Jews.  "Israeli citizens have the right to enter and pass through Area A unmolested, provided that they are not involved in illicit activity, in which case the PA can only temporarily apprehend them until they are transferred to the Israeli authorities. Joint Israeli-PA patrols were intended to handle these cases.

Area B is home "of less built-up areas, many of which shared their space with settlements created in the massive settlement drive in the 1980s launched by the Likud government. Area B comprises approximately 22% of Judea and Samaria.

In Area B, Israel and the PA share jurisdiction."

The Areas A and B were chosen in such a way as to just contain Palestinians, by drawing lines around Palestinian population centers at the time the Oslo Agreement was signed;

This plan has many problems.  Some will not be offered naturalization as a citizen and some will and both might live close to each other.  Oslo wasn't considering annexations.   Since Palestinians now living in A or B have been under the PA's Abbas, they are of the same mind pretty much as those in Gaza.   Israel " would exclude areas populated by Palestinians. This differs from the Golan Heights Law, which covered the whole geographic area of the Golan, including villages populated by Golan Druze (who held Syrian nationality)."  Israel is considering the 450,000 Jews living in Area C who want to be called Israelis and be under their protection.  

The Jewish Voice writers tell us that the USA is backing Israel if they annex any of Judea-Samaria as promised.  However,...there are always ifs-

However, the spokesperson did say that recognition would only be granted if Israel keeps its part of the deal, by holding talks with the Palestinians in accordance with measures set out by the deal of the century.

“The annexation would be in the context of an offer to the Palestinians to achieve statehood based upon specific terms, conditions, territorial dimensions, and generous economic support,” the spokesperson said.

I believe that Israel has been trying to do this ever since 1948.

Israel's long-time international law expert and  advocate on the subject of Judea-Samaria has been Professor Eugene Kontorovich who does live in Israel now.  Another international lawyer in Israel is :Professor Yuval Shany is the Hersch Lauterpacht Chair in International Law and former Dean of the Law Faculty of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He also currently serves as Vice President for Research at the Israel Democracy Institute, and as a member of the UN Human Rights Committee. Prof. Shany received his LL.B. cum laude from the Hebrew University, LL.M. from New York University and Ph.D. in international law from the University of London.
In early February of 2020, Kushner on Thursday said it will likely take “a couple of months” to complete work on detailed West Bank maps before Israel will be able to annex settlements and the Jordan Valley.
Update 5/31/2020: Response from Fatah is threatening. Posted text: “A statement from the Fatah Movement Jenin branch...

O heroic Palestinian people, our battle with this greedy and hateful occupier is growing and heating up. The hated Israeli occupation has crossed all the red lines and gone too far in its evil way and its Zionist expansion ideology, out of hostility towards humanity and the international conventions...
Therefore, in light of the blatant and insolent arrogance of the Zionist occupation, which has publicly targeted the Palestinian struggle (our prisoners and Martyrs) [parentheses in source], and targeted the land of our Palestinian state whose capital is Jerusalem by announcing its determination to annex parts of our Palestinian state’s land... a strong and moving Palestinian response has arrived from the Palestinian people’s leadership and His Honor [PA] President of the State of Palestine leader Mahmoud Abbas, who in a resounding voice declared the release from all the agreements with the occupation state and the American administration...
We hold the Israeli occupation and the current American administration fully responsible for the explosion in the situation in the Palestinian territories, and say to them that the Palestinian people will defend its land and its right with self-sacrifice... We will not allow any occupying power to expropriate our historical Palestinian right, and we will all mobilize to fight with the sword of justice against the dark forces of occupation, until the occupation is defeated and independence is achieved...
Our people will continue on the path of struggle, not out of love for death, but rather in order to create a life for our children and the coming Palestinian generations, so that they will live with dignity in the lap of their independent Palestinian state...
As Palestinian poet Abd Al-Rahim Mahmoud said:
‘I shall carry my soul in my palm and toss it into the abyss of destruction
And then either a life that will gladden friends, or a death that will enrage the enemies’ (see note below –Ed.).”

[Official Fatah Facebook page, May 20, 2020] 

Resource: https://www.lawfareblog.com/israels-new-plan-annex-west-bank-what-happens-next
http://www.jewishwikipedia.info/west_bank_areas_a_b_c.html
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/op-ed-contributors/illegal-arab-building-defies-supreme-court-ruling
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lXwBxtojzY
http://thejewishvoice.com/2020/04/us-gives-israel-blessing-to-annex-parts-of-judea-samaria/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area_C_(West_Bank)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kfar_Adumim
Updated: https://www.timesofisrael.com/as-peace-plan-rolls-out-netanyahu-says-he-will-annex-jordan-valley-settlements/ from 1/28/2020 on Trump's plan
https://www.israelhayom.com/2020/05/22/poll-israelis-favor-sovereignty-in-jordan-valley-judea-and-samaria/

Election In Israel with Netanyahu the Winner

                                                                                   Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu            
Nadene Goldfoot
Barack Hussein Obama had his hands full in a two-party race between Republicans and Democrats.  Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu of the Likud party (The Consolidation) of Menachem Begin, a combination of right and left wing parties, had 32 parties that were competing in a much different type of race; more like English Democracy.  It's a system of proportional representation for the 120 -seat Knesset. Netanyhu was Prime Minister before from June 18, 1996 to July 6, 1999.  He has been Prime Minister again since March 31, 2009 and won again just now, ready to do his 2nd term, just like Obama.

 Netanyahu  b: October 21, 1949 in Tel Aviv, won in the elections in Israel but with a few changes.  His majority of right wing alliances has been reduced.  This 63 year old Prime Minister will now reach out to other parties to create a wide coalition which might take weeks.    His pledge is that "tomorrow we start anew."

The results showed that Likud and the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu (Israel Our Home) group made up of more secular Russian speakers who follow the past hero, Zev Jabotinsky and now led by Avigdor Lieberman, would still be the biggest bloc in the assembly with 31 seats. They believe in holding to a harder line with the Palestinians.   This is 11 less than the 42 they held in the previous parliament.

Second in the lead was the centrist Yesh Atid party.  This was led by a former TV talk show host, Yair Lapid, b: November 5, 1963 in Tel Aviv.  He's a good looking 49 years old journalist, author, play writer as well as actor and son of another journalist.  They got 19 seats which was a surprise for this newcomer.  . Lapid created this new party which means "There is a Future" or "Future Party."  It is centrist.

Netanyahu got pluses for drawing the world's attention to Iran's nuclear program that he and most of us are very suspicious about.  We don't have to actually be there to understand that Iran doesn't like Israel and is too intent on working on something that must not be medical supplies.  I don't think either Netanyahu or I are paranoid.  There is good reason to feel they want a special kind of bomb.

He got some minuses because internationally he has continued to clash with "allies" over his handling of the peace process, but I certainly don't fault him for that.  It's really the Palestinians who have quit on Israel and refuse to come to the peace table.  It's ridiculous to keep harping on Israel to bring peace about.   Some feel, and certainly the USA is one, that says the peace talks are stalled because of his continued construction of Jewish homes in Judah and Samaria and East Jerusalem.  I happen to agree with him in that legally, and he has consulted with international lawyers, Jews have the right to build in these pre-decided areas.

Israel has 1.4 million Arab citizens.  They vote through many of the parties, including some strictly Arab parties.  One such party is the United Arab List, known by the Hebrew acronym, Ra'am.

What many of our politicians forget about is the law had already been laid down after WWI.  Netanyahu is only standing up for what is the rights coming to Israel instead of cowering and forgetting about them.  It may be an  inconvenient truth for the nations' politicians, but that it is to be.  Israel is not about to be squashed,   shrunk again and destroyed. It's people are not about to be tricked and  burned again in another Holocaust.   Netanyahu is another Bar Kokhba, and I believe he is even more astute than Bar Kokhba had been.  He's a fighter for Israel's rights.

Resource: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/372671?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yesh_Atid
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yair_Lapid
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yisrael_Beiteinu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Likud
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Arab_members_of_the_Knesset
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Arab_List
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knesset

Bibi's Plans for Israel

Former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that Likud, which is his party, would not join a coalition with Kadima's Tzipi Livni and wants her to call for elections. He plans on being the candidate for his party. He would like elections now to create a stable Israel instead of waiting for six months or so. He would be able to set up a stable government.

As for a state of Palestine, he felt there was no peace deal at this time. The option is an economic arrangement. When all abide by this, they can look at a peace deal. In any case, he would not "evacuate Jewish neighborhoods." He wants to build in West Bank settlements. He explained that there Arab neighborhoods are growing, and it's happening in Jewish neighborhoods, also. Families have children and need to close off balconies. There is no reason why development of existing Jewish neighborhoods can't happen. He sees Jerusalem now being treated like a settlement. I think he means that no building is being allowed there by Jews, also.

When as a Prime Minister, Binyamin had built Har Homa, which protects Jerusalem from the South. He also built the Ma'aleh Hazeitim neighborhood.

In discussing Iran, he said that Israel cannot ever come to terms with an Iran with nukes. President Ahmadinejad of Iran talks of Israel's destruction. The world has heard this threat.

Reference: http://www.israelunitycoalition.org/news/article.php?id=3188