Who Lives in Judea and Samaria Today?

Nadene Goldfoot                         

Jewish Cities, Towns and Villages

                in Judea-Samaria  

Israel won the Six Day War in 1967, a war started by the aggression of surrounding Arab nations.  Chances of winning were nil so it was a miracle that they did.  Since then 53 years have gone by.  
Today there are in Judea and Samaria almost 200 cities, towns and a few villages that are populated by Jews; Jew who do care about their history, as this is the most historic area in Jewish history.  There are cities with the population of over 73,000 to villages of 150 population in Judea and Samaria.  These are lumped together by foreigners who call them all "settlements".  People don't realize the closeness that is going on in teeny Israel.  For instance, a "settlement" may exist only a few miles away from Jerusalem.  
                                              

        Update: 5/21/20 Area A:  Area A is the space in which the PA has political and military jurisdiction over its residents – all of whom are Arab.

This includes all of the major towns and their immediate environs – with the partial exception of Jewish Hebron, which came under exclusive Israeli control in the 1997 Hebron protocol between Israel and the PLO. This area comprises approximately 18 percent of Judea and Samaria’s land mass.

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

Judea and Samaria's Area CArea C, controlled by Israel under Oslo Accords, in blue and redMOST OF geographic Judea and Samaria (60% of the area) is designated Area C, over which Israel has exclusive jurisdiction both administratively and in security matters.

Area C’s distinguishing characteristic is that it was sparsely populated – by Arab or Jewish inhabitants.

It's interesting the the some towns Arabs are living in have history as Jewish towns.  "One-quarter of the 584 Arab localities in Israel and beyond the Green Line have ancient Biblical names. For example, Sakhnin was a Jewish town during the Talmudic era, and Beit Lehem is the Hebrew name for the biblical city of Bethlehem."  Homes have been found to still bear very old Hebrew inscriptions on them.  

Most Arabs are as new in Israel as many of the Jews were for as researcher/journalist Joan Peters explained, came in following Jewish immigrants from surrounding areas to obtain jobs in building.  They were allowed to enter the country by the British who prevented Jewish immigration at the same time.  

The name Judea, when used in Judea and Samaria, refers to all of the region south of Jerusalem, including Gush Etzion and Har Hebron. The region of Samaria, on the other hand, refers to the area north of Jerusalem. East Jerusalem has been incorporated into the Jerusalem District and is under Israeli civilian rule, and is thus excluded from the administrative structure of the Judea and Samaria Area. 
Jerusalem is now a united city, no longer divided.
                                           

                     Yellow area is Israel includes all of Jerusalem
                      Red Stripes-Area C most likely
                      http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/227750
          West Bank is not just land along the Jordan River but the whole mountain range of Judea and Samaria.  It is simply the appetizer if taken over for the dinner of the USA if attacked by enemies.  Comment by Mark Langfan.  

Almost 450,000 Jews live in Judea and Samaria today. That's close to Portland, Oregon's population in 1990.  
There are about 2.5--2.7 million Arabs living there as well,
about the same population as Toronto, Canada was in 2016.  
The state of Israel now has a little over 6 million Jews and over 2 million Arabs, all who can vote.  Total as of today is
8,655,535.   

Israel's land size is 8,550 sq. miles
Judea-Samaria's land size is 2,270 miles.  
                  Total size:  10,820 sq. miles
Total size of Portland, Oregon is 145 sq. miles
Total size of Toronto, Canada is 243.3 sq miles

Israel was once compared to New Jersey's 7,439 sq miles, but Massachusetts might be as close with a listed 7,838 sq. miles.  Are they including the Dead Sea in Israel's measurements?  

"As we have made consistently clear, we are prepared to recognize Israeli actions to extend Israeli sovereignty and the application of Israeli law to areas of the West Bank that the vision foresees as being part of the State of Israel," US State Department spokesperson says.
  
Resource:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Israeli_settlements
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/05/19/israel-west-bank-annexation-reshaping-middle-east/
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-52680096
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/israels-netanyahu-armed-with-a-new-mandate-sets-his-sights-on-west-bank-annexation/2020/05/12/1b363612-938c-11ea-87a3-22d324235636_story.html
https://www.timesofisrael.com/saudi-arabia-condemns-israeli-plans-for-annexation-in-west-bank/
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/07/opinion/contributors/annexing-west-bank-israel-palestinians.html
https://apnews.com/48a4df69f8735ef54fdf356cd004ce1f
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3085463/china-voices-concern-over-israels-west-bank-annexation-plan

https://www.israelhayom.com/2020/04/28/report-us-prepared-to-recognize-israeli-annexation-of-judea-and-samaria/
https://www.jpost.com/blogs/the-zionist-advocate/occupied-territories-hebrew-origins-of-palestinian-arab-towns-in-judea-samaria-478675
https://israel-nadene.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-true-legal-facts-on-green-line-near.html
https://www.jpost.com/magazine/knowing-your-abc-448963
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/03/arabs-outnumber-jews-israel-occupied-territories-official-180326181707023.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_Palestinian_territories
https://israel-nadene.blogspot.com/2010/12/israel-judeasamaria-west-bank-and-gaza.html  in 2010

Palestinians in Judea and Samaria Act Out

Nadene Goldfoot                                                               

We're always hearing about the rockets, mortars and missiles coming from Gaza and hitting southern Israel.  Judea and Samaria are acting out as well in different ways.

From June 11th to the 17th , 2013, there have been 72 rock throwing incidents of Arabs throwing rocks at Jews, and 15 firebomb attacks.  Before this there was a stabbing incident where Eviatar Borovzky was stabbed to death by a Palestinian.

 

"The name Judea, when used in Judea and Samaria, refers to all of the region south of Jerusalem including Gush Etzion and Har Hebron. The region of Samaria, on the other hand, refers to the area north of Jerusalem. East Jerusalem has been incorporated into Jerusalem District and is under Israeli civilian rule. Jerusalem is undivided today.  That part of the West Bank is thus excluded from the administrative structure that is the Judea and Samaria Area."

By 1967, there were 565,904 Muslims living in Judea and Samaria. By July 1972, there were almost 1 million Arabs living in Israel's administered areas.  640,600 were in Judea and Samaria on land that was 2,270 sq miles.   Today there are about 2,316,700.  As of February 2013, there were 360,000 Jews living in both Judea and Samaria.   There are 1.7 million Arabs living in Israel.  

Judea and Samaria are acting like a buffer zone between 4 million Jews of the Tel Aviv and Netanya corridor.  This original Israelite land is the Iron Dome for the 6 million Jews of today's Israel.  There is nothing else protecting them from the land of Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia,  Syria, and Lebanon and the ultimate Iranian  incursion.  

Resource:  https://www.facebook.com/idfonline
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judea_and_Samaria_Area
http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/02/14/jewish-population-in-judea-and-samaria-on-the-rise/
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/demograhics.html
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2119.html#we
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/settlers-riot-after-west-bank-terror-attack-6-arrested.premium-1.518394
Facts About Israel, Division of information, ministry for foreign affairs, Jerusalem

SAMARIA; PAST AND PRESENT FOR JEWS; Dealing with Rock Throwing Arabs

                            A view of the Kana Nature Reserve, Karnei Shomron. In Biblical times, 
               the Kana Stream (center) divided the tribal portions of Ephraim and Manasseh.                                    
Nadene Goldfoot
Samaria,founded way after King Solomon had died in 920 BCE,  also called Shomron, Capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, founded in 880 BCE by King Omri (887-876 BCE) on a hill bought from Shemer.  It's cited in I Kings 16:24)  It fell in 721 BCE to Sargon II of Assyria.  He brought in another population while taking ours away.  It is where the ancient Jewish tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim and part of Menasseh lived, Judah being the largest of the 12 tribes.  It is the very heartland of our ancient Eretz Yisrael (Israel).  Leave it to the British who held the mandate after WWI.  They did not know enough to include this territory into the National Jewish Homeland possibly because our friend, Emir Feisal, wanted to create Transjordan at the same time.  He was friendly with us as long as he got his fair share of land for having fought with the British against the Ottoman Empire.  But what a piece!  Our heartland!

"The world declares that the Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria are illegal and must be destroyed and the Jews relocated. They base their claim on either the Geneva Convention, UN General Assembly Resolution 181, UN Security Council Resolution 242, or any number of other documents. The facts, however, prove otherwise. The Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria are, in fact, quite legal, under the provisions set forth in the previously mentioned documents and others, including the Balfour Declaration and the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine."

Are we Jews in Samaria illegally?  We think not.  "According to Eugene Rostow, a former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs in the Johnson Administration, Resolution 242  gives Israel a legal right to be in the West Bank. The resolution “allows Israel to administer the territories” it won in 1967 “until 'a just and lasting peace in the Middle East' is achieved,” Rostow wrote in The New Republic (10/21/91). During the debate on the resolution, he added, “speaker after speaker made it clear that Israel was not to be forced back to the 'fragile' and 'vulnerable' [1949] Armistice Demarcation Lines.”"  Rostow is not alone.  There are many international lawyers who are in agreement with him.

"Perhaps the most significant of these decisions was the San Remo Resolution of 1920, which recognized the exclusive national rights of the Jewish People to the Land of Israel on the strength of their historical connection to the territory then known as Palestine. The outcome of this resolution was the 1922 Mandate for Palestine, an historical League of Nations document that formally established the legal right for Jews to settle anywhere in western Palestine, between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. This includes  all of Judea and Samaria."

Maayana Miskin writes of an attack that happened to a Bitons, a Jewish family driving along in their car in Yakir, Samaria by rock-throwing Arabs. The town was near Ariel. Ariel  is one of 5 large cities in Samaria.  It is only 10.3 miles away from the Green Line established after the 1967 attack on Israel.  Ariel was established in 1978 and now has a population of 18,000. It is 21 miles west of the Jordan River.   "It is composed of veterans and young Israelis, English-speaking immigrants, and immigrants from the former Soviet Union with an additional influx of 10,000 students.  It is the fourth largest Jewish city in the West Bank,  Yakir is a town with 260 families and the population is about 1,300. It was developed in 1981 and is an Orthodox Jewish community about 35 km (21 miles)  east of Tel Aviv.    Their two-year-old girl was critically wounded in a rock attack  on Thursday night and remains in extremely serious condition.

The girl, Adelle Biton, was in a car along with her mother and two older sisters, 6-year-old Naama and 4-year-old Avigail.  Adelle was most seriously hurt. Her mother suffered moderate-to-serious injuries and the two  girls are in moderate condition.All four were wounded when Arab men hurled rocks at a truck traveling the opposite direction, causing it to veer off course and hit their car.

“The two-year-old toddler is in critical condition,” a doctor at Beilinson hospital said. “We aren’t giving up, we’re doing everything we can to save her. We’re optimistic.”

Just minutes before the attack in which the family was injured, terrorists carried out a similar attack targeting a car driven by a man from Eli. That attack wounded a one-year-old baby boy. The child suffered light injuries and is expected to recover.

A former MK’s wife was hurt in a third rock attack Thursday. Aviva Hazan, who lives in Ariel, was hit in the eye by broken glass when terrorists hurled stones at a bus headed for Tel Aviv, breaking its windows.
The attacks Thursday led to renewed calls for the army to take rock attacks seriously and to change the rules of engagement to encourage soldiers to fire on rock-throwers. The IDF has since arrested 10 suspects in one of the attacks.

By 1973 almost a million Arabs lived in the administered area.  640,600 of them lived in both Judea and Samaria which is 5,900 sq km or 2,270 sq miles.  The population of the areas was predominantly Moslem.  It was also called the West Bank of the Jordan, now spoken of as "West Bank" incorrectly.  Between 1948 and 1967 it was ruled by Jordan, which annexed it in 1950.  By 67 it was under Israel's administration.

Israel administered Judea-Samaria and local affairs were administered by the local population.  Open bridges on the Jordan allowed movement in either direction between the areas and the Arab States.  Arabs and Israelis, who until 1967 had lived in mutual separation and estrangement, began after 1967 to enjoy the beginnings of a peaceful and fruitful co-existence.  The hope was that this would contribute towards a transformation of Arab-Israeli relations from conflict into cooperation.

As of February 14, 2013 the Jewish population numbers 360,000 of both Judea and Samaria.  It has had its problems.    Arab leaders, Fatah and Hamas have had other ideas. They want Judea, Samaria, Gaza and East Jerusalem as their Palestine and it is to be Judenrein, free of all Jews.  They want all Jews to move out.  Yet, at the same time, Fatah is broke.  They do not have money on their own but must depend on the other Arab states to give them money.  At the same time they teach their population through schools and TV programs to hate the Israelis.  This rock throwing is a good example of the ethics they are learning.

 The rock throwers show their true goals of not accepting Israelis. However,  " Miri Maoz-Ovadia, spokesperson for the Binyamin Council, the largest council in Judea and Samaria, told Tazpit News Agency that the increase in the Jewish population growth rate is evidence of the prosperity of the region. “This prosperity has been supported by a development of joint industrial areas, shopping centers  open to all populations and an increase of tourism throughout the region. We hope that the development continues for the benefit of all residents living in Judea & Samaria.”"  Today's presence of an Arab population in Samaria should not in any way detract from the time-honored Jewish rights to this land.  

Resource: Arutz Sheva: http://www.israelnationalnews.com article by Maayana Miskin
Facts about Israel

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/settlements.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariel_(city)

http://emetnews.org/analysis/are_settlements_illegal.php
http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/what-judea-samaria-mean-to-the-jewish-people/2013/01/17/#

http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/02/14/jewish-population-in-judea-and-samaria-on-the-rise/

http://shomroncentral.blogspot.com/p/5-legal-rights-to-samaria.html

Clashes in West Bank (Judea-Samaria)

 Nadene Goldfoot                                     Judea-Samaria  (West Bank)
                        
Does anyone realize that the West Bank (Judea-Samaria) happens to be the very land that was ancient Israel?  King David, of the tribe of Judah,  had ruled over Israel with Jerusalem as his capital in about 1,000 BCE.  It split into 2 kingdoms with Judah keeping the Davidic dynasty and Jerusalem while Israel made Samaria its capital.  This "West Bank" was to be part of the Jewish Homeland in the original plans with Britain who held the mandate. Jordan had illegally grabbed the area in 1948 as it lies next to his state, allowed or encouraged Palestinians to live there, and it didn't come under Israel's domain until 1967.   Now, the land is designated to become "Palestine" when the conditions become peaceful.  The catch is that Abbas and his crew plan to have it devoid of Jews, just like the Nazi plan of Judenrein.  Israel contains 1.4 million Arabs but the Arabs' state is to have zero Jews.

350,150 Jewish Israelis now lived in this area as it holds so many places and feelings for Jews. 300,000 Jews also live in East Jerusalem, which is also counted as part of the "West Bank."   Palestinian Arabs also live here. Area C of the West Bank is 70% Jewish.   Now that Gaza has quieted down, clashes are happening in many cities.  There are 4 Palestinian prisoners who decided to go on a hunger strike, and all belong to terrorist groups and are dangerous.  For some reason, the Arab population in the West Bank have suddenly started rioting, demanding they be released.

Now, another new prisoner, Arafat Jaradat, 30 years old, arrested for throwing rocks at Jews in Judea, was found dead in his cell and the crowd's immediate conclusion was that he had been tortured to death.    Israeli officials deny this and said that bruises on his body were from resuscitation.  They thought he had died from a heart attack.  An autopsy was done Sunday which was observed by a Palestinian doctor who was the Palestinian Prisoners Minister Issa Qaraqi.  He saw bruises on the chest, back, arms and mouth.  His conclusion was torture during interrogation causing psychological shock leading to immediate death.  Now Palestinians are calling for an international inquiry of the jails and how Jaradat died.  Israel is saying they need the results of a toxicology and other tests are completed and that torture didn't happen.    His body was returned to the family for burial today.

Before this unfortunate event happened, clashes were going on in Hebron, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jenin and at checkpoints in East Jerusalem and south of Nablus. between IDF and young Palestinians.  With so many clashes going on at the same time, I feel they  had been purposely organized.  President Obama is due to arrive in Israel on March 20th, so somebody is stirring up trouble here.

Palestinians threw rocks and Molotov cocktails against Israeli soldiers who used tear gas and rubber bullets. The outcome was 4 protesters that were seriously wounded, report  the Palestinians.

Torture seems to be a world cry right now.  President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan is charging the USA that they are torturing and murdering innocent people and ordered all US special operations forces to leave a province in 2 weeks.  This results in  calling in NATO airstrikes in populated areas citing civilian casualties.  We're supposed to be out of there by 2014.  In the meantime, Taliban suicide bombers targeted Afghan security forces in 3 different attacks on Sunday with the results of 4 Afghan security men and one civilian killed.  Karzai is pinpointing US special forces in Wardak for harassing, annoying, torturing and murdering innocents.

Resource: Oregonian newspaper 2/25/13 Riots follow West Bank death by Edmund Sanders and Maher Abukhater, LA Times.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Bank
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_settlement
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/26/jewish-population-west-bank-up
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/settlepop.html
http://baruchsbreeze.blogspot.com/2012/09/official-yesha-population-stats-yossi.html

Jordan's King Abdullah II Offers Help in Peace Process

Nadene Goldfoot
King Abdullah II  of Jordan is working with European countries to get negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel back on track.  He said that "Settlements are eating up all of Palestinian lands!

Is he talking about land thought about for a Palestine state way back in 1948 when Arafat was offered the chance to have his own stateand refused it?  Is this the land that has been repeatedly offered by Israel through left and right governments with negotiations, of course ever since then and refused by Arafat and now Abbas?    Is this the same land that Abbas wants with conditions going his way first before he will deem himself to sit down in the presence of Netanyahu?

Is this part of the land that was planned originally for the Jewish Homeland after World War I with all the nations of the world in agreement?

This is the same land that Jordan stole after being rewarded with Transjordan?   In 1948 they just helped themselves to the Jewish Homeland in an aggressive action and took Judea and Samaria  along with east Jerusalem.  The Jews wound up with only 20% of the original Homeland promised not only by Britain but by all the nations at the San Remo Conference.

Palestinians were Jews and Arabs, so evidently "Palestinian land" should include Jews as well, since there was no state of Palestine ever.  It was simply the name of the former land of Judah and Israel.    We can blame the Romans for giving it that name in 135 CE when Judah lost the last battle in which Bar Kokhba made a last stand against Rome after they burned Jerusalem in 70 CE.

For 64+ years Israel has waited and offered  peace but instead have received mortars, rockets and missiles from people who had a chance for peace and their own state.  For every rocket hitting Israel, Israel should build another city in this "so called Palestinian land."  For Israelis  haven't built pioneer settlements and stockade but cities; nice sized cities in these past 64 years.  Israel is building in the legitimate area that was cordened off to be a part of Israel.

Israel hasn't remained the size of the original 600,000 in 1948 but have taken in all the Jews from around the world, especially from the Muslim countries who were treated as 2nd class citizens or worse as dhminnis.  France and every other country where anti-Semitism has been blatent have driven Jews back home along with religious Jews who swore never to forget Jerusalem and haven't.   From being treated by religious fanatics as unwanted and unforgiven,  to suffering from pogroms and finally  almost wiped out through a holocaust,  our 6 million are going to fight for their rights as a people.  There are no other people on the face of this earth who have suffered as much as the Jews have and deserve their own home again.  The mirror-image of this is that there are no other people who have offered so much to the world, either.  So go figure that one out; from the 10 Commandments to Nobel prizes to medical discoveries that are beneficial to all.

The only thing that has come out of the Muslim world for Israel is the action and word of wiping Israel off the map.  In fact, who among them even prints Israel on their maps these days?  Israel may only consist of 6 million Jews and are up against a Muslim world of billions, but they are as essential to this world as anyone else and are not about to be wiped  out.  Israel is aware of a people who call out that what Hitler didn't accomplish, they will.

So it's good that King Abdullah b: 1962  sees that the longer the Palestinians hold out for what they  demand  without regard to Israel's legitimate international legal rights and history, the more they are losing land.  His own father, King Hussein,  didn't fare so well when he joined the gang in attacking Israel in 1967.  It was Jordan who lost the West Bank and East Jerusalem.  After all, Jordan has their own hand's full being a kingship over a big population of Palestinians himself.  His country even fought against them.  Now that he governs so many, he knows that he doesn't want to take anymore into his country. He even has protesters trying to get rid of him in the sweep of the Arab Spring.   He wants them to have their own space, and so does Netanyahu.  I imagine King Adbullah has enjoyed peace between Israel and Jordan since 1967. He has never known war, having been only 5 years old in the last one.

Resource: Jerusalem Post http://www.jpost.com/
http://maurice-ostroff.tripod.com/id350.html San Remo Conference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hussein_of_Jordan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_II_of_Jordan
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/nov/16/world/la-fg-jordan-protests-20121117

Are Jewish Towns and Cities Eating Away Palestinian Lands?

Nadene Goldfoot
What are the Palestinian lands that are being settled by Jews?  The Palestinian leadership had been offered their own state back in 1947 when Israel was offered theirs.  In fact, Israel was promised their own homeland way before that which was including the “West Bank” (Judea and Samaria) which had originally been the Jewish Homeland, but the Palestinians rejected their offer, and kept rejecting it in years thereafter.  The English had cut off 80% of what was to become Israel and it was instead offered to the Arabs.

The Jews did not come into the West Bank again until the 1967 Six Day War when Israel was attacked by Jordan, Egypt and Syria,  and surprising everyone, won the battle.  That meant that Israel had the opportunity to take back East Jerusalem and unite it with the rest of the city under one mayor.  They did not move anyone out in doing so.

No Palestinians were moved out of Judea and Samaria.  Jews did move there.  It so happens that many families had been living there before 1948, like in Hebron,  and were attacked, killed and forced to flee for their lives, so now Jews have moved back again.  If Palestine is ever created, they plan to have no Jews living there at all.

Israel does patrol Judea and Samaria to keep people safe, as the Palestinians are known to attack Jewish communities.

The Arabs refused to take their land   every time it was offered, therefore there is no Palestinian land as yet, or may never come about at this rate.  They refuse to sit down and discuss terms with Israel.  For 64 years the land has remained "Occupied Territory" of Judea and Samaria.    There is no reason why Jews cannot build homes there except that the world community refuses to accept this fact..  

For the sake of peace with the Arabs,Israel left the Sinai in 1979 and disbanded 18 settlements.  Israel left Gaza in 2005 and disbanded 21 settlements.  Israel left the area in Judea and Samaria in 2005 disbanding 4 settlements we deemed illegal.  Israel  turned over the area to the Palestinian Authority to govern all civil situations but maintains the right of security enforcement  there.

The position of successive Israeli governments is that all authorized settlements are entirely legal and consistent with international law.In practice, Israel does not accept that the Fourth Geneva Convention applies de jure, but has stated that on humanitarian issues it will govern itself de facto by its provisions, without specifying which these are. The scholar and jurist Eugene Rostow has disputed the illegality of authorized settlements.

Under Israeli law, West Bank (Judea Samaria) settlements must meet specific criteria to be legal. In 2009, there were approximately 100 small communities that did not meet these criteria and are referred to as illegal outposts.

According to the Oslo accords of the 4th Geneva convention, both Israel and the Palestinian Arabs were barred from changing their status quo but both have built.  International law is listened to, but is not THE law of the land.

While 164 nations call the West Bank- Occupied Palestinian Territory, “the government of Israel holds that only territories captured in war from “an established and recognized sovereign” should be considered occupied territories.”  In my opinion, this would act as a deterrent for further attacks on a country.  They cannot just attack and get away with it without  paying the price.  This is what these 164 nations are trying to allow:  no penalty for attacking Israel in the 1967 War.

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Bank
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_settlement

Knesset Headaches

Nadene Goldfoot
We tell the joke about the 2 Jews who find themselves stranded on a tiny island, and they build themselves 3 synagogues.  One for each and the other is the one neither one would attend.  It shows we are a stubborn people with our own minds and we do not follow very well.  We are individualistic. 


 Ben Gurion had gone into a restaurant and was told that before he entered he had to put on a tie.  They then told the manager that this was David Ben Gurion.
 " Oh, sir, let me introduce you to the president of the United States, Harry S. Truman." 
"How do you do"
"You are president of 47 million people?  I am Prime Minister of of 600,000 Presidents."  

In the midst of the threats coming out of Iran, that old ancient Persia updated is the fear of being liquidated through atomic warfare, perhaps with one single bomb like what happened to Hiroshima.  In this extreme crisis, we have an internal struggle going on as well.  The pressures on our government there are coming from the UN and mainly from the USA through them concerning the attacks from the Arabs in Gaza upon Israel, and their solution is to have peace talks.  Evidently this is going to have to lead to giving in to all Arab demands as they won't even sit down at the table to talk unless this is all done first before the sitting commences.  Again, the fear of losing Israel completely and being driven into the sea comes to mind.  The Knesset is under such great pressure that they have already had new elections to the satisfaction of the USA's Hillary Clinton.

To add misery to all our surrus, the media is always against Israel, which in turn colors the attitude of all those who watch.  Anti-Semitism is at a high all over the world, and Israel's position in it has done a 180 turnabout since 1967.  The media is not the kettleful of truthful facts, either, but a hodgepodge of misinformation that is filling people's minds up so much that they don't even bother to find facts themselves.  If they do, the source has to be invalid.

To add to our problems, we have the state of Israel divided between the Orthodox community and the rest.  David Wilder calls it "Zionism or Toynbeeism.  Like another old joke goes, a man is talking to two gentlemen and is trying to solve their disagreement.  To each he says, "You have a point and you also have a point."  I don't remember any ending.  I don't think there is any.  The Orthodox claim a valid point and so does the Knesset, who is the other side, the more secular one.  Frankly, at this point in time I think their plate is over brimming with problems to deal with.

Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak HaKohen Kook, Israel's first chief Rabbi explained that Israel is not just any old piece of land we chose for a country.  Israel has an intrinsic meaning connecting Jews with the knot of life and contains extraordinary qualities  making the people and the land, these 2 halves, a whole.  Toynbee thought of Jews and Judaism as an anachronism.  In other words, we are out of place, an error.  "The Zionist Jews are a fragment of a fossil of alien origin which has been embedded in the body of Western Christendom since its pre-natal days."  He didn't think much of us at all.  We are still here, however, and refer to ourselves as the Jewish people.  Our holy cites are Jerusalem and Hebron.

We have a problem in that Arabs are copying us and saying that land is now their land, like Tel Hebron.  Israeli leaders and their followers are helping people who say this without even checking for legal paperwork.  They have helped force Jews off their homeland, destroy their homes to appease those bringing pressure down.  We're talking about Jews forcing out Jews, basically in Judea and Samaria, not the IDF throwing out Palestinians.

Netanyahu has ordered the expulsion of Jews from the "Ulpana neighborhood in Beit El.  It was in the Oregonian today as well. He said he was most unhappy to have to do so.   He also ordered the same thing for the Machpela House in Hebron.  This seems to have come about after Netanyahu, Barak and others were told they could be tried as war-criminals by the Hague should Jews continue to live in these places.  That must be a part of the pressure they are under.  The report had gone to Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein.

7 years ago Gush Katif was destroyed by Israelis.  Jewish residents were expelled and the land abandoned to the Arabs.  30 some years ago Yamit and other Sinai communities were given up and its residents were expelled to appease the waiting Arab communities in the name of peace.  We left Gaza lock, stock and barrel for the sake of peace and only got war in its place.  If the Arabs had been smart, they would have done what the Egyptians did under Sadat and made peace at that time, but they've used Gaza as the place from which all rockets, missiles and mortars come from.  I would say that was a test that failed completely.

Some feel that the next to go will be Gvat Assaf and then Migron.  Barak only last week suggested abandoning all of Judea and Samaria.  That's a horror as this is the place of our history, and it is most special to those who are religious.  Every rock, every clod of dirt is precious to them.  We've got an awful lot of Jews living there.  Jews have given their lives and have waited for 2,000 years to return to their homeland, and now that they have returned, they are retching inside to have to give up the land others had shed blood over.

Mix all these problems presenting themselves with the fact that this time and place has been prophesied about in the Bible for both the Jews and the Christians with the Muslims adding their take on it as well.  It is the in gathering of all Jews once again in Israel.  This is not just an accident.  It is awesome.

I personally don't see it so black and white.  I think that the circumstances are that Israel cannot fight enemies and the rest of the world at the same time.  They're all ganging up on this tiny tiny state.  They are doing their best to maintain their Jewish values and ethics, keep their citizens alive and well, and be the fairest  of all to their enemies.  What's fair and righteous doesn't seem to work on this UN at all in standing up for Israel's rights.  Being most of their block is made up of Israel's enemies in the first place, Israel's voice is lost to the winds.  I'm not like Josephus calling for surrender.  I'm just saying that the Knesset is bending in this Sharav while trying to keep its roots in the ground.  It's waiting to be propped up by another force.

Reference: gerardrobins@sbcglobal.net:  David Wilder 6/8/2012
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ben-Gurion
http://www.infoplease.com/year/1948.html

Abbas's Green Light for Terrorists

Nadene Goldfoot
I've always thought that that it was beshert that Fatah and Hamas could not agree on ruling in Gaza as both want the power. Both have security forces and would have to merge them, another problem.   David Meir-Levi gives us an update as to what is happening with all of Israel's neighbors and what they are doing.  It's quite alarming.  I'll just remark on Hamas and Fatah.  Be sure to read his insight.

Abbas's Fatah group who live in  Judea-Samaria or West Bank, formerly the PLO of Arafat's years, had been cooperating with Israel for the past 6 years fairly well, but now that they are talking about melding in with the terrorists of Hamas, are going bonkers.  Their PA police have decided not to cooperate and work with the IDF to prevent terrorism.  They are not arresting known terrorists there anymore.  Abbas has even resurrected "Arafat's old Palestinian revolving door policy for jailed terrorists"  Naturally, terrorists see this as the nod to resume their terrorism against Israel.

Abbas has been ruling illegally for 3 years with a term that expired in January 2009.  Arafat pulled the same trick.  He ruled unconstitutionally from 2000 to 2004 when he died from AIDS.  He calls himself a president, but acts like a tyrant in this way.

Abbas and Mesha'al met last year and again last week on the 2nd of May.  They seems to only connect when plotting to attack Israel, so that's what they may have been doing.  What a reason to unify!  Death of their neighbors.

Hamas, who had kicked Abbas out of Gaza in 2006, has refused to go along with Iran and support Bashar al-Assad of Syria and to not cooperate with their Muslim Brotherhood in Syria. This made Iran angry and they cut back on funding Hamas.  Hamas has also been losing their clout with other terrorists who are doing their own thing and not taking Hamas's orders. For instance, they have new mobile self-propelled rocket launchers smuggled in from Libya that they use against Israel.

Israel finds that  Fatah and Hamas are only two of many groups to cause concern lately.  The whole neighborhood is about to catch on fire, it seems.  This has caused Israel to raise their level of terror alerts and as usual, are prepared to protect their citizens from attack wherever it may come from.  We're all praying that it does not turn into a horrible nuclear war.  The Winds of War are starting to blow again, and I think the Arab Spring was the start of it all.  .

Resource:  frontpagemag.com/2012/05/08/winds-of-war/print
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatah%E2%80%93Hamas_conflict

The Very Cradle of Jewish Civilization: Judea and Samaria

Nadene Goldfoot
Judea and Samaria were the cradle of Jewish civilization and had an unfailing Jewish presence until the 1948 War when the many people living there were killed and about 10,000 survivors  were expelled by the Jordanians, who held rule illegally until the 1967 War with Israel.  Jordan  renamed the two states "West Bank."  , being they lay on the west side of the Jordan River.

The Kingdom of Judah, renamed Judea by the Romans,  had existed in 933 BCE when Eretz Yisrael was divided after King Solomon had died.  It was the southerly of the two.  The tribe of Judah and parts of Benjamin and Simeon lived there.  It was the poor and less important Kingdom with no access to the sea.  It did contain Jerusalem and the Temple, however and was able to keep Mosaic monotheism in a pure form.  Solomon's son, Rehoboam took over as King of Judah.  Samaria had been the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, founded in 880 BCE by King Omri.  He was king of Israel from 887 to 876 BCE.  Omri had been Elah's general and directed the operations against the Philistine city of Gibbethon.  He was the founder of a dynasty.

The British actually were the last legal sovereign authority for Judea and Samaria.  Jordan and  had illegally held them  as well as Egypt illegally holding Gaza Strip between 1948 and 1967.  They remain unallocated portions of the British Mandate since no government formally replaced the Mandate's jurisdiction.  It's guidelines called for Jews to settle the area.  That's what they did from 1967 on.

Arabs wanted to hold onto these lands to attack Israel.  They kept launching attacks against Israel from the "Territories'" strategic locations.  UN Resolution 242 had planned for bilateral negotiations that would give Israel more secure borders and lead to greater regional stability.  When Israel pulled out of Gaza for the sake of making peace, the Arabs used it as a closer place to shoot their rockets, missiles and mortars into southern Israel.

Until 1988, the PLO continued to call for a Palestinian state to REPLACE Israel, not for a a separate state that would exist alongside it.  They still will not recognize Israel and the Muslim Brotherhood continues to push with their goal of replacement, not peace and coexistence.

80% of the Israeli settlers in Judea and Samaria live in communities close to the Green Line, which are suburbs of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.  The Jews have a right to settle the land.  It is a legal right assured by treaty and specifically protected by Article 80 of the U.N. Charter...."the Jewish right of settlement in the area is equivalent in every way to the right of the existing Palestinian population to live there" says Eugene Rostow, former U.S. Under Secretary of State, 1990.

Israelis had built communities after 1967 in undeveloped, uninhabited areas. Arabs have legitimate claims to ownership over some of the land.  Many are longtime inhabitants who felt they have no political rights and self-determination.  Israel  disputes their territorial claims and also has even stronger claims to the land.

Israel was forced to continue having a presence in Gaza and the West Bank from 1967 to 1993 because no Palestinian leader stepped up as a peace partner.  Blame International law and custom that required Israel to be the administrators.  They're just obeying the laws.  .  From 1993 to 2007 Israel gradually ended the "Occupation."  by turning civilian administration over to the newly created Palestininan Authority (PA) in 1994.

Did anyone complain when the Jordanians expelled our 10,000 Jews who were living there?  Why is it that the Jews get the short end of every stick?

Resource:  Israel 101 from StandWithUs
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

Muslim Brotherhood Instigating End of Peace: Israel and Jordan

Nadene Goldfoot
The Muslim Brotherhood is carrying out it's goals from their charter.  They are disrupting the peace between the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan and Israel.  On Friday they organized a rally to end the July 1994 peace treaty  that was signed by Shimon Peres and Jordan's PM, Abdelsalam al-Majali.  They now want to kick out Israel's ambassador.

 Getting to that peace treaty cost the USA 18.3 billion dollars which Abdelsalam declared was to bring an end to the age of wars and Peres had declared that the moment of peace had arrived.  Even Egypt had welcomed the agreement and Syria just played it cool by ignoring it.  As part of the agreement, Israel established a modern medical center in Amman.

 The Hezbollah of Lebanon obviously was unhappy about it and showed their anger by launching mortar and rocket attacks into the northern Galilee towns where I used to live just 20 minutes before the ceremony.  This had been a historical event of Israel;  signing a 2nd peace treaty with an Arab state.

Then they were able to open their borders by  building several border-crossings for tourists, merchants and workers to travel between.  Israeli tourists visited Jordan, enjoying Petra, a stone-carved Nabatean city which is famous.

Jordanians had been coming into Israel to work daily.  Since 1967, when Jordan attacked Israel along with all their friends and lost, resulting in losing the "West Bank" which they had held illegally since 1948, Israel maintained an OPEN BRIDGES policy with Jordan.  This allowed Arabs from Judea and Samaria to travel to neighboring Arab countries and continue to maintain family ties and for business and education.  Arabs from the West Bank were allowed since 1971 to visit Israel without permits.  Israel encouraged coexistence.

It hadn't been easy because between June 1967 and September 1970 the Jordanian army and Palestinian terrorists worked together to harass Israel.  They shelled Israeli villages in the Jordan Valley and terrorist groups were infiltrating and attacking Israelis.

In September 1970 Civil War occurred in Jordan when the Jordanian army crushed the Palestinian terrorist organization.  Jordan wound up becoming populated by many Palestinians with the King marrying one. They had their BLACK SEPTEMBER when the PLO  threatened to overthrow King Hussein.  Almost 3,400 Palestinians were killed  between the 16th and the 26th, 1970.  PLO members actually fled across the border to surrender to Israeli troops instead of Hussein's army.

Many feel that Jordan is Palestine being so many live there.  King Husayn had said that "there should be the separation of the West Bank from the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.  Likud, a major political party in Israel has said over and over that Jordan is Palestine.    

The rallies were in 7 cities where people burned Israeli and American flags and chanted, "death, death to Israel," and "the people want an end to Wadi Araba which is the Jordan-Israel peace treaty.

The Westernized King Abdullah II had recently appointed Fayez Tarrawneh as prime minister who was a man who served in this capacity briefly in the late 1990s and was a key figure in making peace with Israel.  He is a man who would still support the 1994 treaty and the people are rebelling now with the teachings  of the Muslim Brotherhood.

They are saying that this rational man is not respecting the Jordanian's wish to end all peace, calls the Muslim Brotherhood, a group our government mistakenly thinks is "moderate,"  This should be proof that they are radical and dangerous.

The Brotherhood's propaganda is that Israel has not followed through with obligations under the treaty like in water sharing.  They're noting Amman's custodianship over holy sites in Jerusalem and access to the Palestinian territories, meaning Jordanians wanting to gain free access into Judea, Samaria, maybe parts of the Golan and East Jerusalem.

Jordan, with  a population of 5,568,565 people of which 95% are Sunni Muslims, hopefully has strong leaders that can squelch such war mongers that are trying to end an 18 year old peace treaty.  The Muslim Brotherhood is doing the very same thing in Egypt by having Mubakak jailed after he and Sadat had kept them down and illegal.  Can people still say that they are moderate and harmless now?

Resource: http://www.timesofisrael.com/thousands-of-jordanians-call-for-end-to-peace-with-israel/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel%E2%80%93Jordan_Treaty_of_Peace
http://www.danielpipes.org/298/is-jordan-palestine
Facts about Israel, Division of Information, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem,  p 50-51
Myths and Facts: a concise record of the Arab-Israeli conflict b Mitchell Bard, Joel Himelfarb

Abbas's New Friend, Darfur's Genocidal Ruler

Nadene Goldfoot

Remember the genocide of Darfur? It started in Sudan in February 2003 and is still ongoing. 400,000 black Sudanese were killed by Arabs of the government. Who was the government? President of Sudan Omar Hassan Al Bashir was in charge. Sudan is the world's 8th most populated Muslim country. Its population is 43,939,598 as of July 2010 with 70% Sunni Muslims, 25% indigenous religions, and 5%Roman Catholics. 52% of the people are black. 39% are Arabs. Al Bashir runs an authoritarian republic.

Darfur is a very large (190,420 square miles or size of Spain) region of Sudan divided into West, South and North sections. It had been an independent Sultanate for about 200 years but was incorporated into Sudan by the Anglo-Egyptian forces.

Almost a year ago on January 9, 2010, Amnesty International proclaimed Global Day of Action for Sudan Awareness. They wanted to educate the public of the plight of the Darfurians so as to help protect them.

"A long-awaited referendum on southern Sudan’s independence, set in motion by a 2005 peace agreement to stop one of Africa’s worst civil wars, is scheduled for Jan. 9, 2011.
The vote could bring an end to the nearly one-million-square-mile experiment called Sudan, which for many troubled decades served as a bridge between the Arab and African world." NY Times.

Abbas of the Palestinians just sent a letter to Al Bashir saying that he and his people have complete faith in his wisdom. He gives his personal support to him. The letter goes on to say that the Palestinian people stand side by side with their brother country, Sudan.

Al Bashir has been charged with murder, extermination, forcible transfer of people, torture and rape. He and his government are not nice people. This is who Abbas stands with and recognizes. This is his role model. This is scary, indeed. This is not the kind of man nor the kind of future neighbor that Israel wants or needs. Hamas is bad enough. Instead of wanting to emulate someone like the USA Canada, or even Jordan, Abbas picks the worst of the Arab regimes to align his future with.

Abbas has done other things, like take part in ceremonies revering terrorists who have been killed in action in ceremonies in the West Bank. He hasn't changed the goals of education but seems to keep them all hepped up to hate Jews.

http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=3900

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Muslim_majority_countries
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/su.html
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/sudan/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Darfur

What Are Our Settlements in Judea-Samaria (West Bank)?

by Nadene Goldfoot

I dislike the use of the term, "settlements." We have villages, towns and cities already established in Judea and Samaria. A settlement, a synonym of village, also is a place or region newly settled. Village does not imply this. It only indicates the size of the community. A village is larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town. I believe "settlement" is being used politically to imply that this community is like putting up tents that can be taken down and moved easily. This is not the case. I abhor the term, "West Bank" Again, this is a political move to wipe out the connection of our Jewish history to the land. This term came from the Jordanians to describe the land west of the Jordan River. Evidently they couldn't bring themselves to use the Hebrew names for it. The same thing happened when the Romans took over Israel after 70AD. They renamed it Palestinia for the same political reasons. So I will continue to call the land by its original name, Judea and Samaria, each having its own historical story to tell.

The city of Ariel happens to have a population of over 16,700 and is the 4th largest city in Judea Samaria. It started in 1978, so is now 32 years old. This is about the same population that Pendleton, Oregon has which is 16,830.

Judea and Samaria happen to be the biblical homeland or heartland of Eretz Israel with Jerusalem, the City of David, at the center of that heart. This land reminds us of who we are and who we were. The history goes way back to our beginnings. Today 300,000 Israelis live in over 100 communities. Also sharing the land are 1.5 million Palestinian Arabs living in their communities.

Judea occupies the land where our ancient land of Judea had been with its capital which was Jerusalem.

Samaria happens to be on the land where Israel had been with its capital of Shomron.

It was under Jordanian occupation for 19 years. Jordan lost this in 1967 when Israel surprised everyone by defending itself under a horrible assault of all the surrounding Arab nations again and won this battle in 6 days. It has been under Israel's sovereignty for the past 43 years now.

"The Jewish right of settlement in the area," Rostow concluded, "is equivalent in every way to the right of the existing [Palestinian] population to live there." Furthermore, as Stephen Schwebel, a judge on the International Court of Justice between 1981 and 2000, explicitly noted, territory acquired in a war of self-defense (waged by Israel in 1967) must be distinguished from territory acquired through "aggressive conquest" (waged by Germany during World War II). Consequently, the provisions of the Mandate for Palestine, allocating all the land west of the Jordan River to the Jewish people for their national home, remained in force until sovereignty was finally determined by a peace treaty between the contending parties—now Israel and the Palestinians. Until then, the disputed West Bank, claimed by two peoples, remained open to Jewish settlement. So far, there is no peace treaty. The Palestinian Abbas is not coming to the table to talk.

"Netanyahu has said of Judea and Samaria, “But we will not freeze the lives of the residents of Judea and Samaria and we will not freeze construction.”Netanyahu imposed the freeze last November as a means of enticing the Palestinians back to the negotiating table. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas waiting until the very last minute to accept the gesture, and now insists extending the freeze is a precondition to continuing the renewed peace negotiations." Netanyahu is not buying into this. Building is in the plan but will not begin probably for years.

Reference: http://emetnews.org/analysis/are_settlements_illegal.php

http://israelbehindthenews.com/bin/content.cgi?ID=4193&q=1

http://www.weblo.com/property/state/Judea_and_Samaria/447243/
http://web.oregon.com/towns/population_alpha.cfm
http://www.israelinitiative.com/rewr-true/language-en_us/Principle-38/PrinciplesSub.aspx

http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=194913

Sixty-Two Years of Waiting is Enough-Diy-ay-Nu

by Nadene Goldfoot

Palestinians are still harping on settlement stoppage of building in the Judea-Samaria (West Bank) area by Israelis. Netanyahu had given into the Palestinians a 10 month freeze in the name of peace, but their recognition of Israel didn't happen. Israel has been hoping for recognition for the past 62 years. Peace talks will not be indulged in by the Palestinians because of this. They're demanding another freeze, for forever, no doubt.

The Palestinians have been trying very hard to get Israel to weaken their safeguards. Israel has to continue watching what is coming and going into Gaza and keep restrictions there because of continuing rocket firing and a lack of a peace treaty. It's actually enemy territory.

When Israel was created in 1948, all the surrounding Arab countries attacked it, meaning to drive it into the sea. In other words, they tried to kill the baby just created. They have continued with these attacks even after 1985, and continued attacks coming from the Palestinians themselves to this day. I remember that after leaving Israel in 1985, it was under attack and everyone was given gas masks with directions on how to tape up a small area in their homes as a safe room from chemical warfare. I received e-mails from my neighbor in Safed about what went on. Places I was familiar with were hit by rockets. It was unreal.

We have two peace treaties only: Egypt and Jordan. We see Iran feeding the Palestinian terrorists with weapons through Syria. Lebanon is a huge threat. Israel has to be constantly on guard. If it lets down in any way, as it did in leaving Gaza in the name of peace, it will be attacked.

I know that many think that this is a continuing condition and there is no hope for peace. Warring is going to be the norm. I feel that if the world continues to back terrorism as it is doing right now, it will be. If the world wakes up and sees that Israel is the scapegoat and that the Arab world is acting like bullies, it could bring about pressure to cause terrorism to end. People in this part of the world have the ability to live in peace if they see that it is more advantageous to live a peaceful life.

Right now Ireland is forming another flotilla to enter Gaza. Is this helpful? What in the world are they backing? What are they against? This is an example of how warped the world has become in understanding what is right and what is wrong. It makes me shudder.

From what I've read from the Socialist party's diatribes against Israel, they think that Jews stole Arab land and so they plot against Israel. When are people going to understand and accept facts that we didn't and that we re-created Israel in the most legitimate ways; legally, rightfully, and that there were very few Arabs living in the area at the time of its birth. Jews never wanted to displace them and never did. It's quite a history, but who is actually finding out about it? From what I can see, people today get their information from word of mouth from Palestinians only.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100830/wl_afp/israelpalestinianspeacesettler
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100830/wl_nm/us_ireland_israel_flotilla

http://palwatch.org/ Itamar Marcus articles from Palestinian Media Watch

Judea and Samaria Under Attack by NY Times Comumnist

Nadene Goldfoot

A disliked term for ancient Judea and Samaria, taken to erase the memory of who it belonged to, is West Bank, used by most Americans. Nicholas Kristof just wrote a scathing article about the area that needs an intervention of understanding history.

First, he calls Israel's living in much of the area, "occupation," which is inaccurate and distasteful. Israel took control in 1967 in a war of self-defense. Arabs continued to reject peace offers. The future of this area is still under negotiations and Israel has a claim to the territory as valid as that of the Palestinians, maybe better.

This is a territory in dispute, not an occupied territory. Under international law, true occupation happens when land has been taken from a recognized sovereign. The last one to fit that bill was the Ottoman Empire, not these Palestinians. Jordan and Egypt control was never recognized by the international community. There never has been a sovereign state of Palestine anywhere.

His sarcastic comments belie facts of history. Israel bought land, they didn't steal it. Israel was created by the United Nations, so it's real. Nobody gave Israel a rose garden for starters. They had to fight mosquitoes and swamps to make a state. What are the Palestinians doing?

Resource: The two sides of a barbed-wire fence by Nicholas Kristof at nytimes.com

http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Facts+About+Israel/Israel+in+Maps/Judea+and+Samaria.htm

Comment: Shaul Bloom 7/3/10-He writes that the Bedouin village of Umm-al-Khain is denied building permits and is off the grid…

Ummm… does he realize that this is how most Bedouin’s CHOOSE to live? In most cases, they do NOT own the land on which they place their “ramshackle tents and huts”. They are squatters! (referring to Kristof's first example).

I'll Do It My Way-Should Be Abbas's Theme Song

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas split from the terrorist group, Hamas. Actually, Hamas won the election and kicked him out of Gaza, but Abbas is fighting Israel in his own way now from Judea and Samaria (West Bank). His PA TV "educational documentary" broadcast has Haifa, Acre, Ashkelon, Jaffa and the whole Sea of Galilee as belonging to Palestinians. These are and will remain in Israel. This act does not show any good will.

Haifa, on the sea and a port, is the city I lived in for 10 months while attending my ulpan, where I lived and attended school to gain my certification to teach in Israel's schools. It reminded me a little of Portland. Ashkelon is Portland's sister-city. Acre is a city I visited as my cousin, Stanley, had been held there by the British in pre-Israel English days. Jaffa is very close to Tel Aviv, Israel's largest city. My goodness but Abbas does have gigantic aspirations. And he's considered a pacifist? There are problems with him already and Palestine has not come into existence yet, nor may it ever at this rate. Mr. Abbas, do you think this is a friendly act to erase Israel's cities and call them your own? Why do you do this? Isn't turning your children against Israel in your textbooks enough evil? One would hope that a future neighbor would be as benign as Canada.

Resource: prnw@palwatch.org PA intensifies campaign to teach denial of Israel's existence.

HOW HAMAS HURTS ITS OWN PEOPLE; Israel's Administered Areas After 1967:

Nadene Goldfoot

In 1967, Israel was attacked by massed Arab armies on its borders in what is known as the Six-Day War. The outcome was that Israel won and gained four territories that had been under the British Mandate of Palestine.

1. Judaea and Samaria, called "The West Bank" by outsiders had been under British mandate until 1948. From 1948 to 1967 it was ruled by Jordan, who annexed it in 1950. So Israel gained a part of the original land of King David and Solomon by the Arab's wanting to drive Israel into oblivion, only the tables were turned. Now Abbas has his Palestinians living there along with Israeli towns and villages. This is where they want to create their state of Palestine. By 1972 640,600 Arabs lived in this area of 2,270 sq. mi.

2. The Gaza Strip had also been under the British mandate until 1948. Between 1948 and 1967 it was administered by the Egyptian Military Government. It was not annexed to Egypt. This is where the Hamas terrorists have taken over. Hamas refuses to recognize Israel and is still intent on driving her into the sea. They had shelled Israel for eight years (8), driving Israel into finally a defensive action called Operation Cast Lead. They still continue to shell missiles into the area. By 1972 388,600 Arabs lived in this area of 140 sq. miles.

The Basic policy of Israel was that of hoping for a peace settlement. Until it did, they had these objectives:

1. Maintain conditions of security for Israelis and Arabs alike.

2. Enable people to live normal lives without losing contact with Arabs in other countries.

3. Make possible rapid economic development.

4. Encourage co-existence and cooperation between Arabs and Israelis, as an example for relations to come between the two people.

By 1972 things were tranquil and thriving. Local affairs were administered by the local population. Open bridges on the Jordan River allowed movement in either direction between the areas and the Arab States. Arabs and Israelis up to 1967 had lived separately and were starting to live in co-existence.

According to international law, the Israel Defence forces appointed military governors for each area. The commander is the top person, responsible for military and civilian branches. Local affairs were administered by the Arab population through existing bodies as municipalities and police. Israel officials working totaled 500 compared with 12,500 local personnel in these two areas.

There were 23 municipalities and 31 rural councils in Judea and Samaria and 3 municipalities and 7 rural councils in Gaza and N. Sinai. Municipal elections were held in Judaea and Samaria in 1972 in accordance with Jordanian law. 75 % of the people voted and as a result, half the mayors were replaced by new ones.

Up to 1967 the economy of these areas had been stagnating and unemployment was rampant. In September 1967 about 11% of the labor force in Judaea and Samaria were unemployed. By September 1972 less than 2% of the force of 134,000 were jobless.

In Gaza and N. Sinai 19% of men were jobless after the war; in 1972 98% of the labor force of 64,000 were working.

Then Hamas won in their elections. They probably coerced many to vote for them. Terrorism then ruled. From 1990 on, they shot missiles into Israel, and Israel held off from large attacks in return. By 2009 they had to stop these attacks. I wonder if these Arabs in Gaza are so terribly happy now that Hamas is in power. Is life so much better?

With every defensive step Israel takes, there are those who attack them for doing so. What do people think is going to happen if the Arabs attack Israel? Israel has done so much to bring peace into the area, but are rebuked for it. Rational thinking isn't a part of its deterrent's minds. I feel it's all anti-Semitism.

As Israel was trying to bring Arabs and Jews together in work and living conditions, Arabs were teaching in their own schools a hatred for Jews. Leaders of Muslim countries cannot tolerate a Jewish presence in their midst. Only Egypt and Jordan have been beginning to see benefits in having Israel as a neighbor. We've had Jews visit Egypt, which is good tourism. Both countries have lived without fear of war.

Yet I see in my own city, Americans that are not even Muslim, sympathize so much with the Palestinians that they condemn Israel's very existence. Even some Jews have bent so far over with self hatred that they have added their condemnations, joining the mob rule of intelligence. The newspaper prints letters and editorials condemning Israel's every move, but never says a thing about what is happening to Israel. Those of us wanting to defend the outrageous comments never get published.

I lived in Israel from 1980-1985, and experienced the Lebanon War of 1982. At least then we didn't worry about walking bombs. Bombs were found in things, like cartons and loaves of bread and such. I know what it was like to carry ID and have your bags searched at every entrance. I know what it's like to have bars on your living room windows and being in bomb shelters with your students.

What would have happened if Hamas had not been voted into power? There would be peaceful co-existence. Right now Gazans continue to live in hatred with the goal of wiping out Israel. Iran is the biggest spokesman of hatred in threatening through their terrorists to wipe out Israel. Israel has had to arm every citizen with gas masks at this latest threat that is coming from Lebanon.

In the meantime, Egypt was wilting with losing face from 1967's war, and Anwar Sadat in 1972 publicly stated that Egypt was committed to going to war with Israel, and that they were prepared to "sacrifice one million Egyptian soldiers." It happened and was called the Yom Kippur War happening during our most sacred period of fasting and asking for repentance in October of 73. And so it goes. Egypt lost land in that attack, also.

Resource: Facts About Israel 1973 division of information, ministry for foreign affairs, Jerusalem.

Writer Victor Sharpe is concerned about this subject and more and wrote the following:

http://www.thejerusalemconnection.us/news-archive/category/victor-sharpe

wikipedia

Yitzhar, a Jewish Village in Samaria

by Nadene Goldfoot

What was once called Samaria and Judea is referred to today by outsiders as "The West Bank". In the Samarian Mountains near the town of Nablus and Shechem, just off Rt 60 north of the Tapuach Junction, lies the village or settlement, as outsiders want to call these places, of Yitzhar. It lies on the top of a mountain from where you can see from Ashkelon to Hadera, and started as a historic pioneer Nahal military outpost.

130 orthodox Jewish families live here comprising about 500 people. Yitzhar means "olive oil" and that's a crop they grow. Also, they grow grapes. Their grape-growing achievement was so successful that they won two gold medals and one silver medal in a recent wine competition.

They had followed the rules of Shmita, which means something established in biblical days. It's to allow the fields to be fallow every 7th year. Besides that, they had built a synagogue and a Yeshiva in their village. During the Shmita period they had the opportunity to study there and pray there.

Now the government has announced that they must tear down these two buildings. I feel it is because of the pressure of Obama wanting the Arab's Palestine to be there, and not wanting any Jewish presence at all. The land still is a part of Israel. Somehow the Arabs have been building throughout Samaria and Judea without permission. They just built without the involvement of permits which these Jews had.

It's funny that the Arabs had 2,000 years to build and use the land, but didn't. Now that we are back in force, they want the land because we need it. This is sure an example of coveting. They covet something that belongs to someone else. Only now does it have worth to them. It'll mean that they will be expected to work the land, though, if they take over everything. I wonder if they will.

I notice that usually only the orthodox Jews dare to live in Judea and Samaria. More secular Jews live in Tel Aviv and the more populated areas. The history of Judea and Samaria are very important in our religion, and the orthodox are trying to honor that memory. Besides that, we have a horrible history of being locked up every night in ghettos and living in crowded conditions in shtetles in Eastern Europe. It's nice to be out in the country and see the stars at night and be able to own land and grow things, something denied to us for 2,000 years. It's too bad our own government has to be so compliant of Obama in order to protect its citizens. They feel this is just like Kristolnight-a horrible memory in Germany.

Reference: gerardrobins@sbcglobal.net -

http://www.jewishisrael.org/

Wikipedia