Who Owns This Land?

                                                                   בס"ד

There is no land in the world that is more controversial than the land of Israel.  Wars have been fought over it and, for some strange reason, this country, the size of the state of New Jersey, is in the news and on the agenda of many governments and the United Nations, more than any other country in the world (except, perhaps, for the US of A).  Why?

The answer has a similar connotation to another popular topic – Jew hatred.  It is all from the Owner of the land, Who wants the most important place in the universe to thrive.  Who is the real Owner of the land?  HASHEM!!!!!!!!!!  Of course; He owns the entire universe, so the Land of Israel is on the same deed.  But, what did the Owner say about the land?  Also, in all fairness to the world, especially those who don’t go by the word of this Owner, what does international law say about this land?

Israel was the name given to Jacob after he fought the angel, Genesis 32:25-29.  Hashem also told Jacob directly that he would be called Israel.  The country was named the Land of Israel meaning that Hashem told Jacob, or Israel, that this land belongs to his descendants.  Of course, this was the same message that was given to Jacob’s father, Isaac and his grandfather, Abraham.  Later it was told to Moses and all the Israelites (called as such since they were the descendants of Israel).  The Jews, or as they were referred to in the time of Abraham, the Hebrews have dwelled in this land for over 3700 years.  Even with exiles, which were accompanied with the destruction of the Temples and more, there has always been a Jewish presence in the land of Israel.  So it looks like, biblically, the Land of Israel belongs to the Jews and has for thousands of years.  All the peoples who were in the land, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites and any other Parasites (I made up the last one) were all occupiers and not owners of the land.

Moses was even told exactly where the borders are.  Miraculously, those borders match the area that the Jews live in today.  This is a map from Artscoll (right) depicting the borders that Moses was told would be the land for the Israelites.  I am comparing the map to a satellite view which shows what we call the Green line, the area the Jews live in today. This is the area that has produced because of our return to the land (left) as the Torah prophesied (that is why it is green).  What a coincidence (I know, there is no such thing) that the borders described in the Torah match the area where Jews are today – this must be the end of days.

We are told in the Bible that when the Jews return to their homeland, this land that has remained desolate for 1880 years will miraculously start to produce.  After 1948 this totally useless land that many cultures tried unsuccessfully to cultivate, became some of the most fertile producing farmland in the world.  Hundreds of millions of trees have been planted since 1948 and Israel in present time exports produce in great quantity.  They even designated the area where the Jews live “the green line” since the areas where non-Jews live is still not fertile and still remains desert (check the satellite picture above).  This is a strong message from Hashem that His people are returning and the end of history, as we know it, is about to occur.

One question that I have is how long do you have to live in the land before you are considered a permanent dweller and not a SETTLER?  If 3700 years isn't enough, then the entire world, especially the US, should be called settlements.  After all, when the Colonists occupied the land that belonged to the British, French, Spanish, Dutch, Germans, the Indians (let us not forget them), etc, were they called occupiers and settlers?  Why is Israel under a different standard than other nations?  Rhetorical question -- I know the answer.

Let’s talk international law.

With the second exile in the year 68, some crazy Roman renamed the country Palestine (mostly because he couldn’t pronoun Philistine).  Even in the 1880 years, that the country was erroneously called Palestine, there was still a presence by its designated owner, the Jews.  Here is the funny part: before 1948, the Palestinians were the Jews.  I have neighbors who were born here before 1948 who joke about the fact that they were the real Palestinians.  The Arabs would never use that name and, in turn, called themselves Syrians, Lebanese, Jordanians, Egyptians, etc.  In other words they went by their place of birth, since they were not of the land of Israel.

When Palestine finally returned to its proper name, the Jews returned to the name Israeli in 1948.  The Arabs didn’t accept that name at all.  It is important to note that Palestine was never a sovereign nation and that the name the land of Israel goes back thousands of years – not made up in 1948.  What is my proof?  Do you remember King David, King Solomon, King etc, etc, etc, they were the kings of Israel, not Palestine, not Canaan and not of any other name.

In 1964, the Palestine Liberation Organization, PLO, formed.  It was a terrorist group under Yasser Arafat with the help of Abu Mazen, who we know now by his other name Mahmoud Abbas (he put on a suit to try to look less like a terrorist and more like a decent person – it didn’t work).  They started a very well organized propaganda campaign and pretended that the Arabs who live in Israel were the real Palestinians.

The British Mandate (in effect, British rule) of Palestine, including the Balfour Declaration, was confirmed by the League of Nations in 1922 at the San Remo conference.  It came into effect by treaty in 1923.  The boundaries of Palestine were drawn by the British and included modern Jordan, which was called Trans-Jordanian Palestine (you mean there is a Palestine that exists today that is much bigger than Israel and is being hidden and lied about?).  The declaration included the wording “His Majesty's government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.”  Watch this excellent short video.  It says a lot:

This eventually led to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 by the newly formed United Nations.  The problem was that the UN took away 82% of the land designated for the Jews including most of the area that was biblical Israel.  This was done by a UN resolution, which by international law is not binding and definitely does not replace a treaty.  It was well known that the United States State Department advised the then President Harry Truman to sign in favor of the Jewish state, but only because the US was convinced that 5 mighty Arab armies would obliterate this new nation.  How noble of the US and many other Jew-hating countries who thought they had the next “final solution.”

Hashem had other plans.  To this day the US military will never teach the tactics of the Israeli military used in the 1948 war since miracles aren’t part of military tactical training.  Israel had no army to speak of, no armament to fight with and only One top General to lead them – Hashem.  I guarantee that Israel in every war that followed (1956, 1967, 1973, 1982, 1991, 2006, and all the terrorist attacks in between) was not as mighty as they thought and has always relied on great miracles to experience the success they enjoyed.

So what does it mean when you see in the news how Israel is constantly trying to occupy Arab land?  It is the most effective propaganda from terrorist groups and has the complete support of the Jew-hating media and Jew hating nations of the world.  All of the land from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea is Israel by international law.  The only way that land can be given to someone else is by a legal treaty such as the treaty that resulted from the San Remo Conference, 1920 (ratified by 51 nations), that gave the Land of Palestine back to its owners, the Jews.  The UN resolution of 1947, the Oslo Accord of 1993 and any other bogus agreements to give the land away are not legal by international law – it can only be accomplished with a treaty, not a resolution and not an accord.

Another consideration is that any country that is attacked and wins territory in that war, keeps it according to the Geneva Convention.  Why does Israel have to give back land to Arab terrorist organizations that they won in war, and belonged to Israel in the first place?  What is even more interesting is that the 19 years that Judea and Samaria were in the hands of the Jordanians according to the UN Resolution, Jordan never annexed the land.  In other words, the so-called West Bank was never a part of sovereign Jordan.  Why?  Jordan really didn’t want the land, they, as today were only interested in getting rid of the so-called Palestinian refugees who were living in Jordan.

The Arabs of the Middle East have about 650 times the amount of land that the Jews have.  If we talk about Islamist countries, we increase to over 1000 times the land area that the Jews have.  The Jews are in great shortage of land, the Arabs are not.  What is even worse is that the Arabs don’t even want the land.  When we hear speeches in English they talk of the horrors of the Jews stealing their land.  When they talk in Arabic (in their mosques, for instance) they tell their true agenda – we want all the infidels dead, the world is meant to be totally Muslim.  What is even sadder is their popular expression “first the Saturday people, then the Sunday people.”  In other words the bottom line is to kill all the non-Muslims and make the entire planet Islamic. It is even in the Quran that if an individual accepts Islam, he is allowed to live; if he doesn’t accept Islam he must die.  They are making great strides since the Jew-hating gentile world supports their efforts even though it would mean the demise of all gentile nations.  I wish Israel’s propaganda was that good.  Bottom line is the only occupied territory in Israel is the Arabs occupying Jewish land (by international law).

All this is prophesied in the Torah.  In the book of Deuteronomy 32:21, Hashem tells us “They have moved Me to jealousy with that which is not G-d, they have provoked Me to anger with their vanities; and I will move them to jealousy with those which are a non-people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish, senseless nation.”  In other words, Hashem is telling us that when we are not doing His will (since Israel is being run by a secular government that does a lot of improper things) he will provoke us with a vile people who are not a sovereign nation but, as in this case a bunch of terrorists, pretending to be a government.

There was an organization that wrote an article in their newly published magazine several years ago.  They said “We know the land belongs to you, but as long as you fear people more than you fear G-d, you do not deserve the land.”  Who said such a truism?  It appeared in the first addition of the new Al Qaeda magazine.  Our enemy knows more about our mistakes than we do, since Hashem uses them to bring us around to what we are supposed to be doing in this world.

It is interesting to note that Jerusalem, the so-called third holiest city to Islam, is not even mentioned in the Quran – that’s right zero times you will find Jerusalem.  However, it does say in the Quran that the land promised to Moses is for the Jews – all of it.

Mohammed was honest and acknowledged the special relationship of the Jewish people with G-d and the land He gave them:

[Sura 5:20] Recall that Moses said to his people (the Jews), "O my people, remember G-D's blessings upon you: He appointed prophets from among you, made you kings, and granted you what He never granted any other people."

[Sura 5:21] "O my people, enter the holy land (Israel) that G-D has decreed for you, and do not rebel, lest you become losers."

Later in the Quran, in order to make it clear and leave no doubts that the G-d of the Jews had given ownership of the land to the Jews and even set the mission of the Jews, Mohammed took additional time to repeat the writing of the Torah in Sura 7 about the Jews and Moses:

[Sura 7:137] "We let the oppressed people inherit the land, east and west, and we blessed it. The blessed commands of your L-rd were thus fulfilled for the Children of Israel, to reward them for their steadfastness, and we annihilated the works of Pharaoh and his people and everything they harvested."

[Sura 7:144] He said, "O Moses, I have chosen you (the Jews), out of all the people, with My messages and by speaking to you. Therefore, take what I have given you and be appreciative."

I really wish Israel’s propaganda was that good!  If Israel would start telling the truth about the land, the people who own it and the history that created it, the world would respect Israel much more.  After the war of independence in 1948 and the Six Day War of 1967 there were no Arabs in Israel.  The world respected the fact until the secular government (I will avoid names here) decided to invite the Arabs back.  They thought they were being politically correct and showing the world their benevolence.  They only lost total respect from the other nations.  They set themselves up for much more suffering, and worst of all they ignored Hashem, Who arranged for the Arabs to be gone.  As quoted above when we are not doing Hashem’s will, He will punish us with a non-people, a vile nation to straighten us out.

We are our worst enemy.  It is believed that if we had accepted Hashem’s gift of no Arabs at the end of the 1967 war, the Moshiach would have come then.  Why do we not live the Absolute Truth as individuals and as a nation?  Why do we not accept that Hashem’s plan for our happiness and total success in this world is a flawless plan?  We have such tremendous proof from history of its validity and effectiveness.  It will take Moshiach to change it all, hopefully today or tomorrow at the latest.

Also, wouldn't it be nice if the world knew and lived the Absolute Truth?  If we followed Hashem, He would guarantee the world would change and do the right thing.  What a easy solution to all the world’s problems – Hashem!