Israel’s Right to Judea & Samaria

As explained by Israel’s Ambassador to the UN , Danny Danon.

At the last meeting (at the UN) Germany asked for an explanation of how Israel addresses international law, today I will present the four pillars that make the case for Jewish ownership of the land. The first pillar is the bible. Jewish ownership of the land is in the Bible.

Today, I will present the four pillars that prove the case for Jewish ownership of the Land of Israel: the Bible, history, legal claim, and the pursuit of international peace and security. In 70 CE, Roman Emperor Titus destroyed our Second Temple, expelled the Jewish people, and renamed the land nestled between Egypt and Lebanon “Syria-Palestina,” as a southern province of Syria. THAT is where the name Palestine comes from, though Jews still lived in Jerusalem. To blame Jewish communities in Judea/Samaria for lack of peace misreads history. The Arabs have rejected:

1937 Peel Commission Report

1947 UN Partition Plan

1948 Israel truce

2000 Camp David Summit

2001 Taba Summit

2007 Annapolis Conference

Real peace will be possible when these four pillars are realized:

1. The Palestinians must accept and recognize the JEWISH State of Israel

2. The Palestinians must end their campaign of incitement

3. Regional cooperation

4. Israel will never compromise our security

History is Proof – The UN Can’t Deny it

After the Romans, the land was conquered by the Crusaders and then the Ottoman Empire. A Jewish community remained in the land over the next 2,000 years, but the bulk of the Jewish people were in exile.

“For two millennia, Jews across the world continued to pray three times every day for our long- awaited return home to Zion and Jerusalem. As we just said on Passover last week, as we do every year, ‘Next year in Jerusalem!’” Danon said.

He then turned to the issue of international law, starting with the 1917 British Balfour declaration that set out “a national home for the Jewish people” in the land of Israel after Great Britain had taken over that territory from the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I.

Danon explained that in presenting the document, British Foreign Secretary Lord Arthur Balfour wrote that the “declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations, which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet.”

“In 1922, the mandate of the League of Nations not only stated its support for the establishment of a Jewish national home, it encouraged and facilitated the return of Jews in the diaspora to our homeland. It confirms, and I quote, ‘the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country,’” Danon said.

He added that these documents were Zionist documents and showed that Zionism appeared in international law.