Peloni: Prof. Kontorovich provides a detailed explanation as to why Trump was so grossly in error when he stated he was going to stop Israel from “annexing the West Bank”, even ignoring the use of the pejorative to reference our ancient homelands in Judea and Samaria. By history, international agreements and customary international law, Israel has no need to annex that which is her own. Israel has a right to enact her laws for the legal protections of her own people in her own lands, and pretending otherwise only supports the antisemitic goal of labeling the Jewish state as the ‘special case’, the lone exception to legal protections and practices made normative throughout the entire rest of the world.
‘International law’ hardly demands a ‘two-state solution’ to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Nor can it properly limit Israel’s sovereignty over its own territory.
Click Link to Read Article
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/israeli-law-west-bank-judea-samaria
Sometimes being picky with language pays off to find the needed eventual compromise. QV the old classroom jest: “Please teacher can I go to the toilet?”
“Well can you?” PA and jihadi Arabs can not keep cease fires and peace treaties. The real question is not “Can Israel do ….??” But “May Israel do…??” and that moral decision as in the Golan is decided by whether too do or not to do is cheaper in politcal consequences and casualties in resulting conflict(s).
Holdiing Golan indisputably saved and will save a lot of casualties came or come a fight for it – and had no spill-over with the great powers because Syria had put itself “in the dog house” with them.
Judea and Samaria – the ex West Bank of Jordan – are a different league.
1) Too many other people have a religious as well as a political iron in that fire.
2) The Arab population is too big to be cavalier with as in 1948 or the American Indians, unless PA Arabs pick a show-down like swollen headed Hamas in Gaza.
3) Because of the above and the general US led decolonisation of the late century it was reasonable for Rabin to try the Oslo process expecting on the precedents of other nationa revolts that a PA would settle down to develop its autonomy and economy to a working mutual independence. Besides we do not as yet know what sort of pressures the Rabin governmetn was under – NOT only from the great powers BUT also from his generation of Israeli voters who were still optomistic assuming the Arab World was into modern mutual self determination, “World safe for democracy, ” and peace and plenty iss priority.
4) It is precisely because the Arabs – to reverse a well known English adage – made a pig’s ear of the silk purse that was their part of Palestine, that Jews and the Israeli State can say the Arabs have proven (since1937 Peel Report) they do not want a two state solution and are NOT democrats NOR Enlightenment liberals. Ask them to draft a peace that respects Israel’s self determination,,, and see them trip and splutter over their dhimmi ideas of inequaity for kaffirs.
“Israel Can Apply Israeli Law to the Judea & Samaria” … I totally agree and support that, also, through other lands. It should be clear now that Israel is the main power in the Middle East.
Ithink thereasonisraellet YESH go was becausevthey didn’t want the extra burden of policing it. They knew they could gather it in any time they wanted.
Their MONSTER mistake wasin taking back Arafat and his gangsters an error unparalelled in Jwish modern history. Rabin, the l
traitor, Peres the snake, Beilin the ball of dough and other nonentities……….
Los zey lign in dirch drerd.af schtanduik
We’ve discussed this back and forth for years now. Essentially, Israelis agree that this is our land with Arab settlers on it that refuse to leave or be scared away. Unfortunately, Israel also signed peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan followed by the the Oslo accords. This leaves Israel in the untenable position of having this Arab population that wants to stay, more because it is personally beneficial to them rather out of the ideology of Islam. If the Jordan Option ever comes to fruition, they may be convinced to move to Jordan but they will bargain hard.
There is absolutely no reason why Israeli law is not enforced in Judea and Samaria. Shame on Israel for not doing that since 1967. The number of hilltop settlements that have been destroyed by the military government of J&S illustrates yet again SHAME ON ISRAEL. We can afford to wait a little to see if the Jordan Option is implemented, but even if not, Israeli law must be implemented.
Having said that, there is a lot of “Israeli Law” which has to be cleaned up significantly. There are also de facto laws implemented by the PA that forbid the sale of land!!! that actually belongs to Israel to Israelis, under pain of death. There are laws from the Ottoman Empire period, the British Mandate period in Israel outside of J&S to be made into Israeli law while removing artificial hinderances of the PA so that all of Israel can have one law of Israel, at best guided by the Torah.
The remaining part of Israel that was not discussed here is the Gaza Strip, which is also Israeli territory under quasi-Egyptian rule of the PA, Fatah and Hamas with all the other illegals added in. That region really needs cleaning up, removal of all the terror organizations, and implementation of Israeli law. Please remember, the Egyptians grabbed this strip of land in 1948-9 but refused to take it back as part of the peace treaty.
Judea and Samaria are not within Trump’s power to give or withhold – they were given to Israel forever by G-d.