Explaining words that impact opinion on Israel’s rights.
“Do not be snared by the words of your mouth…” Proverbs 6:2
“How long will you torment my soul, and break me in pieces with words?” Job asks in chapter 19:2. Rather than comfort this Godly man who had done so much for disadvantaged people, accusations, and hints that he deserved his inexplicable afflictions, rained down on him.
In Psalm 64:2-3, scripture refers to words used as weapons, against the people of God. “They sharpen their tongues like swords and aim cruel words like deadly arrows.”
In the conflict in the Middle East, many terms are used which quickly become accepted as the norm but endorse certain perspectives that are not the whole truth. Then a new ‘truth’ is accepted in the collective mind of the world. ICEJ has examined many of those words which are used as weapons and share their meaning with all who stand with Israel so we do not affirm the deception, even unwittingly.
“Rescue me and deliver me from the hand of foreigners, whose mouth speaks lying words, and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.” David pleads in Psalm 144:11
We begin with one that is used more and more by media and governments and even by Israel’s friends as if a political fact.
Palestine
No such country exists. When referring to Gaza and the areas under the Palestinian Authority, the name ‘Palestine’ is not applicable.
When the Jews were finally crushed by the Romans in 135 AD, the area around Jerusalem, the Biblical Judea, was renamed Palaestina, the Latin term for the long term enemies of the Jews, the Philistines, in an attempt to erase the Jewish connection with the Land of Israel.
From the Roman time until 1948, there were about 17 different rulers of Palestine, but not one of them established their own country there – save a brief Crusader kingdom. Otherwise, it was always ruled from another country with its capital in that country.
Even during 400 years of Ottoman rule from 1517 to 1917, most of the region was considered part of the province of Southern Syria. It was only during the brief British Mandate period that the area was again referred to as ‘Palestine’.
On the 29th of November 1947, a UN resolution approved a Partition Plan that stated: ‘Independent Arab and Jewish States and the Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem, … shall come into existence in Palestine two months after the evacuation of the armed forces of the mandatory Power has been completed but, in any case, not later than 1 October 1948.’
The Arabs never accepted the Partition Plan in order to establish their own Palestinian State and launched a war in which they were defeated. Israel accepted and formally renamed their new State in 1948. The name Palestine should no longer refer to any area of land.
Changing the name of Palestine to Israel is similar to other countries which have been renamed. Ceylon is now called Sri Lanka, and Burma is now called Myanmar.
A related word, Palestinian, has been used to reinvent history.
In 1890 there were about 43,000 Jews in Palestine and 430,000 Arabs. By 1947 due to the pogroms in Russia and persecution in Europe, the number of Jews in Palestine had risen dramatically to about 630,000 and the Arab population to about 1,180,000. During the 1948 War of Independence, about 700,000 Arabs left, leaving about 500,000 in Israel.
With the West Bank, there is no other country with which Israel can have a peace treaty. Consequently, the West Bank is best described as an area under dispute, but currently legally occupied by Israel.
Before 1948 in British Mandated Palestine, the local Arab population refused to be called “Palestinians”, preferring to be referred to as “Southern Syrians.” It was actually the local Jewish community which referred to themselves as “Palestinian Jews” at that time.
However, in 1964, Yasser Arafat founded the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), and hence the term Palestinian became increasingly associated with Arabs living in Israel as part of the PLO’s newly-founded nationalist movement. It is a great anomaly of modern history that an Arab people would invent a national identity for themselves using an ancient Latin word which they cannot pronounce, as there is no letter “P” in the Arabic language, and yet the world accepts this contrivance.
Jesus did not say ‘in the West Bank’
Instead, Jesus commissioned his disciples that, “…you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8b).
The name West Bank has no legal standing and has no legally binding borders. The so-called boundary is the 1949 armistice line known as the Green Line. As mentioned earlier, following Israel’s 1948 War of Independence, Israel had gained control of the former Mandated Palestine, except the Gaza Strip which Egypt occupied, and the area ‘on the west bank of the Jordan River’ which was then illegally occupied by Jordan, east of the River. Jordan named it West Bank and annexed it in 1950 but it was only recognised by two countries, the United Kingdom and Pakistan. In 1988 Jordan renounced its claim to the territory, which was subsequently claimed by the PLO, now operating as the Palestinian Authority.
It is the historic area of Judea and Samaria where 80% of recorded Biblical events took place. But is Israel illegally occupying it?
Occupation
In the war of June 1967, Israel came into possession of Judea and Samaria, Golan Heights and Gaza Strip. Because Israel won these territories in a war of self-defence, Israel had a right, according to international law, to occupy or possess these areas until there is a binding peace treaty. With the West Bank, there is no other country with which Israel can have a peace treaty. Consequently, the West Bank is best described as an area under dispute, but currently legally occupied by Israel.
Because the Golan Heights were virtually free of any Syrian Arab population and had been used by the Syrian military to repeatedly attack Israel, it was annexed by Israel. In recent years the United States recognized Israel’s legal and historic claim to the Golan. Syria still claims it as its territory but according to international law, it is legally occupied by Israel, awaiting a binding peace treaty with Syria to settle the dispute.
In spite of accusations of Israeli occupation of Gaza, Israel moved all Israelis out of Gaza in 2005 handing the administration to the Palestinian Austhority.
“This was the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Judah…Ashdod with its towns and villages, Gaza with its towns and villages—as far as the Brook of Egypt and the Great Sea with its coastline.” Joshua 15:20 & 57
These are just some of the many words that have been used out of context to mislead, especially the younger generation. ICEJ hopes to share part two of this article to correct the more commonly mis-used words to empower Christians to speak the truth and stand for Israel.
0 Comments