« This is the land of our fathers, this is our land. We are here to stay, forever. »
WHICH ‘’PROMISED LAND’’ is Netanyahu talking about ?
The Judeo-Christian Bible says : (Genesis 17. 7,8) « (…) And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land in which you lived as a foreigner — the entire land of Caʹnaan (…). » That is Israel from the Jordan River to the sea.
But the Bible also says : (Genesis 15. 18>>21) « (…) I will give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates (…) »
And also : (Exodus 19. 4,5) « (…) Now if you will strictly obey my voice and keep my covenant, you will certainly become my treasured possession out of all peoples, for the whole earth belongs to me (…) »
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BIBLE STORY AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDINGS.
The israeli archaeologists Ze’ev HERZOG and Israel FINKELSTEIN worked for many years on biblical sites.
Here is what the Biblical Archaeology Society reported, based on the israeli HAARETZ Magazine October 29, 1999:
« Following 70 years of intensive excavations in the Land of Israel, archaeologists have found out: (…) the Israelites were never in Egypt, did not wander in the desert, did not conquer the land in a military campaign and did not pass it on to the 12 tribes of Israel. Perhaps even harder to swallow is that the united monarchy of David and Solomon, which is described by the Bible as a regional power, was at most a small tribal kingdom. And it will come as an unpleasant shock to many that the God of Israel, YHWH, had a female consort and that the early Israelite religion adopted monotheism only in the waning period of the monarchy and not at Mount Sinai. (…) »
« Bible scholars (…) claimed that the history of the Hebrews, as a consecutive series of events beginning with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and proceeding through the passage to Egypt, the enslavement and the exodus, and ending with the conquest of the land and the settlement of the tribes of Israel, was no more than a later reconstruction of events with a theological purpose. »
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DEMOCRATIC STATE ? OR DEMOCRACY FOR THE JEWS ?
The initial idea of Theodor Herzl was one of a « Refuge State » (The title of his book was Der Judenstaat = ‘’State for the Jews’’). If he had meant ‘’Jewish State’’ the title of his book would have been Der Jüdische Staat. At that time, the Jews were heavily discriminated against everywhere in Europe & Russia, and were even sometimes victims of pogroms.
The U.N. 1947 resolution delivered the roadmap to two democratic countries : a Jewish Refuge State and an ‘’Arab’’ State. Democracy does not only mean ‘’right of vote for all’’, but ALSO ‘’equal rights for all ».
But today, the State of Israel is a kind of democracy for the Jewish israeli citizens. And the ‘’Arabs’’ israeli citizens are legally discriminated against (details on the israel-based Adalah.org). Not to mention the West Bank Palestinians people who live under the military rule/law of occupation.
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IS AMERICA HELPING ISRAEL TO IMPLEMENT ITS RELIGIOUS STRATEGY ?
When a politician (like Netanyahu) considers that the strategy for his country is the implementation of the Holy Scriptures, his country is drifting towards a religious kind of State.
Today, in order to implement the ‘’religious strategy’’, Israel needs more time to increase further the colonies in the West Bank, and to try to ensure that a maximum of palestinians will ‘’freely choose’’ to go away. Ideally, a declaration from Trump which would ‘’kill’’ any further negociations (for a two-states solution) would be warmly welcomed.
Of course, all this is against the International Laws and against Human Rights as well. But it would appear that America accepts to help placing religious considerations above the International Laws. At least for Israel.
So far, the USA often was associated with the idea of Democracy, Human Rights, and support of International Law. The image & credibility of the USA as Human Rights/ International Laws/ Democracy world defender now is badly damaged by Trump’s initiative.
Also, it is not the best way to lead by example… Indeed, it seems that America’s message now is that any morally & legally wrong actions are OK, as long as you manage to get to the ‘’fait accompli’’.
Jean P. Ciron
