The Jewish Connection to Judea & Samaria
Yoram Ettinger, a consultant at the Ariel Center for Policy Research, asserted, “Many world-renowned travelers, historians and archeologists of earlier centuries refer to “Judea and Samaria,” while the term “West Bank” was coined only 60 years ago.Jordan gave the region this name when it occupied it after Israel’s War of Independence. No nation on earth other than Britain and Pakistan recognized Jordan’s claim to Judea and Samaria. […] Even the Encyclopedia Britannica, as well as official British and Ottoman records until 1950, used the term Judea and Samaria, and not the West Bank.”
To the contrary, Jews have a history in Judea & Samaria dating back from time immemorial. For instance, Shechem, otherwise known as Nablus, has Jewish history dating back to Abraham. Shechem was the first place that Abraham set foot in when he arrived in Israel. Shechem is also the city where Jacob and his family settled after returning from Paddam Aram. Some historians such as Robert Wolfe and Paul Johnson, after studying archeological evidence coming out of Egypt, believe that there was a Jewish kingdom based in the area of Shechem while most Jews were slaves in Egypt. Regardless whether one believes them or not, Shechem is the resting place of Joseph, King David wrote about Shechem in the Book of Psalms, and King Rehoboam, who ruled the ten northern tribes of Israel following King Solomon’s death, initially made Shechem his capital city.
These are but a few of the many examples of Jewish history in Judea & Samaria. Furthermore,almost all of the Arab localities in Judea & Samaria have retained biblical Jewish names, thus betraying the true Jewish roots in the area. Given all of these facts, to deny the Jewish connection to Judea & Samaria is to deny the historic reality.
By Rachel Avraham
http://unitedwithisrael.org/the-jewish-connection-to-judea-samaria/
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