A friend loves at all times and a brother is born
(for such a time as this), to help in a time of adversity
Proverbs 17:17
CFI News INSIGHTS (A bimonthly news media spotlight on Israel)
Objective: Engaging Christians to learn something essential that is taking place in Israel and then--taking a look at the situation from the pages of God’s Word as perhaps never seen before....Bible prophecy in our time.
Israel: The Settlements Are Not Illegal.
The annexation of lands in Judea and Samaria is not contrary to international law
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples... adopted by the UN General Assembly on September 13, 2007, by a majority of 144 states in favor, 4 votes against, and 11 abstentions, recognized that indigenous people...have the right to the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired...and that the exercise of these rights shall be free from discrimination of any kind...”.
“...According to international law, the Jews are the indigenous people of the lands referred to as Judea, Samaria, Palestine, Israel and the Holy Land, and therefore fulfill the criteria required by international law. The Jews are the ethnic group that was the original settler of Judea and Samaria 3,500 years ago, when the land was bestowed upon the Jews by the Almighty. Leaders of this world, who chose to make abstraction of history, misleadingly refer to Judea and Samaria as the "West Bank" of the Jordan River (which includes Israel) or the "Occupied Palestinian Territories...After the Balfour Declaration of 1917, the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), British Mandate for Palestine (1922), San Remo Resolution (1920), and Treaty of Sevres (1920) created international law, and recognized and re-established the historical indigenous rights of the Jews to their land... the League of Nations recognized "the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country". The Jewish people's right to settle in the Land of Palestine, their historic homeland and to establish their state there, is thus a legal right anchored in international law...
The right of the Jewish people to "settle" in the so-called West Bank, and Israel's right to annex parts of Judea and Samaria (part of Palestine) derive from the Mandate
(Levy Report of July 9, 2012).
Pursuant to the Mandate, the right to annex some parts of Judea and Samaria is a direct consequence of the right of the Jews to settle in all Palestine i.e. the territory of the 1936 Mandate...Jewish rights of "settlement" in the so-called "West Bank" therefore exist; it cannot seriously be contended, as the EU, France, Britain, Russia, China and other states do, that Jewish communities in the West Bank are illegal and that annexation is contrary to international law. This position is political, not legal. Despite UN resolutions to the contrary, the establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not inconsistent with international law.
Israel, the Jewish State, as a member of the international community has the right but also the duty to fulfill the Mandate that most nations disregarded, fearing terrorism and the Muslim world, and animated by 2,000 years of religious hatred and anti-Semitism. One hundred and three years passed since the Balfour Declaration, 73 years since the 1947 UNGA Resolution 181 was rejected by the Arab states, 52 years since the 1967 Six Day War, and 27 years since the Oslo Accord. The Oslo Accords of 1993 and 1995 were signed but did not lead to peace. The Palestinian Authority (PA) does not want peace; they refused Israel's offers, made in 2000 and in 2008, for a Palestinian state and to live in peace...Israel has the duty to draw the logical consequences of this behavior and annex all or some of the territories in Area C, to secure the existence of its population within secure borders, and to be able to receive those of the millions Jews still living in exile who wish to settle in Israel...According to international law, the Jews are the indigenous people of the lands referred to as Judea, Samaria, Palestine, Israel and the Holy Land. Jewish rights of "settlement" in the so-called "West Bank" therefore exist; it cannot seriously be contended, as the EU, France, Britain, Russia, China and other states do, that Jewish communities in the West Bank are illegal and that annexation is contrary to international law.
Michel Calvo was born in Tunis, Tunisia. An expert in international law, he was a member of the International Court of Arbitration representing Israel. He is the author of
The Middle East and World War III: Why No Peace? with a preface by Col. Richard Kemp, CBE. Published by the Gatestone Institute in French, German, Spanish and Czech. The Honorable Michel Calvo is a personal friend of Christian Friends of Israel since 1980.
What Does the World Say about this Controversy?
The world, the European Union, the German Foreign Minister, the World Council of Churches, leading international lawyers, and many others are scrambling to condemn Israel. Why? It seems when Israel takes one step forward the world wants to push her ten steps back. Why does the world turn a blind eye to terrorism perpetrated by Palestinian terrorists on Israeli private citizens, innocent people trying to live normal lives while the Islamic world and the west go crazy with anger if Israel tries to defend her citizens. The World Council of Churches appealed for a firm stand by the WU against any annexation by Israel. The world seems to be drawing up Israel’s map for her...the European Court of Justice is protecting the BDS movement, the Palestinian Authority continues to incite terror attacks and violence in different degrees against the Jewish people, while the world also continues to feel sorry for those in the Gaza Strip ignoring the prosperity in Gaza and do not want the rest of the world to acknowledge. Now we also see the Gulf States pressuring the United States to push Israel onto their timetable...the controversy over Israel never seems to stop.
How should Christians be responding?
As Christians living in Israel if we listen close enough, we can hear the Judean hills alive with the sound of music to our believing God is also singing over Israel at this time. “He will celebrate with singing...” (Zephaniah 3:17). The Bible is replete with many references to the restoration of Israel, which should be a key subject in the Church today. If the trees of the field truly clap their hands (Isaiah 55:12) then much rejoicing should be able to be heard in Heaven as some Christians in Israel plant trees in Judea-Samaria and contemplate how they can be a blessing the Jewish people as they arrive home, settle into life in Israel and contribute positively in Christian love to community life in Israel in these Biblical heartlands. “For Christians, the prophets promised that the children of Israel would return to these mountains and rebuild Jewish cities and Jewish towns. And that is what is happening now, with around 400,000 Jews living in the Biblical Heartland – whether Israel “annexes” the territory or not.
The Jewish people’s claim to the historic Land of Israel was recognized by the international community of San Remo Conference in 1920 and in the League of Nations mandate decision in 1991”. (ICEJ). ‘”This was not the granting of a new right to the Land, but recognition of the Jewish people’s pre-exiting claim as an indigenous people seeking to reconstitute their national sovereignty in their ancestral homeland. Nothing since has abrogated or voided that right to sovereignty over the Land of Israel, including those areas now commonly referred to as the West Bank...” (Christians for Israel). And finally, the Jerusalem Post headlines recently read: “Annexation is not a Christian issue”. For Christians, the prophets promised that the children of Israel would return to these mountains and rebuild Jewish cities and Jewish towns” (Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman, JP). Where should we be standing? Alongside the Jewish people. Biblically, Israel has the “right of redemption”, the title deed from God to the Land and purchased much of it through signing deeds, signed, sealed and delivered according to the law and customs of ancient Israel. (Study Ezekiel 37:25, Pg. 1298 along with footnotes (The Israel Bible) along with Jeremiah 32:6-8, 9, 10,42-44 for extra study on the right of redemption and inheritance. Let’s be found in the Center of God’s Will when He Comes. ” I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul.” (Jeremiah 32:41, NIV).
Sharon Sanders CFI News Insights.
Christian Friends of Israel
Pictured: The Israeli city of Ma'ale Adumim, at the edge of the Judean Desert.
