In 1936, the British government created a commission, headed by Viscount Peel, to study the conflict between Jews and Arabs in the protectorate of Palestine. The commission was to submit its proposals to King George. On the witness stand was a Tanach (Bible), a Koran, and a Christian Bible. Each witness taking the stand was required to take an oath, swearing on his or her holy book.
One of the last witnesses to testify before the commission was the chairman of the Jewish Agency, David Ben-Gurion. At the conclusion of his testimony, the following exchange took place between Ben-Gurion and Lord Peel.
Lord Peel: Where were you born?
Ben-Gurion: In Plonsk.
Lord Peel: Where is Plonsk?
Ben-Gurion: In Poland.
Lord Peel: That is very strange. All the Arab witnesses who appeared before this commission-Nusseibah, Nasabiba, al-Tal, and al-Husseini-were born here in Palestine. And almost all of the Jewish witnesses who appeared before us were not born here. You say that this is your home, but someone else lives here now-the Arabs. There is an international law which states that if somebody contests the right of someone who is holding on to property, he must submit documentary proof of ownership (or, as it was called in the Ottoman Empire, a kushan) that the property belongs to him even though he was not born there.
Ben-Gurion lifted the Bible and said, “Lord Peel, surely we have a kushan, this is our kushan-the Bible. The British are a nation that respects the Bible. Is our historical right, as stated in the Bible, less authentic than a document penned by some clerk in some land registry office? This is an everlasting document in which it is written: ‘To your children I have given this land.’ G-d promised this land to our Father Abraham and to his descendants. There is no doubt that we are the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
The Jewish people have been scattered to the four corners of the earth, like chaff in the wind. We have faced centuries of persecution and seen the rise and fall of great empires. As the world has shifted around us, one constant has remained: We are a nation with our eyes turned toward the Land of Israel. Our thrice-daily prayers are directed east, toward Jerusalem. We have never forgotten our birthright, the Promised Land.
For over two millennia, conquerors have risen and fallen, but none has managed to make the Holy Land flourish and bloom. Instead, Israel has been a land awaiting her people, like a mother yearning for her children’s return.
How do we know that Israel is still ours? In Genesis (12:5-7) we read:
[Abraham and his family] came to the land of Canaan. And Abraham traveled in the land until the place of Shechem, and the Canaanites were yet in the land. And G-d appeared to Abraham and said: ‘To your seed I will give this land,’ and he built there an altar to G-d who appeared to him.
Abraham had two sons, Isaac and Ishmael. Genesis (17:19-21) specifically mentions which son should inherit the land:
G-d said, ‘But Sarah your wife will give birth to you a son, and you will call him Isaac, and I will sustain My covenant with him-an everlasting covenant-to his seed after him. And to Ishmael…I will give him to be a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, who Sarah will bear at this time next year.’
So why do we struggle today over the ownership of Israel? Why do we feel compelled to split up our eternal inheritance? Because we treat Israel as a secular state, created by mere mortals, rather than our birthright, granted us by G-d’s promise. But arguing that Israel is a Jewish state because it was made so in 1948 by the nations of the world is not sufficient to silence the claims of the Arabs, the Vatican, the European Union, and the U.N. Instead, let us use the Bible as our proof. According to the Bible, the Land of Israel has always been ours, including Gaza, Judea, and Samaria.
Today, elected officials in the Knesset would barter away pieces of the land that G-d has given us in order to stop the bloodshed. But the bloodshed will only turn into a river as the terrorists move closer. To save lives, we must retain every inch of the Holy Land. Concessions by the Israeli government to terrorists send a message that we are wavering in our claim to the Land of Israel. This is our land, our heritage, given to us by G-d’s own grace. We must stand strong before G-d as His Chosen People. Only then, will the resolve of our enemies weaken.