Welcome to Israel - the Eternal Land

As our host gave us a tour of the area we stopped on this hilltop about 15 miles from the Mediterranean and half that distance to Ben Gurion Int'l Airport. From this vantage point we were able to see the coastal plain and the high-rise buildings of Tel Aviv - clearly within missile range if (heaven forbid), the Arabs win this territory.

 

Recall this land was taken by Jordan in an offensive war following the 1948 allocation of everything west of the Jordan River to Israel. The Arab Legion was trained and led by British officers, another example of the British undermining the new state of Israel..

 

In the following 19 years, Jordan occupied, but never established a sovereign government in the "West Bank, and made the mistake of attacking Israel again in 1967, ignoring Israeli requests to remain neutral while Israel dealt with Egypt. Egypt had closed the straits of Tihran to Israeli shipping and amassed their troops in the Sinai peninsula at Israeli's border. Israel launched a pre-emptive strike on Egypt's air bases, destroying over 85% of its air force on the ground.

 

In a classic example of Arab miscalculation, Jordan held back from crossing the Jordan River with its legions, but upon hearing the false radio reports from Egypt that Israel was already conquered, King Hussein ordered his troops into action so as not to lose out when divvying up the spoils. Israel pushed the combined forces of Jordan and Iraq back across the Jordan, recapturing the Old City of Jerusalem and raising again the flag on the wall of the Temple Mount.

 

After the '67 war, all the land west of the Jordan was won back and is now controlled by Israel, as was intended by the Balfour Declaration of 1917. Britain had mandate authority until after WW II, and basically traded land that didn't belong to them for Arab oil by giving over 75%

of the area set aside for the reconstituted Jewish homeland to a previously non-existent entity which became Jordan.

 

These hilltops were established on Israeli STATE LAND, or JEWISH PRIVATELY-OWNED LAND. Lands which were found to be titled to Arabs were purchased at more than fair price, with the Arab owners eager to sell at inflated prices. Today it is more difficult to enact a sale, and is done through intermediaries because the sellers fear for their safety and vengeance from their fellow Arabs. If found, the sellers are killed.

 

While the hilltops families limit their building activity to STATE and PRIVATE Jewish lands, the Palestinian Authority encourages Arabs from the currently PA-controlled Area A to move unto Israeli lands to create facts on the ground for the edification of the western press.

 

​For perspective, I will note that this land was practically deserted,  desolate, and neglected for almost 2,000 years -- unpeopled except for the those Jews that had never left, some Arabs living in Jerusalem primarily, and nomadic Arabs called Druze or Bedouin. The Druzim have their own monotheistic religion and do not accept Mohammed as their prophet which makes them infidels to other Arabs. Many Druzim serve in the Israel Defense Forces and proudly consider themselves Israelis since they are treated better by the Jews than by their own Arab brothers. ​