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The Land of Israel (Hebrew: אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל, Modern: ʾEreṣ Yīsraʾel, Tiberian: ʾEreṣ Yīsrāʾēl) is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine. The definitions of the limits of this territory vary between passages in the Hebrew Bible, with specific mentions in Genesis 15, Exodus 23, Numbers 34 and Ezekiel 47. Nine times elsewhere in the Bible, the settled land is referred as "from Dan to Beersheba", and three times it is referred as "from the entrance of Hamath unto the brook of Egypt" (1 Kings 8:65, 1 Chronicles 13:5 and 2 Chronicles 7:8).
These biblical limits for the land differ from the borders of established historical Israelite and later Jewish kingdoms, including the United Kingdom of Israel, the two kingdoms of Israel (Samaria) and Judah, the Hasmonean kingdom, and the Herodian kingdom. At their heights, these realms ruled lands with similar but not identical boundaries.
Jewish religious belief defines the land as where Jewish religious law prevailed and excludes territory where it was not applied.[1] It holds that the area is a God-given inheritance of the Jewish people based on the Torah, particularly the books of Genesis, Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, as well as Joshua and the later Prophets (Exodus 6:4: "I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners"). According to the Book of Genesis, the land was first promised by God to Abram's descendants; the text is explicit that this is a covenant between God and Abram for his descendants (Gen 15:18–21 (NIV): "On that day the LORD made a covenant"). Abram's name was later changed to Abraham, with the promise refined to pass through his son Isaac and to the Israelites, descendants of Jacob, Abraham's grandson. This belief is not shared by most adherents of replacement theology (or supersessionism), who hold the view that the Old Testament prophecies were superseded by the coming of Jesus,[2] a view often repudiated by Christian Zionists as a theological error.[3] Evangelical Zionists variously claim that Israel has title to the land by divine right,[4] or by a theological, historical and moral grounding of attachment to the land unique to Jews (Parkes, James).[5] The idea that ancient religious texts can be warrant or divine right for a modern claim has often been challenged,[6][7] and Israeli courts have rejected land claims based on religious motivations.[8]
During the League of Nations mandate period (1920–1948) the term "Eretz Yisrael" or the "Land of Israel" was part of the official Hebrew name of Mandatory Palestine. Official Hebrew documents used the Hebrew transliteration of the word "Palestine" פלשתינה (Palestina) followed always by the two initial letters of "Eretz Yisrael", א״י Aleph-Yod.[9][10]
The Land of Israel concept has been evoked by the founders of the State of Israel. It often surfaces in political debates on the status of the West Bank, referred to in official Israeli discourse as the Judea and Samaria Area.[11]
- ^ Havelock, Rachel (2011). River Jordan: The Mythology of a Dividing Line, University of Chicago Press, p. 210.
- ^ Vlach, Michael J. (2010). Has the Church Replaced Israel?: A Theological Evaluation, B&H Publishing Group, pp. 3-5.
- ^ Spector, Stephen (2009). Evangelicals and Israel: The Story of American Christian Zionism, Oxford University Press, p. 21.
- ^ Wagner, Donald E. and Davis, Walter T. (2014). Zionism and the Quest for Justice in the Holy Land, The Lutterworth Press, p. 161.
- ^ Kenny, Anthony J. (1993). Catholics, Jews, and the State of Israel, Paulist Press, pp. 75-78.
- ^ Prior, Michael (1997). The Bible and Colonialism: A Moral Critique, A&C Black, p. 171: "As an agent of legitimacy in international law, the Zionist appeal to Tanakh for legitimation of its claims to Eretz Israel is not much more compelling than if the Portuguese and Spanish Governments today presented to the UN the bulls off Nicholas V and Alexander VI, which also claimed divine authority, in their bid to reclaim the lands of the New World."
- ^ Bickerton, Ian (2012). The Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Guide for the Perplexed, A&C Black, p. 13.
- ^ Cotran, Eugene; Mallat, Chibli; Stott, David, eds. (1996). The Arab-Israeli Accords: Legal Perspectives, BRILL, pp. 11-12.
- ^ Sharon, Moshe, The Holy Land in History and Thought: Papers Submitted to the International conference edited by Moše Šārôn.
- ^ Cohen, Israel (1951). A Short History of Zionism, London: Frederick Muller Co., p. 96.
- ^ Playfair, Emma (1992). International Law and the Administration of Occupied Territories: Two Decades of Israeli Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Oxford University Press. p. 41.
On 17 December 1967, the Israeli military government issued an order stating that, "the term 'Judea and Samaria region' shall be identical in meaning for all purposes to the term 'the West Bank Region'". This change in terminology, which has been followed in Israeli official statements since that time, reflected a historic attachment to these areas and rejection of a name that was seen as implying Jordanian sovereignty over them.