Greater Israel
Greater Israel (
Currently, the most common definition of the land encompassed by the term is the territory of the State of Israel together with the Palestinian territories. Other definitions, favored by Revisionist Zionists, included the territory of the former Emirate of Transjordan and the Sinai Peninsula.
History
Promised Land
The Bible contains three geographical definitions of the Land of Israel:
- The first definition (Genesis 15:18–21) seems to define the land that was given to all of the children of Abram (Abraham), including Ishmael, Zimran, Jokshan, Midian, etc. It describes a large territory, "from the brook of Egypt to the Euphrates".
- A narrower definition (Numbers 34:1–15 and Ezekiel 47:13–20) refers to the land that was divided between the original Twelve tribes of Israelafter they were delivered from Egypt.
- A wider definition (Deuteronomy 11:24, Deuteronomy 1:7) indicating the territory that will be given to the children of Israel slowly throughout the years, as explained in Exodus 23:29 and Deuteronomy 7:22).[citation needed]
During British Mandate for Palestine
Early
In 1937, the Peel Commission recommended partition of Mandatory Palestine. In a letter to his son later that year, David Ben-Gurion stated that partition would be acceptable but as a first step. Ben-Gurion wrote that
This is because this increase in possession is of consequence not only in itself, but because through it we increase our strength, and every increase in strength helps in the possession of the land as a whole. The establishment of a state, even if only on a portion of the land, is the maximal reinforcement of our strength at the present time and a powerful boost to our historical endeavors to liberate the entire country.[2][3][4]
The same sentiment was recorded by Ben-Gurion on other occasions, such as at a meeting of the Jewish Agency executive in June 1938,[5] as well as by Chaim Weizmann.[4][6] Ben Gurion said:
We shall smash these frontiers which are being forced upon us, and not necessarily by war. I believe an agreement between us and the Arab State could be reached in a not too distant future."[7]
During early period of the State of Israel
Joel Greenberg writing in THE seed was sown in 1977, when Menachem Begin of Likud brought his party to power for the first time in a stunning election victory over Labor. A decade before, in the 1967 war, Israeli troops had in effect undone the partition accepted in 1948 by overrunning the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Ever since, Mr. Begin had preached undying loyalty to what he called Judea and Samaria (the West Bank lands) and promoted Jewish settlement there. But he did not annex the West Bank and Gaza to Israel after he took office, reflecting a recognition that absorbing the Palestinians could turn Israel into a bi-national state instead of a Jewish one.[8]
Yitzhak Shamir was a dedicated proponent of Greater Israel and as Israeli Prime Minister gave the settler movement funding and Israeli governmental legitimisation.[9]
Today
Inclusion of occupied West Bank and Gaza
| This article is part of a series on |
| Conservatism in Israel |
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Annexation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip was part of the platform of the mainstream Israeli Likud party, and of some other, often more extreme Israeli political parties.[10] On September 14, 2008, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, formerly of Likud, remarked that "Greater Israel is over. There is no such thing. Anyone who talks that way is deluding themselves",[11] making this statement just two days before privately reaching out to the Palestinian President with Israel's broadest ever peace offer.
Currently in Israel, in the debate relating to the borders of Israel, "Greater Israel" is generally used to refer to the territory of the
In March 2023, the Israeli Finance Minister
In academia
Hillel Weiss, a professor at Bar-Ilan University, has promoted the "necessity" of rebuilding the Temple and of Jewish rule over Greater Israel.[20][21][22]
Bin Laden interview
In a May 1998 interview with ABC's John Miller, Osama bin Laden noted what he saw as "Zionist plans for expansion of what is called the Great Israel ... to achieve full control over the Arab Peninsula which they intend to make an important part of the so called Greater Israel." While not his main reason, Bin Laden included what he saw as American and Western support for such a scheme as an additional motivation for his call to wage war against America and its allies.[23]
Conspiracy theories
10 agorot coin controversy
Zionists, and the State of Israel, have been accused of plotting to expand Israel from the Nile to the Euphrates. This so-called 10 agorot controversy is named after the Israeli coin[24] brandished by PLO chairman Yasser Arafat in 1988 as evidence for this accusation. The Bank of Israel denies this conspiracy theory since the coin is a replica of a historical coin dating from 37 to 40 BCE and the alleged "map" is actually the irregular shape of the ancient coin.[25]
Israeli flag controversy
Conspiracy theorists have suggested the blue strips of the
See also
- Canaan
- Greater Palestine
- "The East Bank of the Jordan" (also known as "Two Banks has the Jordan"), a poem by Ze'ev Jabotinsky that became the slogan and one of the most famous songs of Betar
- State of Judea
- Yinon Plan
- Promised Land
- Land of Israel
References
- ISBN 978-1-85043-819-9.
- Institute of Palestine Studies, Beirut
- ISBN 9780307788054.
- ^ ISBN 9780520245983
- ISBN 9780805048483
- ISBN 9780887282355
- ^ Howard M. Sachar History of Israel from the rise of Zionism to our Time pp. 207-208
- ^ a b Greenberg, Joel (22 November 1998). "The World: Pursuing Peace; Netanyahu and His Party Turn Away from 'Greater Israel'". The New York Times. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
- ISBN 0-275-98158-4p 219
- ^ "Likud - Platform". www.knesset.gov.il. Retrieved 2008-09-04.
- ^ Ha'aretz 14 September 2008 Olmert: There's no such thing as 'Greater Israel' any more. By Barak Ravid. "Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday reiterated his position that the vision of Israel holding onto the West Bank and Gaza Strip as part of its sovereign territory was finished."
- ^ The SAGE Encyclopedia of Terrorism, Second Edition. SAGE Publications. 2011. p. 321.
- ^ Politics of Terrorism A Survey. Taylor & Francis. 2010. p. 166.
- ^ Pedahzur, Ami (2012). The Triumph of Israel's Radical Right. Oxford University Press. p. 101.
- ^ Atkins, Stephen E. (2004). Encyclopedia of Modern Worldwide Extremists and Extremist Groups. Greenwood Press. p. 316.
- ^ Yishai, Yael. "Israeli Annexation of East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights: Factors and Processes." Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 21, no. 1, 1985, pp. 45–60. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4283045. Accessed 27 Mar. 2023.
- ^ "National Religious Party: Greater Israel, Religious Status Quo". Haaretz. 22 December 2002.
- ^ Lazaroff, Tovah (March 20, 2023). "Smotrich violated Israel-Jordan peace treaty with expanded Israel map - Amman". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved November 5, 2023.
- ^ Ben Samuels and Reuters. "Israeli Ambassador to Jordan Summoned After Top Minister Showcases Map of 'Greater Israel'". Haaretz. March 20, 2023.
- ^ Haaretz "Weiss versa" by Avi Garfunkel, 30 January 2004
- ^ "Website Disabled". friendvill0104.homestead.com. Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
- ^ Brown, Matt (4 May 2007). "Rabbis call for re-establishment of Jewish court". Retrieved 31 January 2019 – via www.abc.net.au.
- Frontline, 1999
- ^ "Bank of Israel - Current Notes & Coins - Current Currency Series". www.boi.org.il. Archived from the original on 4 December 2019. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
- ISBN 9780312176884. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
In fact, the coin contains no map; the outline behind the menorah traces the shape of the surviving Hasmonean coin.
- ^ Genesis 15.18: "The Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying unto thy seed have I given this land from the river of Egypt [the Nile] unto the great river, the River Euphrates."
- ^ Playboy Interview: Yasir Arafat, Playboy, September 1988.
- ISBN 9780761866732.
- ^ Rubinstein, Danny. Inflammatory legends, Haaretz, November 15, 2004.
External links
- For The Land and The Lord: The Range of Disagreement within Jewish Fundamentalism, by Ian Lustick, chapter V and chapter VII (accessed 12 October 2005).
