An Essential Glossary of Terms for Judea and Samaria by David Ha'ivri

B"H

Don't be fooled by the rhetoric of the Israel bashers and ignorant news reporters. Know your terms!

My friend, David Ha'ivri is one of the most amazing supporters of Israel I have ever had the pleasure to know. A family man, a gifted lecturer, a scholar of Torah and history--he is the perfect one to share knowledge about the essential grammar of Israel.

In this short article, he packs an enormous amount of information that each of us should familiarize ourselves with and use with confidence.

M

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Lexicon for popular "West Bank" terms

By David Ha'ivri

The purpose of the following piece is to give the common reader perspective on common used terms regarding history, geography, international policy etc. in the area of Yehuda and Shomron.

The "West Bank" 

This term is used to describe the area that was  conquered by the Israel army from Jordan in the Six Day War of June 1967. This area first became known as "The West Bank" as a result of Israel's war of Independence in 1948 when the Trans-Jordanian army crossed over the Jordan river and occupied the area illegally. Although the State of Trans-Jordan  changed the name of their country to Jordan in an act to justify controlled the area west of the Jordan river, the international community never recognize Jordanian territorial rights to the area. the residents of the area did not petition for independence and not move by Jordan was made to grant that to them.

Judea and Samaria 

(Yehuda and Shomron in Hebrew) - The historical geographical names for the regions south and north of Jerusalem, the same areas dubbed "The West Bank" by the international community since 1948.

Green Line 

The ceasefire demarcation lines between Israel and the Jordanian and Iraqi armies reached at the 1949 Rhodes conference. The green line essentially created the "West Bank" by acting as the ceasefire line between Israel and Jordan. It was never declared an international border, since Jordanian annexation of the territory was never recognized and Israel never relinquished a claim to the territory beyond the Green Line. Due to Jordanian takeover of parts of Jerusalem, the city, including formerly Jewish neighborhoods, are divided by the green line.

Settlements

A term used by international bodies to define any point of Jewish residence East of the "Green Line." This includes small farming communities, full-service towns, and even contiguous residential  neighborhoods of Jerusalem. There are 159 established Jewish communities in these areas.

Areas "A", "B" and "C" 

Officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements were officially signed at a public ceremony in Washington, DC on 13 September 1993, in the presence of PLO chairman Yasser Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and US President Bill Clinton. The sides agreed to divide the area of Judea and Samaria into three categories A B and C. Area A under full PA responsibility, area B under PA municipal responsibility and Israeli security jurisdiction and area C under full Israel responsibility. The main roads and all of the Jewish communities remain under area C with full Israel responsibility including municipal services and all security issues.

Before the entrance to cities in area A there are very big red signs that state in Hebrew the beyond this point is area A, which is forbidden  to Israeli civilians, dangerous and punishable by law.

Holy places 

Under the Oslo agreement free access for Jewish worshipers is to be provided to all holy places in the region that have been passed over to PA responsibility. In fact this has not been respected. Joseph's tomb in Shechem was overrun and desecrated in Oct. 2000 and since then Jews have not been allowed free access. Only since Nov. 2007 the IDF has been facilitating monthly midnight visits to the site for small groups of Jews. the Shalom Al Yisrael synagogue in Jericho has similarly been closed to Jewish visitors.

Biblical sites of importance. Asides for Beer Sheva, all of the locations in the Land mentioned in the Torah are in Yehuda and Shomron. Avraham the first Jew left his father's home following the calling of HaShem and reached Elon Moreh - Shechem, on the mountain ridge road connecting Shechem in the north to Beer Sheva in the south are situated Shilo, Beit El, Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Hevron.

In the Shomron region are located the burial places of Joseph, his sons Efriam and Menashe, Joshua Bin Nun, Kalev Ben Yefuneh, Elazar and Itamar  sons of Ahron HaCohen.

The Bible tells that Joseph as a boy was abducted by his jealous brothers at the valley of Dotan and thrown into a pit there until they decided to sell him to slavery to passing entourage of merchants who took him to the Egyptian slave market.