Question - Does sovereignty matter? by Jerold S. Auerbach

Israel’s unyielding attachment to its ancient Jewish homeland is the affirmation, not the negation, of Zionism.

Jerold S. Auerbach..
JNS.org..
05 August '20..

At the moment, the inflammatory issue of the extension of Israeli sovereignty over settlements in biblical Judea and Samaria is on hold. With both U.S. President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu engaged in struggles over their political futures, they have little time for distractions. But this may be a good time to assess the widely touted importance of sovereignty.

The underlying issue is the right of Jews to inhabit their biblical homeland. Undeniably, it is for the government of Israel, not settlers, to determine the boundaries of the Jewish state. But there is a competing claim: Jews cannot be considered “occupiers” of their own homeland. Their historical and religious claims are underscored by international agreements stretching back to the Balfour Declaration (1917), calling for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.”

The boundaries of “Palestine” were defined following World War I. The League of Nations Mandate granted Jews the right of “close settlement” throughout “Palestine,” geographically defined as the land east and west of the Jordan River. But Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill gifted the land east of the river to Hashemite Sheik Abdullah, who established the Kingdom of Jordan.

After the Six-Day War in 1967, U.N. Resolution 242 provided that following “a just and lasting peace” between Israel and its Arab neighbors Israel would be required to withdraw its military forces from “territories”—not from “the territories” or “all the territories” west of the Jordan River. The right of the Jewish people to “close settlement” west of the River (including biblical Judea and Samaria) has never been rescinded. But the core question—how much of their biblical homeland will be theirs—remains unanswered.

(Continue to Full Column)

Jerold S. Auerbach is the author of “Print to Fit: The New York Times, Zionism and Israel 1896-2016,” which was recently selected for Mosaic by Ruth Wisse and Martin Kramer as a “Best Book” for 2019.

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