US policy and the legal status of Israel’s West Bank settlements. Why it matters - by Douglas J. Feith

For thousands of years, Jews could and did live in the West Bank, a part of the ancient Jewish homeland. From 1948 until 1967, Jordan prohibited Jews from living there. And for the last half-century, Jews have been living there again. Yet President Jimmy Carter’s administration decided that the anomaly was the norm. It asked itself whether Jews should be allowed to live in the West Bank, and it chose to find its answer not in the broad sweep of history or in a comprehensive legal analysis, but in the odd 19-year period when Jordan banned Jews from living in the territory.

Douglas J. Feith..
JNS.org..
27 January '20..

What was the context of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s recent declaration about the legality of Israeli West Bank settlements? And why does it matter?

Palestine is a region that Christians commonly called the Holy Land, and Jews traditionally called the Land of Israel. The West Bank is the area within Western Palestine that Jordan conquered in the 1948-49 War of Independence and then lost to Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War.

Jews have lived in Palestine since the days of the Bible. The Romans called the land Judea and then changed its name, which was how it came to be known as Palestine.

The land was conquered many times.

For our purposes, it’s enough to note that the Turks conquered it in 1517. They owned it and the surrounding territory for 400 years. Throughout that period, Jews lived in Palestine, including in what is now called the West Bank.

Then, in World War I, the Turks joined the German side and were defeated by the Allies. In that war, Palestine was among the enemy lands that Britain conquered.

The British then ruled Palestine for three decades, until 1948. In that period, they banned Jews from settling in Eastern Palestine, but they allowed Jews to live in Western Palestine, including the area now called the West Bank.

In 1948, Britain relinquished control over Western Palestine, and Israel declared independence. Its Arab neighbors launched a war to destroy it. In that war, the Kingdom of Jordan (then known as Transjordan) conquered the West Bank and claimed to annex it. Jews were no longer allowed to live in the West Bank.

But 19 years later, in 1967, Jordan joined another Arab war against Israel. In that war, Israel conquered the West Bank. Jews then created the various towns and villages that are commonly called “settlements” and are our subject today.

So, for thousands of years, Jews could and did live in the West Bank, a part of the ancient Jewish homeland. From 1948 until 1967, Jordan prohibited Jews from living there. And for the last half-century, Jews have been living there again.

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Douglas J. Feith, a senior fellow at Hudson Institute, served as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy in the George W. Bush Administration. This article is adapted from remarks delivered at a January 23, 2020 conference in the U.S. Capitol organized by the Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET).