Geopolitical Aspects of the Land of Israel

The Land of Israel is a narrow strip of land, of the size of New Jersey, between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean. It is so small that Moses could view all of it standing on Mt Nevo in Transjordan.

Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the LORD showed him the whole land-from Gilead to Dan, all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, the Negev and the whole region from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar.  Then the LORD said to him, "This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, 'I will give it to your descendants.' I have let you see it with your eyes, …  (Deuteronomy 34:1-4)

The historical land of Israel is a narrow strip of land on the eastern Mediterranean, north of the Sinai desert, west of the River Jordan and south of the Lebanese mountains. It includes the coastal plains, the central mountain range of Judea and Samaria, the mountain range of the Carmel separated from Samaria by the Eron valley, the Jezreel Valley that separates Samaria mountains from the lower Galilee hills, and the upper Galilee mountains, the Jordan Valley, as well as the lowest spot on Earth – the Dead Sea.

Due to its diverse topography the land of Israel has up to seven different climatic zones, ranging from arid desert climate to subtropical and even tropical climatic conditions, which support a uniquely large variety of flora and fauna.  Precipitation varies from year to year and drought is not uncommon. Most precipitation is rain in the winter and spring and quite often there is snow in the winter, especially in the mountainous areas. In the summer, dew contributes significantly to the moisture needs of the vegetation.

The next relief map accentuates the same topographical information, elucidating the tremendous climatic variation throughout this tiny country.

In this relief one can see the contrast between the relative fertility of the western slopes of the mountain range and the arid eastern slopes.  On this map you can see how Moses, standing on the summit of Mt. Nebo (see its shadow in the Dead Sea) could view the whole Promised Land.

The satellite photo below of the whole Near East complements this information. Notice the contrast between the fertile valleys of Mesopotamia and the Nile and its delta as well as of Israel, Lebanon and Asia Minor (Turkey). Because of its unique geographic position, Israel has the largest raptor migration in the world, with hundreds of thousands of African birds of prey crossing as they fan out into Asia.

 

The next map allows you to orient yourself better knowing the names of the towns you will visit.

The preceding map can be correlated with the following map that describes the geography associated with the Gospels.

A tiny Nation with a Colossal Purpose

The following map will give you a feeling of the size of the State of Israel and of its global geopolitical position.

This map shows the geopolitical position of the modern State of Israel within the Arab Muslim world predominantly Sunni. Comparing the size of Israel, the homeland of the Jewish nation, which the Arabs covet, to that Arabia, the homeland of the Arab nation and to the size of the combined area of the expanded Arab nation (all Muslim countries with Arabic as the only official language) tell us just part of the story. It is not just the desire to gain an additional tiny sliver of territory that belongs to another nation. It is also not just because this tiny piece of Middle-eastern territory has been occupied by Arabs (during brutal invasion of the Eastern Roman empire in 639 AD) and annexed to Dar El-Islam (the land of Islam), which according to Islamic religion must remain Muslim for perpetuity.

There are plenty of territories that have been occupied by Muslims and reverted to their original owners. These include Greece and Trakia (Bulgaria, today), all of the Iberian Peninsula and southern France, among other European regions, as well as practically all of India. Although some fanatical Muslims, e.g., the Al Queda people, include all these territories in their illusionary plans of global Islamic conquest and domination, this is not the main reason for the Arab’s drive to dislodge the Jews from their homeland. 

The true reason for the Islamic Arab’s relentless aggression against the Jews and their state is that this tiny sliver of land has been the cradle of Judaism and Christianity. Reconquest of the Land of Israel and utter destruction of their historical remnants (as they are doing today to parts of the Temple Mount) symbolizes for the Islamists the ultimate triumph of Islam over the Judeo-Christian faith. As long as this tiny country is not under exclusive Islamic sovereignty, they cannot continue to deny the historical and theological validity of Judaism and claim universal supremacy of Islam. Christianity.  According to the Qur’an, adhered to literally by current Islamists, King David and Jesus were Muslim “Palestinians” who were superceded by Mohammad; Jews are descendents of apes and pigs and Christians are pagans. Islamists, like Yasser Arafat assert that Jewish and Christian histories, including the Jewish Temples in Jerusalem, are just “Zionist myths.” These are the true underlying causes of the Arab aggression against the Israelis. If the Arabs recognized that the Land of Israel IS the ancient homeland of the Jewish people and the place of origin of Christianity, the Arab-Israeli conflict would be over. Territorial disputes between the Arabs and the Israelis are of tertiary importance.

The crucial question you should ask Muslims in debates on campus and elsewhere is: “Do you recognize the Land of Israel as the ancient national homeland of the Jews?” Be prepared for an answer: “Today’s Jews are European colonialists, they are descendant of pagan Khazars, the ancient Jews are extinct.” Or they may say: “The “Palestinian” Arabs are the descendants of the ancient Jews who saw the truth and became Muslims.” Your question must then be: “Where did the millions of Jews in the Arab countries come from?” And do not let your debaters change the subject or attack you personally, e.g., “You are stupid to ask such a question” or “You are clearly a Zionist. One cannot talk reasonably with you.”

Look at the following maps to get an idea of the size of Israel compared to familiar countries.

Ancient Boundary Lines

Present Israel is substantially smaller than the kingdoms of Solomon or Herod the great (see the maps below), showing that the historical boundaries of ancient Israel were larger than at present. At present the Israelis are ready to confine themselves in must narrower borders (see the outline of the green line in these two maps). Moreover, many Israelis are considering conceding some of this limited Israeli territory to create another Arab state. Amazingly, the advocates of such a move have the support of the US government.

Crossroad Between Empires

In summary: The Land of Israel, the ancient homeland of the Jewish people and the cradle of Christianity is a tiny territory on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. Its geopolitical position has been on the crossroad between the empires of Egypt and Mesopotamia and between the commercial route from India and Ethiopia through the Arab Peninsula or the seaport of Eilat (biblical Etzion Geber - King Solomon also built ships at Ezion Geber, which is near Elath in Edom, on the shore of the Red Sea.” 1 Kings 9:26) to the west, through the ancient seaports of Gaza, and Jaffa (effectively, the seaport of Jerusalem: “and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them in rafts by sea down to Joppa. You can then take them up to Jerusalem." (2 Chronicles 2:16).

All of the numerous conquests of the Land of Israel were incidental to military campaigns targeting other destinations.  From its inception the Land of Israel and the Jewish people have been and still are in a precarious geopolitical position. While the international armed conflicts involving Egypt, which continued for millennia, resulted in the repeated conquests of Judea and Samaria by the empires of antiquity, it was the more recent conquest by the Arabs, who invaded the country from the Arabian Peninsula in the seventh Century that haunts the Jewish nation today.  However, unlike the previous military-political conquests by Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Syrians, Romans and Partians, the Islamic Arabian conquest involves a religious connotation that negates the very existence of the Jewish ancient homeland. 

This is the genuine root cause of the current Arab-Israeli conflict. It is clash between two beliefs – the Judeo-Christian belief that the Land was given by God to the Jewish people and the Islamic belief that every square foot conquered by Muslims, including the ancient Land of Israel, belongs to Muslims for perpetuity.  The Muslims claim that the Jewish religion is worthless rubbish – “a gutter religion,” superceded by Islam, to quote Louis Farrakhan, the founder of the American “Nation of Islam,” and therefore the biblical promise of God to the Patriarchs and to Moses is null and void.  This lack of respect to Judaism and Christianity is typical of militant current Islam.

In your future debates with adversaries of Israel they may tell you that they (or the Muslims) respect the Jews and Judaism. Then you should ask: “Do you then recognize that the Land of Israel is the ancient homeland of the Jewish people with Jerusalem it exclusive ancient capital, since these are basic tenets of Judaism and Christianity?” Be prepared for personal insults when you ask this simple logical question.

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