Judea and Samaria

A map Judea and Samaria

Judea and Samaria or its the most commonly used secular name, the West Bank, refers to the ancient Jewish homelands located in the west bank of the Jordan River near Jerusalem in the Holy Land. The land is bitterly disputed between Jewish and Arab settlers in the region. The West Bank has been controlled by Israel since the Six-Day War (1967) and part of it by the State of Palestine since the Oslo Accords. The West Bank is not officially part of any country, and is often referenced in the media as a Palestinian authority as it is recognized by the international community.

The total population, which is predominantly Palestinian, totals 2.9 million residents in an area of 2,183 square miles. Historic religious sites such as Bethlehem are located in the West Bank, while Jerusalem is on its border.

History

The name "West Bank" was used by Jordan (at the time The Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan) for the area controlled under the 1949 Armistice Agreements at the end of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The Jordan annexation of the West Bank in this war lasted for 19 years and was never condemned by a single United Nations resolution.

During the Six-Day War in 1967 King Hussein of Jordan ordered his army to attack Israel. The Jordan artillery shelled Israeli population centers in West Jerusalem while the Israeli army responded to the attacks by conquering East Jerusalem and the West Bank. According to the Article 52 of the UN Charter Israel acted legal by defending itself against the Jordan aggression. Nevertheless, the "occupation" of the West Bank through Israel was condemned by the European Union.

Since the Oslo Accords, several parts of the territory is under Arab rule. There is presence of Arab Christians, which are mostly Catholic and Orthodox.

Christians in the West Bank

Main article: Palestinian Authority#Christian minority

Maronite Catholics in the West Bank on Good Friday of 2012.

A large number of Christians are indigenous to the region, and many of these are descended from the first Christians- the first Jews who chose to follow Christ and recognize him as the messiah. Also many Arameans, another Semitic group native to the area, accepted Christ very early on in the history of Christianity, and thus contribute a lot to the genetics of today's Christians in the Palestinian Authority, later joined over thousand years later by surviving European crusaders and their families after their defeat at the hands of the Islamic armies, when they blended into the native, Semitic Christian population.

There are Catholic and Orthodox Churches in the West Bank and Gaza. The Iraqi-born, Assyrian Australian prelate, Mar Mari Emmanuel, visited Gaza once. The situation of Christians in Bethlehem has deteriorated dramatically in the last century, and especially since the PA took control of the city in 1995. In 1947, Christians comprised about 85% of the city’s population, but that figure had plunged to 16% by 2016, and is estimated since then.

Bethlehem’s mayor at the time said that, “Due to the stress – either physical or psychological – and the bad economic situation, many people are emigrating: either Christians or Muslims, but it is more apparent among Christians because they already are a minority.”

Though the Christians in the PA avoid saying so publicly, many of them fear – with good reason – that Muslim aggression against them will only escalate.

The situation of Christians in Bethlehem has deteriorated dramatically in the last century, and especially since the PA took control of the city in 1995. In 1947, Christians comprised about 85% of the city’s population, but that figure had actually plunged to 16% by 2016, and is estimated since then.

2019 report cited "Islamic oppression" as the main source of persecution at Christian small minority of Arab Palestinians.

The mayor of Ramallah Issa Kassis is Christian. The mayor of Ramallah expressed to the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Pierbattista Pizzaballa, his willingness to deepen the collaboration between the municipality of the city and the Church, especially with regard to possible Palestinian Christian cultural projects. Members of the parish council also stressed the importance of this kind of initiatives, recalling their desire to increase the visibility of Christians in the Holy Land, not only locally but also abroad. The mayor of Bethlehem, Hanna Hanania, is also Christian.

See also

• Palestinian Authority
• Ramallah
• Bethlehem
• Gaza Strip

References

"The Mufti.. concocted a new kind of antisemitism that combined traditional Muslim antisemitism, like the anti-Jewish verses you find in the Koran, with the Nazi antisemitism that demonised Jews... His whole ideology was antisemitic and from the very beginning he targeted Jews, not Zionists."

The difference between lies and reality is sometimes just a color on a map

Lord Peel to W. Ormsby-Gore as he was preparing the royal commission report, "Though I knew there was ill-feeling between Jews and Arabs, I had not realized the depth and intensity of the hatred with which the Jews are held by the Arabs..."

"It is not Israel's settlement blocks but rather the Palestinian ideological blockade that constitutes the biggest barrier to peaceful arrangements . The Jew-hatred in this region must no longer be played down as a kind of local custom ..."

The only tweet (July 2014) on the Twitter account of the late American Elan Ganeles - murdered by Arab-Islamist "Palestinian" on Feb 27, 2023 hy"d: "I think you're always going to have tension in the Middle East, when there's [are] people who want to kill Jews, and the Jews don't want to be killed, and neither side is willing to compromise."