The settlements are legal (“Undiplomatic Talk From Michael Oren,” Dec. 12, Editor’s column). That they are is confirmed by the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine, as well as by the San Remo Resolution before this Mandate and the Anglo-American Convention after the Mandate. The Mandate for Palestine recognized the right of world Jewry to reconstitute their historic homeland in all of Western Palestine, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. Article 6 of this Mandate reads:
“The Administration of Palestine, while ensuring that the rights and position of other sections of the population are not prejudiced, shall facilitate Jewish immigration under suitable conditions and shall encourage, in cooperation with the Jewish agency referred to in Article 4, close settlement by Jews on the land, including State lands and waste lands not required for public purposes.”
Furthermore, Israel’s 1994 peace treaty with Jordan gives Israel’s eastern border as the middle of the Jordan River.
When there are dozens of Arab villages in Israel within the Green Line armistice boundary, why should there not be Israeli villages in Judea and Samaria, the historic Jewish heartland? And an even better question, why should the Jewish state give any of its land to people who have been trying for years to kill Jews?
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