DEBUNKED: Claim that Golan is NOT part of Biblical Israel
In the wake of the fall of the murderous Assad regime, Israel has taken up defensive positions inside Syria. While some anti-Israel commentators claim this is fueled by an extremist “messianic” and colonial agenda to increase Israel, a closer look shows that the Golan has always been an integral part of historic Israel.
In an interview with L’Orient Today, Michael Mason, director of the Middle East Center at the London School of Economics, claimed that “Israel’s messianic claims to the Golan Heights are a very recent historical invention.”
“Israel’s messianic claims to the Golan Heights are a very recent historical invention. During the 1967 war, the Golan Heights were regarded by key Israeli politicians and the Zionist right as outside the boundaries of the “Greater Land of Israel” — a point acknowledged by Yigal Kipnis, one of Israel’s leading historians on the Golan region.
“After 1967, significant efforts were made to establish archaeological evidence of a Jewish presence in the area during antiquity. Much of this ‘evidence’ was later dismissed by Israeli archaeologists, including Zvi Ma’oz (who wrote Jews and Christians in the Golan Heights),” MAson said. “It was only from the mid-1970s onward that the Orthodox Jewish settlement movement, followed by far-right politicians, began claiming the Golan as part of ‘Greater Israel.”
Mason’s credentials include editing “The Untold Story of the Golan Heights: Occupation, Colonization and Jawlani Resistance.” In a recent interview with Arab News, Mason noted the military significance of the Golan, but added that the “occupation” served a religious purpose.
“Politically, occupation of the Golan feeds the ultra-nationalist agenda of a Greater Israel and will encourage claims for further territorial expansion,” Mason said.
Greater Israel is an ideology based on the ideal borders of Israel as described in the Bible. However, the regions included are the focus of the dispute as the Bible contains three geographical definitions of the Land of Israel. The first definition (Genesis 15:18) includes a large territory “from the brook of Egypt to the Euphrates.” A narrower definition (Numbers 34:1–15 and Ezekiel 47:13–20) refers to the land divided between the original Twelve tribes of Israel after they were delivered from Egypt. A wider definition (Deuteronomy 11:24, Deuteronomy 1:7) indicates the territory that will be given to the children of Israel slowly throughout the years, as explained in Exodus 23:29 and Deuteronomy 7:22.
These geographic descriptions determine where Jewish law prevailed and exclude territories where it was not applied.
In the political arena, the Jewish nation’s aspiration to have sovereignty over its Biblical homeland is seen as an extremist agenda.
Elder of Ziyon, a pro-Israel blogger,noted that Mason’s premise was accurate at face value but essentially false.
“Most maps of the Twelve Tribes during the Biblical period do not include the Golan, even though it was meant to be part of the Promised Land in Deuteronomy – for most of the Biblical period it was not conquered,” Elder of Ziyon wrote. “However, the Golan Heights came under Jewish rule in the first century BCE.”
He cited an article written by Claudine Dauphin in Palestine Exploration Quarterly in 1982 titled Jewish and Christian Communities in the Roman and Byzantine Gaulanitis: A Study of Evidence from Archaeological Surveys::
“The name ‘Golan’ is first mentioned in Deuteronomy 4.43 as a settlement in the region of the Bashan that fell in the territory allocated to the tribe of Manasseh,” Dauphin wrote. “It is referred to as a free city in Joshua 20. 8, and appears again as a Levitical city in IChronicles 6.7 I. The settlement in question is thought to be Sahem ed-Qjolan, beyond the eastern border formed by the river Rukkad. The name of the entire area is believed to be derived from this, according to Flavius Josephus (Ant. IV, 5, 3: VIII, 2, 3; XIII, 15,4; BJ, 11,20,6; III, 3, 1-5; III, 10, 10; IV, I, I). His works allow one to retrace in detail the history of the province of Gaulanitis from Hellenistic times. The Golan fortresses of Gamala, Seleucia and Hippos, held by the Hellenistic Empires, were captured by Alexander J anneus in 83-8I B.C.E. and the area was annexed to the Hasmonean Kingdom (Ant. XIII, 15,3). This opened the way for increased Jewish settlement of the hitherto predominantly pagan area. It then seems to have become the scene of disturbances and violence, created by bands of robbers and political rebels who sought refuge on the wild rocky terrain of the Golan Heights (Ant. XVI, 9, 2). The Roman Emperor Augustus sought to contain this source of unrest by annexing the neighbouring districts of Batanea, Trachonitis and Auranitis. These he placed under Herod’s administration in 23 B.C.E., and in 20 B.C.E. he added the area of Gaulanitis itself, the city of Pane as and the Ulatha Valley, all of which had until then been ruled by the kingdom of Iturea. To implement this new rule and maintain the peace, Herod initiated an extensive programme of paramilitary settlement. He transferred 3,000 Idumeans to the area of Trachonitis and 500 families of Jewish soldiers to Batanea, rewarding them by exemption from taxation (Ant. XVII, 2, 1-3). The intensity and extent of Jewish settlement in the Golan and surrounding districts, which reached in the north as far as Damascus and in the east to Naveh, is reflected in the baraita discussing the boundaries of ‘Eretz- Yisrael’, defined as the ‘territory occupied by those who came back from Babylon’ (Tosephta, Sheviiit IV; Jerusalem Talmud, Shevieit VI and Demai 11).”
“Clearly the idea that the Golan is part of halachic Israel has been around far longer than 1967 ,” Elder of Ziyon wrote, slamming Mason’s claim. He noted that most of the archaeological evidence probably came after the destruction of the Temple.
“In the end, Israel’s claim to the Golan is not Biblical but practical. It must hold the high ground for security reasons in the absence of a trustworthy government in Syria. That was the entire reason Israel allowed the buffer zone of land it conquered after suffering major losses in 1973 to be controlled by the UN for 50 years,” he wrote. “But to say that Jews have no historic claim on the land is simply false.”
Indeed, known as Bashan in the Bible, Golan is mentioned as a city of refuge located in Bashan (Deuteronomy 4:43, Joshua 20:8 and 1 Chronicles 6:71). the Golan is also referenced in 1 Kings 4:13, Psalm 22:12, and Isaiah 2:13. This is where the half-tribe of Manasseh settled, and Golan is named as a city of refuge in Joshua 21:27. The Bible specifically mentions Mount Hermon in Judges 3:3 and 1 Chronicles 5:23 as home to the rulers of the Philistines.
The Greco-Roman city of Caesarea Philippi at the base of Mount Hermon, was near the town of Dan. The corrupt king Jeroboam made two golden calves, setting one in Bethel and the second one in Dan (1 Kings 12:25-33).
In Matthew 16, Jesus took his disciples to Caesarea Philippi.
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