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Map showing an interpretation of the borders of the Land of Israel, based on scriptural verses found in Numbers 34 and Ezekiel 47.
Land of Israel
The Land of Israel (: ????? ?????????? '?re? Yi?rā'ēl, Eretz Yisrael) is one of several names for an area of indefinite geographical extension in the . Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the , the , the , and . The definitions of the limits of this territory vary between biblical passages, with these specifically in Genesis 15, Exodus 23, Numbers 34 and Ezekiel 47. Nine times elsewhere in the Bible, the settled land is referred as "".
The Valley of Elah, near Adullam
These biblical limits for the land differ from the borders of established historical Israelite and later J over time these have included the , the , and the , which at their heights ruled lands with similar but not identical boundaries. According to , the term connoted originally Samaria and adjacent areas in proximity of the northern kingdom of Israel, excluding Judea, and only took wing in rabbinical literature as a more general term after the , perhaps in reaction to the growing prominence of . The current
(: ???????? ???????????, Medīnat Yisrā'el) and the , would also have similar but not identical boundaries.
The Jewish religious belief that the area is a God-given inheritance of the Jewish people is based on the , particularly in the books of
and , as well as in the later . According to the Book of Genesis, the land was first promised by
to the text is explicit that this is a
between God and Abram for his descendants. Abram's name was later changed to Abraham, with the promise refined to pass through his son
and to the , descendants of , Abraham's grandson. This belief is not shared by most adherents of replacement theology (or ), who hold the view that the Old Testament prophecies were superseded by the coming of Jesus.
dispute this assertion and state that one cannot separate the
as God himself doesn't change.
The Land of Israel concept has been . It often surfaces in political debates on the status of the , which is referred to in official Israeli discourse as
and , from the names of the two .
Map of Eretz Israel in 1695 Amsterdam
The term "Land of Israel" is a direct translation of the
phrase ??? ????? (Eretz Yisrael), which is first used in , following the Exodus when the Israelite tribes were already in the Land of . According to , the term "Eretz Yisrael" was a holy term, vague as far as the exact boundaries of the territories are concerned but clearly defining ownership. The sanctity of the land (kedushat ha-aretz) developed rich associations in rabbinical thought, where it assumes a highly symbolic and mythological status infused with promise, though always connected to a geographical location.
argues that the biblical boundaries are "entirely fictitious", and bore simply religious connotations in Diaspora Judaism, with the term only coming into ascendency with the rise of .
The name "Israel" first appears in the Hebrew Bible as the name given by God to the
(). Deriving from the name "Israel", other designations that came to be associated with the Jewish people have included the "" or "Israelite". The first definition of the
calls it "this land". () The land is promised to Abraham's descendants at () while in , it is promised explicitly to the Israelites.
A more detailed definition is given in
for the land explicitly allocated to nine and half of the Israelite tribes after . Here, the land Canaan has its boundaries defined. The expression "Land of Israel" is first used in a later book, . It is defined in detail in the exilic
as a land where both the twelve tribes and the "strangers in (their) midst", can claim inheritance, and also by the .
Main article:
The Hebrew Bible provides three somewhat more specific sets of borders, each with a different purpose. The passages where these are defined are ,
Map showing an interpretation of the borders of the Promised Land, based on the scriptural verses in Genesis 15
describes what are known as "Borders of the Land" (Gevulot Ha-aretz), which in Jewish tradition defines the extent of the
to the descendants of Abraham, through his son Isaac and grandson Jacob. The passage describes the area as the land of the ten named ancient peoples then living there.
More precise geographical borders are given
which describes borders as marked by the Red Sea (see debate below), the "Sea of the Philistines" i.e., the , and the "River", the ), the traditional furthest extent of the Kingdom of .
A slightly more detailed definition is given in , which describes the borders as "from the sea of reeds (Red Sea) to the Sea of the Philistines (Mediterranean sea) and from the desert to the
River", though the Hebrew text of the Bible uses the name, "the River", to refer to the Euphrates.
Main article:
describes the land allocated to the Israelite tribes after the Exodus. The tribes of ,
and half of
received land
as explained in .
provides a detailed description of the borders of the land to be conquered west of the Jordan for the remaining tribes. The region is called "the Land of " (Eretz Kna'an) in
and the borders are known in Jewish tradition as the "borders for those coming out of Egypt". These borders are again mentioned in ,
According to the Hebrew Bible, Canaan was the son of
who with his descendents had seized the land from the descendents of
according to the . Jewish tradition thus refers to the region as Canaan during the period between
and the Israelite settlement.
sees Canaan as a geographical name, and Israel the spiritual name of the land. He writes: The uniqueness of the Land of Israel is thus "geo-theological" and not merely climatic. This is the land which faces the entrance of the spiritual world, that sphere of existence that lies beyond the physical world known to us through our senses. This is the key to the land's unique status with regard to prophecy and prayer, and also with regard to the commandments. Thus, the renaming of this land marks a change in religious status, the origin of the
uses the term Canaan strictly for the land west of the Jordan, but Land of Israel is used in Jewish tradition to denote the entire land of the Israelites. The English expression "" can denote either the land promised to Abraham in Genesis or the land of Canaan, although the latter meaning is more common.
provides a definition of borders of land in which the
will live during the final redemption, at the end of days. The borders of the land described by the text in Ezekiel include the northern border of modern , eastwards (the way of Hethlon) south by southwest to the area of
on the Syrian border (area of Hauran in Ezekiel); follows the
between the West Bank and the land of
to Tamar () on the western shore of the Dead S From Tamar to Meribah Kadesh (), then along the
(see debate below) to the Mediterranean Sea. The territory defined by these borders is divided into twelve strips, one for each of the twelve tribes.
Hence, Numbers 34 and Ezekiel 47 define different but similar borders which include the whole of contemporary , both the
and , except for the South Negev and . Small parts of
are also included.
Further information:
The common biblical phrase used to refer to the territories actually settled by the Israelites (as opposed to military conquests) is "from
to " (or its variant "from Beersheba to Dan"), which occurs many times in the Bible. It is found in the biblical verses , , , , , , , , and .
The 12 tribes of Israel are divided in 1 Kings 11. In the chapter, 's sins lead to Israelites forfeiting 10 of the 12 tribes.
took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. 31 Then he said to , “Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘See, I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand and give you ten tribes. 32 But for the sake of my servant David and the city of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, he will have one tribe. 33 I will do this because they have forsaken me and worshiped
the goddess of the Sidonians,
the god of the Moabites, and
the god of the Ammonites, and have not walked in obedience to me, nor done what is right in my eyes, nor kept my decrees and laws as David, Solomon’s father, did.34 “‘But I will not take the whole kingdom out of Solomon’ I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant, whom I chose and who obeyed my commands and decrees. 35 I will take the kingdom from his son’s hands and give you ten tribes. 36 I will give one tribe to his son so that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put my Name.
— Kings 1, 11:30-11:36
The border with Egypt is given as the Nachal Mitzrayim () in Numbers and Deuteronomy, as well as in Ezekiel. Jewish tradition (as expressed in the commentaries of
and , as well as the Aramaic ) understand this
more precisely the
branch of the Nile Delta according to Halevi—a view supported by Egyptian and Assyrian texts.
identified it as the "Wadi of El-Arish", referring to the biblical
placed it in the same region, which approximates the location of the former Pelusian branch of the Nile. 19th century Bible commentaries understood the identification as a reference to the
of the coastal locality called . Easton's, however, notes a local tradition that the course of the river had changed and there was once a branch of the Nile where today there is a wadi. Biblical minimalists have suggested that the
is intended.
Genesis gives the border with Egypt as Nahar Mitzrayim – nahar in Hebrew denotes a large river, never a wadi.
Only the "Red Sea" (Exodus 23:31) and the
are mentioned to define the southern and eastern borders of the full land promised to the Israelites. The "Red Sea" corresponding to Hebrew Yam Suf was understood in ancient times to be the , as reflected in the
translation. Although the English name "Red Sea" is derived from this name ("Erythraean" derives from the Greek for red), the term denoted all the waters surrounding Arabia—including the Indian Ocean and the , not merely the sea lying to the west of Arabia bearing this name in modern English. Thus the entire Arabian peninsula lies within the borders described. Modern maps depicting the region take a reticent view and often leave the southern and eastern borders vaguely defined. The borders of the land to be conquered given in Numbers have a precisely defined eastern border which included the Arabah and Jordan.
indicates a certain fluidity of the borders of the promised land when it refers to the possibility that God would "enlarge your borders." This expansion of territory means that Israel would receive "all the land he promised to give to your fathers", which implies that the settlement actually fell short of what was promised. According to , Deuteronomy refers to a more utopian map of the promised land, whose eastern border is the wilderness .
Paul R. Williamson notes that a "close examination of the relevant promissory texts" supports a "wider interpretation of the promised land" in which it is not "restricted absolutely to one geographical locale." He argues that "the map of the promised land was never seen permanently fixed, but was subject to at least some degree of expansion and redefinition."
Main article:
Different interpretations of what the Bible says about the extent of king David's empire
Another map of the . Pink area indicates the lands inhabited by
or under direct central royal administration during the , according to the Bible.
Few, if any, archaeological remains of the
have been uncovered to date that would accord with the huge conquests described in the Bible. It is more probable that the kingdom was smaller than described, encompassing only the areas settled by the Israelite tribes. The divided Kingdoms of
came into existence during the 8th century BC. While
encompassed the north of the country, including
as far as ,
was restricted to a comparatively small area around Jerusalem, with a northern boundary near Mitzpah and a southern one around , probably not projecting effective rule as far as . The
did rule a political unit that corresponds to the description, "From Dan to Beersheva."
Main article:
According to Jewish religious law (), some laws only apply to Jews living in the Land of Israel and some areas in , Lebanon, and
(which are thought to be part of biblical Israel). These include agricultural laws such as the
(Sabbatical year); tithing laws such as the
(poor tithe); charitable practices during farming, and laws regarding taxation. One popular source lists 26 of the 613
as contingent upon the Land of Israel.
Many of the religious laws which applied in ancient times are applied in the modern State of I others have not been revived, since the State of Israel does not adhere to . However, certain parts of the current territory of the State of Israel, such as the , are considered by some religious authorities to be outside the Land of Israel for purposes of Jewish law. According to these authorities, the religious laws do not apply there.
According to some , every Jew has an obligation to dwell in the Land of Israel and may not leave except for specifically permitted reasons (e.g., to get married). There are also many laws dealing with how to treat the land. The laws apply to all Jews, and the giving of the land itself in the covenant, applies to all Jews, including converts.
Traditional religious Jewish interpretation, and that of most Christian commentators, define Abraham's descendants only as Abraham's seed through his son
and his grandson .
is less clear, as he states that the covenant is through Isaac, but also notes that 's descendants, generally the , have held much of that land through time.
The term 'Land of Israel' (γ? ?σρα?λ) first occurs in Matthew 2:21 where, according to Israeli historian , it refers to the area around Jerusalem.[ – ]
During the early 5th century, Saint
argued in his
that the earthly or "carnal" kingdom of Israel achieved its apotheosis during the reigns of David and his son Solomon. He goes on to say however, that this possession was conditional: "...the Hebrew nation should remain in the same land by the succession of posterity in an unshaken state even to the end of this mortal age, if it obeyed the laws of the Lord its God". He goes on to say that the failure of the Hebrew nation to adhere to this condition resulted in its revocation and the making of a second covenant and cites : "Behold, the days come, says the Lord, that I will make for the house of Israel, and for the house of Judah, a new testament: not according to the testament that I settled for their fathers in the day when I laid hold of their hand to lead them out of the land of E because they continued not in my testament, and I regarded them not, says the Lord.". Augustine concludes that this other promise, revealed in the New Testament, was about to be fulfilled through the incarnation of Christ: "I will give my laws in their mind, and will write them upon their hearts, and I and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people".
Notwithstanding the doctrine stated by Augustine (see above) and also by the Apostle Paul in his
(Ch. 11), the phenomenon of
is widely noted today, especially among evangelical Protestants. Other Protestant groups and churches reject Christian Zionism .
After the fall of the ancient , political rule was held by the following powers:
586–539 BC:
539–332 BC:
332–305 BC:
305–198 BC:
198–141 BC:
141–37 BC: Initially independent
established by the Maccabees
63 BC: , beginning of Roman dominance
37 BC– 4 BC:
of the Roman Empire
4 BC - 6 AD:
of the Roman Empire
132-135 Independent
135-390: Roman province reconquered and renamed
260-273 controlled by splinter
638–1099: Arab
and subject rulers
: , most notably the
: dominated by the
: dominated by the
, having previously conquered the Byzantine Empire in 1453
under, first, , then, successor United N the Emirate of Trans-Jordan was separated from the rest of Palestine in 1922, and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan became independent upon the expiration of the League of Nations Mandate in 1946.
May 1948 – June 1967:
parts of the Old City of Jerusalem and a strip of land in the west , for parts of the Old City of Jerusalem and a part
June 1967 to 1993:
1993 to present:
Jewish religious tradition does not distinguish clearly between religious, national, racial, or ethnic identities. Nonetheless, during two millennia of exile and with a continuous yet small Jewish presence in the land, a strong sense of bondedness exists throughout this tradition, expressed in terms of people- from the very beginning, this concept was identified with that ancestral biblical land or, to use the traditional religious and modern
term, Eretz Yisrael. Religiously and culturally the area was seen broadly as a land of destiny, and always with hope for some form of redemption and return. It was later seen as a national home and refuge, intimately related to that traditional sense of people-hood, and meant to show continuity that this land was always seen as central to Jewish life, in theory if not in practice. Having already used another religious term of great importance,
(Jerusalem), to coin the name of their movement, being associated with the return to Zion
the term was considered appropriate for the secular Jewish political movement of
to adopt at the turn of the 20 it was used to refer to their proposed national homeland in the area then controlled by the
and generally known as the
or . Different geographic and political definitions for the "Land of Israel" later developed among competing Zionist ideologies during their nationalist struggle. These differences relate to the importance of the idea and its land, as well as the internationally recognized borders of the State of Israel and the Jewish State's secure and democratic existence. Many current governments, politicians and commentators question these differences.
When Israel was founded in 1948, the majority
leadership, which governed for three decades after independence, accepted the partition of the previous
into independent Jewish and Arab states as a pragmatic solution to the political and demographic issues of the territory, with the description Land of Israel applying to the territory of the State of Israel within the .[] The then opposition , who evolved into today's
party, however, regarded the rightful Land of Israel as Eretz Yisrael Ha-Shlema (literally, the whole Land of Israel), which came to be referred to as . Joel Greenberg, writing in
relates subsequent events this way:
The seed was sown in 1977, when Menachem Begin of Likud brought his party to power for the first time in a stunning election victory over Labor. A decade before, in the 1967 war, Israeli troops had in effect undone the partition accepted in 1948 by overrunning the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Ever since, Mr. Begin had preached undying loyalty to what he called Judea and Samaria (the West Bank lands) and promoted Jewish settlement there. But he did not annex the West Bank and Gaza to Israel after he took office, reflecting a recognition that absorbing the Palestinians could turn Israel it into a binational state instead of a Jewish one.
Following the
in 1967, the
and the , the term Eretz Israel became increasingly associated with right-wing expansionist groups who sought to conform the borders of the State of Israel with the biblical Eretz Yisrael.
This 1920 stamp, issued by the , set a precedent for the wording of .
The Biblical concept of Eretz Israel, and its re-establishment as a state in the modern era, was a
of the original
program. This program however, saw little success until the British acceptance of "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people" in the . , as leader of the Zionist delegation, at the
presented a Zionist Statement on 3 February. Among other things, he presented a plan for development together with a map of the proposed homeland. The statement noted the Jewish historical connection with Eretz Israel. It also declared the Zionists' proposed borders and resources "essential for the necessary economic foundation of the country" including "the control of its rivers and their headwaters". These borders included present day Israel and the , western Jordan, southwestern Syria and southern Lebanon "in the vicinity south of Sidon". The subsequent British occupation and British acceptance of the July 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine, advanced the Zionist cause.[]
Early in the deliberations toward British civilian administration, two fundamental decisions were taken, which bear upon the status of the J the first was the recognition of Hebrew as an official language, along with English and Arabic, and the second concerned the Hebrew name of the country. The Jewish members of the first 's advisory council objected to the Hebrew transliteration of the word “Palestine” ??????? (Palestina) on the ground that the traditional name was ??? ????? (Eretz Yisrael), but the Arab members would not agree to this designation, which in their view, had political significance. The High Commissioner therefore decided, as a compromise, that the Hebrew transliteration should be used, followed always by the two initial letters of "Eretz Yisrael,” ??? Aleph-Yod. The compromise was later noted as among Arab grievances before the League's Permanent Mandate Commission. During the Mandate, the name Eretz Yisrael (abbreviated ??? Aleph-Yod), was part of the official name for the territory, when written in . These official names for Palestine were minted on the Mandate coins and early stamps (pictured) in English, Hebrew "(??????? (???" (Palestina E"Y) and Arabic "( ??????"). Consequently, in 20th century political usage, the term "Land of Israel" usually denotes only those parts of the land which came under the British mandate, i.e. the land currently controlled by the State of Israel, the , and the , and sometimes also
(now the ).[]
On 29 November 1947, the United Nations
adopted a resolution ((II)) recommending "to the United Kingdom, as the mandatory Power for Palestine, and to all other Members of the United Nations the adoption and implementation, with regard to the future government of Palestine, of the Plan of Partition with Economic Union." The Resolution contained a plan to partition Palestine into "Independent Arab and Jewish States and the Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem."
On May 14, 1948, the day the British Mandate over Palestine expired, the
gathered at the Tel Aviv Museum, and , in which it declared "the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz-Israel, to be known as the State of Israel."
Early government usage of the term, following Israel's establishment, continued the historical link and possible Zionist intentions. In 1951–2
wrote "Only now, after seventy years of pioneer striving, have we reached the beginning of independence in a part of our small country." Soon afterwards he wrote "It has already been said that when the State was established it held only six percent of the Jewish people remaining alive after the Nazi cataclysm. It must now be said that it has been established in only a portion of the Land of Israel. Even those who are dubious as to the restoration of the historical frontiers, as fixed and crystallised and given from the beginning of time, will hardly deny the anomaly of the boundaries of the new State." The 1955 Israeli government year-book said, "It is called the 'State of Israel' because it is part of the Land of Israel and not merely a Jewish State. The creation of the new State by no means derogates from the scope of historical Eretz Israel".
were among the first Israeli political parties basing their land policies on the Biblical narrative discussed above. They attracted attention following the capture of
in the 1967 . They argue that the West Bank should be annexed permanently to Israel for both ideological and religious reasons. This position is in conflict with the basic "" settlement formula included in . The
party, in its platform, supports maintaining Jewish settlement communities in the
as the territory is considered part of the historical land of Israel. In her 2009 bid for Prime Minister,
used the expression, noting, "we need to give up parts of the Land of Israel", in exchange for peace with the Palestinians and to maintain Israel as a J this drew a clear distinction with the position of her Likud rival and winner, . However, soon after winning the 2009 elections, Netanyahu delivered an address at the
that was broadcast live in Israel and across parts of the , on the topic of the . He endorsed for the first time the notion of a
alongside Israel.
The , signed on 1993, led to the establishment of an agreed border between the two nations, and subsequently the state of Israel has no territorial claims in the parts of the historic Land of Israel lying east of the Jordan river.
According to Palestinian historian , Eretz Israel was a religious concept which was turned by Zionists into a political doctrine in order to emphasize an exclusive Jewish right of possession regardless of the Arab presence. Masalha wrote that the Zionist movement has not given up on an expansive definition of the territory, including Jordan and more, even though political pragmatism has engendered a focus on the region west of the Jordan River.
(2012). . Verso Books. p. 27.
. Bible.cc.
. Bible Gateway.
. Catholic Culture.
Emma Playfair (1992). International Law and the Administration of Occupied Territories: Two Decades of Israeli Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Oxford University Press. p. 41. On 17 December 1967, the Israeli military government issued an order stating that "the term 'Judea and Samaria region' shall be identical in meaning for all purposes . .to the term 'the West Bank Region'". This change in terminology, which has been followed in Israeli official statements since that time, reflected a historic attachment to these areas and rejection of a name that was seen as implying Jordanian sovereignty over them.
Anita Shapira, 1992, Land and Power, , p. ix
Bradley Shavit Artson, 'Our Covenant with Stones: A Jewish Ecology of Earth,' in Judaism and Envirobnmental Ehics: A Reader,Lexington Books, 2001 pp.161-171,p.162
Michael L. Satlow, Creating Judaism: History, Tradition, Practice, , Columbia University Press, 2006.
, The Bible and Zionism: Invented Traditions, Archaeology and Post-Colonialism in Palestine-Israel,
Zed Books, 2007.
Rachel Havrelock, River Jordan: The Mythology of a Dividing Line,University of Chicago Press, 2011, p.21.
Kol Torah, vol. 13, no. 9, Torah Academy of Bergen County, 8 November 2003
See 6th and 7th portion commentaries by
Stuart, Douglas K., Exodus, B&H Publishing Group, 2006, p. 549
Tyndale Bible Dictionary, Walter A. Elwell, Philip Wesley Comfort, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2001, p. 984
The Land of Israel: National Home Or Land of Destiny, By Eliezer Schweid, Translated by Deborah Greniman, Published 1985 Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, , p.56.
. Bible Gateway.
Jacob Milgrom, Numbers (JPS Torah C Philadelphia: JPS, 1990), 502.
Paul R. Williamson, "Promise and Fulfilment: The Territorial Inheritance", in Philip Johnston and Peter Walker (eds.), The Land of Promise: Biblical, Theological and Contemporary Perspectives (Leicester: Apollos, 2000), 20–21.
A history of Palestine: from the Ottoman conquest to the founding of the state of Israel, Gudrun Kr?mer, Princeton University Press, 2008, p. 12
, "The Early Monarchy", Chapter 5, The Oxford History of the Biblical World, ed. Michael Coogan, Oxford University Press, 1998, pp. 165ff. map on p. 167.
p.xxxv, R. Yisrael Meir haKohen (), The Concise Book of Mitzvoth. This version of the list was prepared in 1968.
The 's addition to the 's Sefer HaMitzvot.
Ezekiel 47:21 "You are to distribute this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. 22 You are to allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the aliens who have settled among you and who have children. You are to consider them as native-born I along with you they are to be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. 23 In whatever tribe the alien settles, there you are to give him his inheritance," declares the Sovereign LORD.
. Godrules.net. 19 December .
. Godrules.net. 19 December .
. Studylight.org 2011.
. Chabad.org 2011.
. Bible.org 2011.
. Thirdmill.org 2011.
. Christianleadershipcenter.org 2011.
. Washingtonubf.org 2011.
. . 17 March .
Keil, Carl F Delitzsch, Franz (1866). .
Augustine, The City of God (Book XVII), Chapter II. "And it was fulfilled through David, and Solomon his son, whose kingdom was extended over the
for they subdued all those nations, and made them tributary. And thus, under those kings, the seed of Abraham was established in the land of promise according to the flesh, that is, in the land of Canaan..."
, The Jews. Race, Nation, or Religion? (Philadelphia:
Press, 1936). Cited in, Edelheit and Edelheit, History of Zionism: A Handbook and Dictionary
Hershel Edelheit and Abraham J. Edelheit, , Westview Press, 2000. p 3.
De Lange, Nicholas, An Introduction to Judaism, Cambridge University Press (2000), p. 30. . The term "Zionism" was derived from the word Zion,which is the other name for Jerusalem, and is associated with the
and coined by Austrian , in his journal Selbstemanzipation (Self Emancipation) in 1890.
. Jewish Virtual Library 2011.
Raffaella A. Del Sarto,
Reflecting the traditional divisions within the Zionist movement, this axis invokes two concepts, namely Eretz Israel, i.e. the biblical "Land of Israel", and Medinat Israel, i.e. the Jewish and democratic State of Israel. While the concept of Medinat Israel dominated the first decades of statehood in accordance with the aspirations of Labour Zionism, the 1967 conquest of land that was part of "biblical Israel" provided a material basis for the ascent of the concept of Eretz Israel. Expressing the perception of rightful Jewish claims on "biblical land", the construction of Jewish settlements in the conquered territories intensified after the 1977 elections, which ended the dominance of the Labour Party. Yet as the first Intifada made disturbingly visible, Israel's de facto rule over the Palestinian population created a dilemma of democracy versus Jewish majority in the long run. With the beginning of Oslo and the option of territorial compromise, the rift between supporters of Eretz Israel and Medinat Israel deepened to an unprecedented degree, the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin in November 1995 being the most dramatic evidence.
. Jewishvirtuallibrary.org 2011.
Israel Cohen, , p.96, London, Frederick Muller Co., 1951,
League of Nations, Permanent Mandate Commission,
(Arab Grievances), Held at Geneva from 8 to 25 June 1926
Israel's declaration of independence says "the British Mandate over Eretz Yisrael, and the Israeli law uses the term Eretz Yisrael to denote the territory subject directly to the British Mandate law, e.g. Article 11 of the "Government and Law Ordinance 1948" issued by Israel's Provisional State Council.
. Domino.un.org.
: Retrieved 24 April 2012
David Ben-Gurion, "The Call of Spirit in Israel", in State of Israel, Government Yearbook, 5712 (), page x.
David Ben-Gurion, "Israel among the Nations", in State of Israel, Government Year-book, 5713 (1952), page 15.
State of Israel, "Israel, the State and the Nation" in Government Year-book, 5716 (1955), page 320.
, knesset.gov.il 2008
Heller, Aaron (17 February 2009), , Associated Press 2010
. . 15 June .
Keinon, Herb (14 June 2009). . The Jerusalem Post 2013.
Masalha, Nur (2007), The Bible & Z Invented Traditions, Archaeology and Post-Colonialism in Israel-Palestine, Zed Books, pp. 2–6,  
, pp. 32–38
In that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: "Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the
unto the great river, the , and the , and the , and the , and the , and the , and the , and the , and the , and the ."
And I will set thy border from the
even unto the sea of the , and from the wilderness unto the R for I will deliver the inhabitants of the and thou shalt drive them out before thee.
And the LORD spoke unto , saying: "Command the children of Israel, and say unto them: When ye come into the land of Canaan, this shall be the land that shall fall unto you for an inheritance, even the land of Canaan according to the borders thereof. Thus your south side shall be from the wilderness of
close by the side of , and your south border shall begin at the end of the Salt S and your border shall turn about southward of the ascent of , and pass along to Z and the goings out thereof sh and it shall go forth to , and pass along to A and the border shall turn about from Azmon unto the , and the goings out thereof shall be at the Sea. And for the western border, ye shall ha this shall be your west border. And this shall be your north border: from the Great Sea ye shall mark out y from mount Hor ye shall mark out a line u and the goings out of the and the border shall go forth to , and the goings out
this shall be your north border. And ye shall mark out your line for the east border from Hazar- and the border shall go down from Shepham to ,
and the border shall go down, and shall strike upon the slope of
and the border shall go down to the , and the goings out ther this shall be your land according to the borders thereof round about." And Moses commanded the children of Israel, saying: "This is the land wherein ye shall receive inheritance by lot, which the LORD hath commanded to give unto the , and to the half- for the tribe of the children of
according to their fathers' houses, and the tribe of the children of Gad according to their fathers' houses, have received, and the half-tribe of
have received, the two tribes and the half-tribe have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan at
eastward, toward the ."
The LORD our God spoke unto us in Horeb, saying: "Ye have dwelt long eno turn you, and take your journey, and go to the hill-country of the Amorites and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the , in the hill-country, and in the Lowland, and in the South, and by the sea- the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD swore unto your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them."
Every place whereon the sole of your foot shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness, and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the hinder sea shall be your border.
From the wilderness, and this Lebanon, even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your border.
A sequence from the
provides a vision of borders in end times of a smaller region allocated to the 12 tribes in equal divisions west of the Jordan.
Thus saith the Lord GOD: "This shall be the border, whereby ye shall divide the land for inheritance according to the twelve tribes of Israel, Joseph receiving two portions. And ye shall inherit it, one as well as another, concerning which I lifted up My hand to give
and this land shall fall unto you for inheritance. And this shall be the border of the land: on the north side, from the Great Sea, by the way of Hethlon, unto the entrance of Z Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of H Hazer-hatticon, which is by the border of Hauran. And the border from the sea shall be Hazar-enon at the border of Damascus, and on the north northward is the border of Hamath. This is the north side. And the east side, between
and Damascus and Gilead, and the land of Israel, by the Jordan, from the border unto the
shall ye measure. This is the east side. And the south side southward shall be from Tamar as far as the waters of Meriboth-kadesh, to the Brook, unto the Great Sea. This is the south side southward. And the west side shall be the Great Sea, from the border as far as over against the entrance of Hamath. This is the west side.
. The Land of Israel: According to the Covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and Jacob, W. Whyte & Co, 1844.
McTernan, John P. As America Has Done to Israel, Whitaker House Publishers, 2008.
Schweid, Eliezer. The Land of Israel: National Home Or Land of Destiny, translated by Deborah Greniman, Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1985.
Sedykh, Andre?. This Land of Israel, Macmillan, 1967.
Stewart, Robert Laird. The Land of Israel, Revell, 1899.
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