Greater Israel: Difference between revisions

 

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== External links ==

== External links ==

* ”For The Land and The Lord: The Range of Disagreement within Jewish Fundamentalism”, by [[Ian Lustick]], [https://web.archive.org/web/20050901055839/http://www.ssc.upenn.edu/polisci/faculty/data/lustick/for_the_land/lustick15.html chapter V] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20051204101002/http://www.ssc.upenn.edu/polisci/faculty/data/lustick/for_the_land/lustick17.html chapter VII] (accessed 12 October 2005).

* ”For The Land and The Lord: The Range of Disagreement within Jewish Fundamentalism”, by [[Ian Lustick]], [https://web.archive.org/web/20050901055839/http://www.ssc.upenn.edu/polisci/faculty/data/lustick/for_the_land/lustick15.html chapter V] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20051204101002/http://www.ssc.upenn.edu/polisci/faculty/data/lustick/for_the_land/lustick17.html chapter VII] (accessed 12 October 2005).

* A collection of maps of Eretz Israel HaShlema (Greater Israel), from [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/israel/greater-israel-maps.htm GlobalSecurity.org].

{{Zionism}}

{{Zionism}}

Zionist ideologically irredentist term

Greater Israel (Hebrew: ארץ ישראל השלמה; Eretz Yisrael Hashlema) is an expression, with several different biblical and political meanings over time. It is often used, in an irredentist fashion, to refer to the historic or desired borders of Israel.

Currently, the most common definition of the land encompassed by the term is the territory of the State of Israel together with the Palestinian territories. Other definitions, favored by Revisionist Zionist, included the territory of the former Emirate of Transjordan and the Sinai Peninsula.

History

Promised Land

The Bible contains three geographical definitions of the Land of Israel. The first, found in Genesis 15:18–21, seems to define the land that was given to all of the children of Abraham, including Ishmael, Zimran, Jokshan, Midian, etc. It describes a large territory, “from the brook of Egypt to the Euphrates“.

The other definitions are found in the Book of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 11:24, Deuteronomy 1:7, the Book of Numbers, Numbers 34:1–15, and the Book of Ezekiel, Ezekiel 47:13–20. The definition in Numbers and Ezekiel refers to the land that was divided between the original Twelve tribes of Israel after they were delivered from Egypt, and finally, the borders defined in the book of Deuteronomy are those that will be given to the children of Israel slowly throughout the years, Exodus 23:29 & Deuteronomy 7:22).^{[citation needed]}

During British Mandate for Palestine

Early Revisionist Zionist groups such as Betar and Irgun Zvai-Leumi regarded the territory of the Mandate for Palestine, including Transjordan, as Greater Israel.^[1]

In 1937, the Peel Commission recommended partition of Mandatory Palestine. In a letter to his son later that year, David Ben-Gurion stated that partition would be acceptable but as a first step. Ben-Gurion wrote that

This is because this increase in possession is of consequence not only in itself, but because through it we increase our strength, and every increase in strength helps in the possession of the land as a whole. The establishment of a state, even if only on a portion of the land, is the maximal reinforcement of our strength at the present time and a powerful boost to our historical endeavors to liberate the entire country.^[2][3][4]

The same sentiment was recorded by Ben-Gurion on other occasions, such as at a meeting of the Jewish Agency executive in June 1938,^[5] as well as by Chaim Weizmann.^[4][6] Ben Gurion said:

We shall smash these frontiers which are being forced upon us, and not necessarily by war. I believe an agreement between us and the Arab State could be reached in a not too distant future.”^[7]

During early period of the State of Israel

Joel Greenberg writing in The New York Times notes: “At Israel’s founding in 1948, the Labor Zionist leadership, which went on to govern Israel in its first three decades of independence, accepted a pragmatic partition of what had been British Palestine into independent Jewish and Arab states. The opposition Revisionist Zionists, who evolved into today’s Likud party, sought Eretz Yisrael Ha-Shlema—Greater Israel, or literally, the Whole Land of Israel (shalem, meaning complete).”^[8] The capture of the West Bank and Gaza Strip from Jordan and Egypt during the Six-Day War in 1967 led to the growth of the non-parliamentary Movement for Greater Israel and the construction…