By David Singer ——Bio and Archives--September 18, 2023
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The introduction by Israel of a Welcome to Country ceremony--similar to that which has existed in Australia since 1973--could be just the circuit-breaker needed to reunite a bitterly divided Israeli society - as all 15 judges of Israel’s Supreme Court ponder the issue of judicial reform on the eve of the Jewish New Year.
Such a ceremony would serve to bring the Jewish people together to publicly honor, recognise and acknowledge their forefathers as the traditional owners of the land on which the State of Israel has been established and to which Israel is entitled to lay claim in Judea and Samaria under articles 6 and 25 of the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine and article 80 of the United Nations Charter.
It would also unite Israelis in their fight against attempts by the UN and UNESCO to create political facts on the ground by erasing Jewish ownership of historic Jewish archaeological sites.
Their latest despicable effort is Jericho--containing Jewish heritage sites including the Hasmonean Winter Palaces, King Herod’s Third Palace, a Byzantine-era synagogue dating back to the 6th Century CE, ritual baths, and nearby burial caves used by priests of the Second Temple.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica faithfully records the history of the Jewish people’s arrival in Canaan as detailed in the Old Testament:
The following map shows the areas in which the 12 Tribes settled:
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The Welcome to Country ceremony would pay respects to 10 of the 12 tribes who settled on the land West of the Jordan River--Israel and Judea and Samaria (West Bank).
The ceremony would involve a short recitation along the following lines at the opening of every public, communal and sporting function (accompanied perhaps by the blowing of the Shofar):
The ceremony could open each session of the Knesset, the Supreme Court, each school day and welcome travellers at Ben Gurion Airport. Sign posts identifying each tribal area could be erected on their respective boundaries. The possibilities are endless.
Netanyahu, Lapid and Gantz: Get the ball rolling without delay.
Author’s note: The cartoon--commissioned exclusively for this article--is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators—whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.
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David Singer is an Australian Lawyer, a Foundation Member of the International Analyst Network and Convenor of Jordan is Palestine International—an organization calling for sovereignty of the West Bank and Gaza to be allocated between Israel and Jordan as the two successor States to the Mandate for Palestine. Previous articles written by him can be found at: jordanispalestine.blogspot.com