By: Helmi Junaidi
The Jews today call their land Judea and Samaria. Their
claim to the occupied territory is also based on such belief. But, could today
Jews have such claim on the land of Judea and Samaria?
I have written about the expulsion of the ten tribes of
Israel from Samaria after their country conquered by the Assyrian king Sargon
II in 722 BC. They became known as The Ten Lost Tribe of Israel. After some
researchs conducted by several scholars, it turns out that many Samaritan
tribes live in Afghanistan and Kashmir. The kingdom of Judah survived until it
was conquered by Nebukhanezzar in 586 BC. While the Samaritans has gone forever,
most Judeans returned to their country in 538 BC after liberated by Persia king
Cyrus the Great.
A unified kingdom of Israel had split into two since the
death of King Solomon. Two tribes in the south established the kingdom of Judah
under Solomon’s son Rehoboam, while the ten tribes founded the kingdom Samaria
in the north under Jeroboam leadership. Samaritan kingdom was known as the
Kingdom of Israel. So the name of the kingdom of Israel was used two times, at
the time of David and the kingdom of Samaria. Kingdom of Judah and Samaria were
hostile to each other and war often broke out between them. Eventually, both kingdoms
were conquered by great empires around them.
Because the ten tribes that originally settled in Samaria
were already lost, the history of Jacob's children after that period to modern
times is NOT the history of Israel as a whole, but historians generally
consider it as HISTORY OF JUDAH. That’s why they are called “Jews” (Judeans) or
Juden in Germany or Yahudi in Arab.
The word Jew is derived from the Kingdom of Judah, which included the tribes of Benjamin and Judah. (“Jews”, The Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, 1999, CD-ROM).
The remaining two tribes are the Judeans while the Samaritan
tribes are considered lost forever. The Samaritans have settled elsewhere and
assimilated into other nations. And many of them assimilated into the
population of Afghanistan and Kashmir. By looking at the history of these two
nations, today Jews can only claim the land of Judea as their ancestral land.
They had NO RIGHT to claim the land of Samaria because they are NOT the
Samaritans. That claim is ahistorical. If there were people who have a right to
claim the land of Samaria, they would only the descendants of the ten tribes of
Israel, who now settled in Kashmir and Afghanistan. However, since they seem to
have forgotten their origins, and they've embraced Islam, it appears there is
little chance they would make such claim. Moreover, the descendants of the
Samaritans had been living in peace in the land of Afghanistan and Kashmir for
centuries.
Some Samaritans were not deported and until now their
community still exist and they live near Nablus (former capital of ancient
Samaria). They refer to as the Samaritans, but they themselves call their
nation Bani-Israel. Their numbers now approximately only 500 people.
Although they still called themselves Bani-Israel and read
the Torah, but the Bible mentioned that the Judeans (Jews) hated and hostile to
the Samaritans even though they were willing to help without expecting recompense.
It is surely inconsequential when the Jews today claim the land of Samaria, but
they are no longer willing to acknowledge the Samaritan as their brothers, even
hostile to them. If the Jews don’t recognize the Samaritans, why should they
bother to claim the land of Samaria? Moreover, the hostility still persists
today. Until today Orthodox Jews still do not admit the Samaritans who lived in
Palestine as their brothers and consider them as "pagan and
stranger".
The Jews don’t acknowledge the Samaritans as their brothers
because the Jews consider them not native Samaritans, but other nations planted
by the Assyrian king. However, this opinion is absolutely groundless. If they
were non-Jewish origin at all, how could they embraced Jewish religion and read
the Torah? So, they are true Samaritans. If they are non-Jewish tribes,
certainly they would not able to recognize Jewish religion and read the Torah.
And according to a genetic test conducted in 2004, they are indeed descendants
of the ancient Samaritans, although some have mixed with the genes of the
Assyrians and other people around them. So, the Jews opinion were groundless
and unscienctific.
If it is true that the Samaritan have mixed with other
nations, it could not be used as the reason they are not regarded as
Bani-Israel. In fact, the Jews who came from Russia, Eastern Europe and Central
Asia have less strong claim to the Jewish blood as compared with the
Samaritans. We've been discussing about the Khazars, right? The Jews who came
from Russia, Central Asia and Eastern Europe might be NOT Jewish AT ALL, but
descendants of the Turkish Khazars. What would the Jews from Russia and Eastern
Europe think when they read this? Similarly, Western European Jews are less
likely still have mostly Jewish blood because the original Jews were cattle
herders, not a nation of traders. Indeed the majority of Jews today have not
pure blood because they have lived in foreign lands for thousands years and
have mingled with people around them. In Germany their appearances similar to
the Germans, in China they like the Chinese, in Arabia they look like Arabs, in
Ethiopia they look like black Ethiopians (Falasha Jews). If their blood are
really mostly Jewish blood, why their appearances exactly the same as the
Germans or Ethiopians? So, their blood are indeed mostly foreign blood. As the
Chinese Jews, certainly very funny. Jews with slanting eyes. I want to meet
them if some of them still live in Kaifeng.
So, if the Jews do not admit the Samaritans because their
blood are not pure, look at the blood in their own bodies. Are they really have
true Jewish blood and not Turkish Khazars blood instead? Or even Himmler’s
blood?
After seeing historic hostility between the kingdom of
Samaria and Judah above, today Jews are only entitled to claim the land of
Judah, NOT including the land of Samaria. Of course it is because they are NOT
the Samaritans, even hostile to them. They are the Judeans and not the
Samaritans. The Samaritans themselves do not live in Palestine (except in
Nablus) and none of them join the Zionist movement. Most of them have lived
peacefully in Kashmir and Afghanistan for centuries, even recognized as
brothers by people around them. In stark contrast to the treatment they receive
from the Judeans (Jews) who hate them in Palestine. Thus, on what basis the
Judeans claim former royal lands of Samaria? A strange claim, isn’t it? In
fact, who have a right to claim Samaritans land are descendants of Samaritan
tribes who are now settled in Kashmir and Afghanistan.
Thus, the Jewish settlers (the Judeans) who live in Nablus
and other occupied lands of the former kingdom of Samaria, can move from there
because they are not entitled to the land. The land can only claimed by
descendants of the Samaritans. And of course there are many Samaritans who
reside in the West Bank today, the Samaritans who have embraced Islam. And
history is history. Most Samaritans had been "lost", and the
descendants of the tribe of Judah have no right whatsoever to claim the land of
Samaria.
Maybe there are some sentences in this article which have
less pleasant tone, but my purpose does not to be hostile. Instead, I write
this article to make peace. When the Judeans no longer claim the land of
Samaria, whose territory includes most of the West Bank, then of course the
Jewish settlers will soon go from there. Because the Judeans were not entitled
to the land of Samaria. And if the problem concerning the occupied land have
been resolved, there will be peace soon.
If there are some West Bank land that once was kingdom of
Judah territory, there are territories of modern Israel today which was belong
to the kingdom of Samaria. So, if it is considered a land exchange, the unrest
in Palestine land can be resolved quickly. Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers
can return to their homeland in Judah (the state of Israel today), and peace
will come true soon.
Actually It is not necesary for the Judeans to have a
headache thinking the land of Samaria. The Samaritans have had a new Promised
Land in Afghanistan and Kashmir. In fact, their New Promised Land is much
greater and more fertile than the Old Promised Land in Palestine. Thus, The
Judeans no longer need to shed blood for the land of Samaria. The Samaritans
were already getting to the new Promised Land in Afghanistan and Kashmir. And
you can call the two countries as New Canaan. New Canaan of the tribes of
Samaria. No more Sargon, no Pharaoh in the new land. As northern Kashmir, which
belongs to Pakistan, indeed for thousands of years is a very peaceful country.
While southern Kashmir, before the partition of India and Pakistan, for
thousand years also in a peaceful and serene condition. And if someday India
and Pakistan can be reconciled, then the entire land of Kashmir, both Northen
and Southern part, will be called the Valley of Peace again. New Canaan, a
peaceful and secure country which is reflected by the serene and beautiful
scene of Lake Dal.
Malang-East Java, March 25, 2006
