Whose land is it really

Professor at San Diego University attempts to prove that Israel belongs to the Jews.

By WERNER ORDER
Map 521 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Map 521
(photo credit: Courtesy)
On June 03, 2004 Assistant Professor at the Department of Religious Studies at San Diego State University Prof. Khaleel Mohammed declared that Israel belongs to the Jews. This is somewhat unusual, since Prof.
Mohammed is a Muslim! He said: “The Qur’an Chapter 5:20-21 states quite clearly: Moses said to his people: O my people! Remember the bounty of God upon you when He bestowed prophets upon you, and made you kings and gave you that which had not been given to anyone before you among the nations. O my people! Enter the Holy Land which God has written for you, and do not turn tail, otherwise you will be losers.”
He went on to quote one of Islam’s most famous exegetes, Ibn Kathir (d. 774/1373), who explained the term “written” thus: “That which God has written for you” i.e. that which God has promised to you by the words of your father Israel that it is the inheritance of those among you who believe.”
“The thrust of my analysis” said Mohammed, “is where Moses says that the Holy Land is that which God has “written” for the Israelites. In both Jewish and Islamic understandings of the term ‘written,’ there is the meaning of finality, decisiveness and immutability.”
(I only wish that the Archbishop of Canterbury was as clear as that Muslim cleric! Maybe we should get Professor Mohammed to speak to the churches in the West; he could dispel their confusion as to who has the right to the Land of Israel.) What is fascinating is the Muslim exposition of the term “written.” When God appeared to Abram He said: “To your offspring [or seed] I will give this land (Genesis 12:7).
What He verbally said earlier God later confirmed in writing through the scribes who wrote the Bible: “I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you’”(Genesis 48:4). There God confirmed in black on white that His promises and covenants are eternal.
Jesus reiterated this in Matthew 24:35 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”
In other words, God’s writings have a finality, decisiveness and immutability when it comes to the Land of Israel. It has been written over, deeded by Divine covenant to Israel.
Written for the Israelites in the Bible, and on their hearts. Every Jew carries in his heart God’s invisible and undeniable promise of their homeland. For millennia they lamented in exile, weeping “by the rivers of Babylon” and declaring: “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither.” (Psalm 137) For thousands of years, at the end of their Yom Kippur Service, they proclaimed in every corner of the world, across centuries of mistreatment and persecution: “Next Year in Jerusalem!”
God had “written” for them the land in the Bible, on their hearts and even, it seems , on their land! This satellite photograph is said to show the valley configuration between Ramalla, Bet-El and Ai like a giant stamp that seems to reveal the Name of YHWH!
An Arab Christian was asked by an aggressive Jewish journalist: “Who do you think owns this land – Jews or Arabs?”
 “I was born to hate Jews. I was taught from birth that this land was ours and we should take it back at any cost. Then Jesus Christ, the Jewish Messiah and Saviour of the world, entered my heart. Since that time I no longer quibble over the rocks and sand. I am merely a pilgrim passing through, on my way to a new home prepared for me beyond the Jordan. This is not my land or yours; it is God’s.”
Werner Oder is the son of an Austrian Nazi SS officer. After his deliverance from anti-Semitism he became the pastor of www.tucktonchristiancentre.co.uk – a congregation that loves and supports Israel.