Glimpses of Israel - The West Bank

by Joseph Hunting

The hotly disputed territory known as the West Bank is an area that extends along the west bank of the river Jordan including a portion of the western shores of the Dead Sea.

During the nineteen years between 1948 and 1967 when Jordan annexed the West Bank it included almost all of the ancient high and holy places of Israel in Bible times. These included Hebron wherein is the tomb of the Patriarchs, the Old City of Jerusalem which included Mount Zion and Mount Moriah, the Mount of Olives with its thousands of Jewish tombs, Bethlehem, the City of David, Shiloh, Bethel, Mounts Ebal and Gerizim, Shechem, Samaria and many other places too numerous to mention.

Ezekiel makes an interesting prophecy that may well refer to this period: "Thus saith the Lord God; Because the enemy hath said against you, Aha, even the ancient high places are ours in possession ... Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen ( nations), and against all Idumea (modern Jordan), which have appointed my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey." (Ezekiel 36:2 and 5).

In 1967 the West Bank including the most holy of all Israel's ancient high places in the Old City of Jerusalem reverted back to the State of Israel. Ezekiel makes a further prophecy that could well be the blueprint for Israel's plans for development in this area. "But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel, for they are at hand to come. For, behold, I am for you and will turn unto you and ye shall be tilled and sown. And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be builded." (Ezekiel 36:8-10)

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