How the international debate over Judea and Samaria often ignores the expulsion of Jewish communities between 1948 and 1967

Imagine telling the descendants of Jews expelled from Jerusalem’s Old City that they are foreign colonizers. Imagine telling the grandchildren of families driven from Gush Etzion that they have no right to rebuild the communities their grandparents lost.  Imagine telling Jews that living in Hebron—the city of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah—makes them settlers in their own history.

Most people would instinctively recognize the contradiction. Yet that is precisely where much of the international conversation surrounding Judea and Samaria now finds itself.

Western governments increasingly threaten sanctions against Jews living in these areas. The justification is typically framed as preserving land for a future Palestinian state.

Perhaps, but before discussing what may one day exist, it is worth remembering what once did.

Because before there were settlements, there were expulsions.

The modern conversation about Judea and Samaria often begins in 1967. That is convenient. It allows people to discuss Jewish communities without discussing why many of those communities had to be rebuilt in the first place.

In 1948, Jordan’s Arab Legion captured eastern Jerusalem and much of Judea and Samaria. The Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem fell. Its residents were expelled. Ancient synagogues were destroyed, looted, or left in ruins. The communities of Gush Etzion were overrun. Their........

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