Southern Lebanon is actually northern Israel - opinion

As the IDF battles to clear southern Lebanon of Hezbollah terrorists, it is worth highlighting an intriguing historical fact, one that many seem to have forgotten.

Having grown up with an international boundary between the Jewish state and our neighbors to the north, we take it for granted that this is how it has always been and should be.

But the truth is that the current border between Israel and Lebanon is little more than a century old and is entirely artificial, a relic of a time when European colonialists whimsically drew lines on maps over a bottle of brandy in smoke-filled rooms.

Historically speaking, southern Lebanon is in fact northern Israel, and the roots of the Jewish people in the area run deep. Whether or not this can or should be translated now into a political reality is a far more complex question, but there is simply no denying our connection to the land.

Indeed, back in biblical times, southern Lebanon was clearly part of the Land of Israel. In the Book of Genesis (10:19) it says, “and the borders of Canaan reached from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Tsevoyim as far as Lasha.” Sidon, a city in Lebanon, is about halfway between the current Israeli border and Beirut.

Just prior to his death, our biblical patriarch Jacob blessed his 12 sons, and the blessing he gave to Zevulun was “Zevulun will live by the seashore and become a haven for ships; his border will extend toward Sidon” (Genesis 49:13).

The Book of Joshua (13:6) mentions Sidon explicitly as being promised to the Jewish people, and it also says (19:28) that the border of the tribe of Asher extended to Sidon.

INTERESTINGLY, THE midrash in Bereishit Rabbah (39:8) says it was in Tyre, a city now 12 miles (19 kilometers) north of the Israeli border, that God promised the Land of Israel to Abraham. 

The midrash quotes Rabbi Levi, who said, “When Abraham was traveling through Aram Naharayim and Aram Nahor, he saw them eating, drinking, and reveling. He said: ‘Would that my portion not be in this land.’ When he reached the Promontory of Tyre, he saw them engaged in weeding at the time of weeding, hoeing at the time of hoeing. He said: ‘Would that my portion be in this land.’ The Holy One blessed be He said to him: ‘To your descendants I will give this land’” (Genesis 12:7).

Further evidence of the Jewish link to the area can be found in the various holy sites and tombs of the righteous in southern Lebanon.

The most well-known is the Tomb of Zevulun in Sidon, which for centuries was a place of pilgrimage for Jews from throughout the region and beyond.

In the 16th century, Italian rabbi Moshe Basola visited the tomb and wrote about it, and in the middle of the 18th century, Rabbi Yosef Sofer said that families would gather and hold festive meals adjacent to it. Rabbi Natan of Breslov described having an uplifting spiritual experience at Zevulun’s Tomb; and when Sir Moses Montefiore visited Israel in the 19th century, he also traveled to see it.

THE TOMB of another biblical figure, Oholiav ben Ahisamakh, who assisted Bezalel in constructing the Tabernacle in the desert, is located in the village of Sojoud in southern Lebanon.

According to Israeli archaeologist Zvi Ilan, Oholiav’s burial place was an important Jewish pilgrimage site during the Ottoman period. Local Arabs also revered the site and said that it was the tomb of a “Jewish prophet.” As recently as the early 20th century, Jews in Safed used to travel to the tomb to perform the custom of upsherin, a boy’s first haircut, something that nowadays is commonly done in Meron.

Yet another Jewish holy site in southern Lebanon is the tomb of the biblical prophet Zephaniah, which is located in the Lebanese village of Jabal Safi. Some have speculated that the name of the village is derived from the prophet who was buried there.

It should perhaps come as no surprise that one of the oldest synagogues in the world is located in Sidon’s Harat-Al-Yahud, or Jewish Quarter. Built nearly 1,200 years ago in 833, it is believed to have been constructed on the site of an older Jewish house of worship dating back to shortly after the destruction of the Second Temple.

Though no longer in use due to the emigration of most Lebanese Jews during the country’s civil war between 1975 and 1990, it stands as a silent testament to the long-standing Jewish presence in the region.

How was southern Lebanon cut off from Israel?

SO JUST how was southern Lebanon essentially cut off from northern Israel? The origin of this division happened a century ago.

After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Britain and France reached a secret accord in 1916 called the Sykes-Picot Agreement, which effectively divided much of the Middle East into spheres of influence between London and Paris.

Basically, a line was drawn on a map, and it was that scribble which essentially came to serve as the border between Israel and Lebanon as we know it today.

Earlier this year, an Israeli organization called Uri Tsafon (Awaken, O North) was founded with the aim of encouraging Jewish settlement in southern Lebanon, and it has called on the government to act.

While some may view this idea as far-fetched, it is worth remembering that just a century ago, so too was the notion of a sovereign Jewish state.

After all, today’s dreams have a tendency to portend tomorrow’s reality. Especially in the Middle East.

The writer served as deputy communications director under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.