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I ask then, did God reject his people?  May it never be!

Rom. 11:1(a)

Whose Land Is It?

Introduction

The georaphical area now known as Israel and the West Bank, formely, for many centuries, known as Palestine, has, since the beginning of the First World War, been the center of conflict between Jews and Arabs with the controversy of rightful ownership of the land at the heart of the dispute.
The Arabs claim the land as their own based upon their continued occupancy and upon letters, known as the 'Hussein - McMohan correspondence' (1915-1916), which, according to their interpretation, promised all of Arabia, including what was then known as Palestine to the Arabs in exchange for Arab support in the Allied war effort against Germany and Turkey.
The Jews claim to the land is based upon biblical, historical (including a continued, albeit small, Jewish presence since biblical times) and archeological evedinces.
The United Nations, formely the League of Nations, has for more than seventy years been trying to reach a solution that would bring peace and stability to the region - so far without success. The problem at the heart of the conflict still remains unresolved - whose land is it?

Whose Land Is It?

The answer is quite simple and can be found in several places in the Bible:
God said that the land is His:

"'The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; for you are strangers and live as foreigners with me.
Lev. 25:23

And that He gave it as an inheritence, as an everlasting possession to Abram and His descendants through Isaac and Jacob:

In that day The LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your seed I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:
Gen. 15:18

3 Live in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you. For to you, and to your seed, I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. 4 I will multiply your seed as the stars of the sky, and will give to your seed all these lands. In your seed will all the nations of the earth be blessed,
Gen. 26:3-4

9 God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan Aram, and blessed him. 10 God said to him, "Your name is Jacob. Your name shall not be Jacob any more, but your name will be Israel." He named him Israel. 11 God said to him, "I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations will be from you, and kings will come out of your body. 12 The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, and to your seed after you will I give the land."
Gen. 35:9-12

8 He has remembered his covenant forever,
The word which he commanded to a thousand generations,
9 The covenant which he made with Abraham,
His oath to Isaac,
10 And confirmed the same to Jacob for a statute;
To Israel for an everlasting covenant,
11 Saying, "To you I will give the land of Canaan,
The lot of your inheritance;"
Ps. 105:8-11

It can be plainly seen that God gave the land to the Jewish people as an everlasting possession. It is also important to understand that the land was given on the basis of an unconditional covenant made on behalf of, rather than strictly with, Abram and his descdendants. This can be seen in Genesis chapter fifteen:

9 He said to him, "Take me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon." 10 He took him all these, and divided them in the middle, and laid each half opposite the other; but he didn't divide the birds. 11 The birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

12 When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. Now terror and great darkness fell on him. 13 He said to Abram, "Know for sure that your seed will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years. 14 I will also judge that nation, whom they will serve. Afterward they will come out with great substance. 15 But you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried in a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full." 17 It came to pass that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 In that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:
Gen. 15:9-18

Notice how 'a deep sleep fell on Abram', v. 12. The terms of the covenant were then recited, vs. 13-16, and then the covenant was sealed with the flaming torch passing between the animal carcasses, v. 17 (the implication being that they were consumed thus sealing the covenant). When the covenant was being made Abram was fast asleep! God made the covenant with Himself on behalf of Abram - therefore Abram (also his descendants after him) could never break the covenant as the covenant was made without his actual participation; that, therefore is why it is referred to as 'an everlasting covenant' (Ps. 105:10).

Why did God choose Israel and not another nation? He did it for His own glory:

The LORD didn't set his love on you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples:
Deut. 7:7

God chose a people that were small in number so that when He performed His glories and wonders they would know that it was not their own might or power that had made them happen:

11 Beware lest you forget the LORD your God, in not keeping his commandments, and his ordinances, and his statutes, which I command you this day: 12 lest, when you have eaten and are full, and have built goodly houses, and lived therein; 13 and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; 14 then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; 15 who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions, and thirsty ground where was no water; who brought you forth water out of the rock of flint; 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers didn't know; that he might humble you, and that he might prove you, to do you good at your latter end: 17 and lest you say in your heart, My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth.
Deut. 8:11-17

Regardless then of what the United Nations might decide or what the Arabs think or do, according to God the Land of Israel belongs to the Jews as an everlasting possession.

Note: The U.N. documents lean somewhat to the Arab side of the dispute.