PROFESSOR MORDECHAI COGAN of the Hebrew University debates scriptural precedents with the anti-disengagement people.

King Solomon gave land away (Ha'aretz)
By Mordechai Cogan

In discussing the legality of the disengagement from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank, opponents of the move are enlisting verses from the Tanach - according to which God promised the Land of Canaan to the Israelites - and pointing to the fact that those same areas that are about to be evacuated are included in this promise. In addition, the rabbis of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip warn that din torah (a rabbinical legal decision) prohibits the handing over of parts of Eretz Israel to non-Jews.

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King Solomon transferred "20 cities in the land of the Galilee" to Hiram King of Tyre (1 Kings 9:11-13), apparently in order to erase the debt he owed Hiram for his assistance in building the Temple. These were 20 cities with their land and their inhabitants - the entire Acre Valley up to Rosh Hanikra, which became the property of the Phoenicians. This was recorded in the Tanach without any criticism on the part of the writer of the chronicles of Solomon, and the explanation for that is clear: There is no prohibition whatsoever in the Torah against handing over territories to someone who is not a member of the Israelite nation. The ownership of territories in Eretz Israel by the Jewish nation has always reflected the political and military circumstances of the period.

And if we are discussing the boundaries of the Promised Land, we should take note of the southern boundary of that same detailed map in the Book of Numbers. The line stretches from "the outmost coast of the Dead Sea eastward. And your border shall turn from the Negev to Ma'aleh Aqrabbim and pass on to Zin, and its limits shall be from the south to Kadesh Barnea, and shall go on to Hazar-Addar, and pass on to Azmon. And the border shall turn about from Azmon to the wadi of Egypt, and its limits shall be at the sea." That means that most of the Negev south of Be'er Sheva is not included in the estate of our forefathers. Moses explained that this piece of land, which is called the Land of Edom, belongs to the children of Esau, and by God's order, "meddle not with them, for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot's breadth; because I have given Mount Se'ir to Esau for a possession" (Deuteronomy 2:5).

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It's interesting to note that the story in 1 Kings of Solomon's transfer of the cities to Tyre didn't go down well later on. The Chronicler changed it to "Huram" (Hiram) giving cities to Solomon (2 Chron 8:2: "Solomon rebuilt the cities which Huram had given to him, and settled the people of Israel in them").

From a historian's perspective, it's not at all clear how early any of the passages cited by Professor Cogan are. Nevertheless, if some want to argue against disengagement on the basis of the Bible, it's fair game for him to show that the biblical picture is more complicated.