Early in the second century A.D., the place name of the Roman province called “Judaea” was changed to “Syria Palaestina” (Syria of the Philistines), or “Palestine.” This was done in an obvious attempt to efface the Jewish connection to the land. “Palestine” stuck, but another change the Romans put in place — to rename the site where Jerusalem, by then razed to the ground, had stood — as “Aelia Capitolina,” did not.
Fast forward to 1950, and the Jordanians, who had seized much of Judea and Samaria in the 1948 war, similarly to the Romans wanted to end the use of those toponyms, redolent of Jewish history, that had been used not just by the Jews, but by the entire Western world for several millennia. In 1950 they came up with the absurd place name “West Bank.” For reasons that are unclear, that term stuck, and the terms “Judea and Samaria” began to be described as the “Biblical terms” that only wild-eyed Israelis used. Few pointed out that until 1950, “Judea and Samaria” had been in use all over the Western world, and the toponym “West Bank” had been newly fabricated by Jordan to replace those place names so obviously connected to the Jews.
Now Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas has introduced a bill in the Senate to put back into use by the American government the place names “Judea” and “Samaria,” and to put paid to the term “West Bank.” A discussion of his bill can be found here: “Senator Tom Cotton introduces bill to replace ‘West Bank’ with ‘Judea and Samaria,'” Jerusalem Post, December 5, 2024:
Senator Tom Cotton (R- Arkansas) introduced legislation to eliminate federal use of the term ‘West Bank,’ according to a statement his office released on Thursday.
“Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) today introduced the Retiring the Egregious Confusion Over the Genuine Name of Israel’s Zone of Influence by Necessitating Government-use of Judea and Samaria (RECOGNIZING Judea and Samaria) Act, legislation to require all official US documents and materials to use the historically accurate term ‘Judea and Samaria’ instead of the ‘West Bank,” the statement read.
“The Jewish people’s legal and historic rights to Judea and Samaria go back thousands of years. The US should stop using the politically charged term West Bank to refer to the biblical heartland of Israel,” Cotton added.
Judea and Samaria. Judea and Samaria. Judea and Samaria. Keep repeating ad libitum. If you feel a little self-conscious at first, then write “Judea and Samaria (a/k/a the ‘West Bank’).” If enough people do it, enough of the time, eventually those venerable toponyms will be escorted triumphantly back into common usage, and will prevail. After all, no one has any trouble using the term “Gaza,” which is just as redolent of Jewish history as “Judea” and “Samaria.”
40 rounds says
Take it further in US: change Denali back to Mt McKinley and little bighorn battlefield back to Custer battlefield –just a start
somehistory says
Native Americans want the nfl guys to change back to the Redskins.
Changing names which have been in use for centuries (or even just decades) is a way of forcing control, of displaying power.
40 rounds says
Agreed but it’s always white liberals who have to meddle
terry says
These rightly called ‘meddlers’, reap from the criminal classes of world wide rulers great benefits. Globalism for their ruling cronies, organized under Marxist ideologies, and enforced by Islam: great vision of hell on earth! But paradise for twisted perverts to lord it over their chattel.
somehistory says
Good for Senator Cotton. A couple of days ago, there was a headline…which didn’t make much sense (it was derogatory)…and a photo of Senator Cotton. No time at that time to read it, and it quickly disappeared.
Any time someone like Sen. Cotton does something good, the naysayers, the wicked and evil come out to mock and lie.
How many others in the government will go along and get the Act passed?
40 rounds says
Because, you know, he’s from Arkansas
somehistory says
One of the few people in government whom I respect.
James Lincoln says
Judea and Samaria
Judea and Samaria
Judea and Samaria
NOT “West Bank”
NOT “West Bank”
NOT “West Bank”…
James Hoagland says
For the author: I take my lead to make this comment from Phantom Nation by Sha’i ben Tekoa:
you wrote “Fast forward to 1950, and the Jordanians, who had seized much of Judea and Samaria in the 1948 war, similarly to the Romans wanted to end the use of those toponyms, redolent of Jewish history, that had been used not just by the Jews, but by the entire Western world for several millennia. In 1950 they came up with the absurd place name “West Bank.” For reasons that are unclear,….”
reasons being that they had no ties to the land. Only that they aim to deny Jews our rightful place in history and generally in life! That should not be unclear.
James Hoagland says
Just add a big THANK YOU to the senator for making this move. This is a key element in the false narratives about Israel.
Tom Washburn says
Prepositions! You can’t be “in” the west bank. You can only be “on” the west bank. If you ever use the term “West Bank”, always complete the factual term by saying “The West Bank of the Jordan River”. That gives people a picture of a small sliver of land on the edge of the river. In the meantime … to be consistent … we should stop using the terms Syria and Jordan and call them the East Bank!
Kepha says
I like Sen. Cotton; and personally use ‘Eretz Yisroel or Holy Land rather than Palestine. However, I see the Senator’s proposal as a case of barking up the wrong tree (akin, perhaps, to the feminist campaign to end pronoun agreement).
I object to the idea that there is somehow some age-old “Palestinian” nation with a “proud, independent past” (Pfthhhhhhffffllllk! 放屁的声音) rather than a succession of peoples passing through and inhabiting an area once called Canaan and then called the Land of Israel. But, in the usages of western peoples, the term “Palestine” has been there ever since the Romans.