Tom Cotton’s Bill to Right a Toponymic Wrong

Peloni:  It would be an enormous victory for the US, and by extension the world, to officially abandon the libel-borne terminology of the “West Bank” which was in fact imposed on these Jewish Lands after being stolen in 1948 and cleansed of its Jewish population.  Continuing the  naming of these lands based upon their presumed connection to Jordan is both dishonest and shameful.

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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.”

December 7, 2024 | 11 Comments »

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  1. PELONI-

    And I have read reports -maybe in Sykes, maybe elsewhere- that at that time it was a small district called “MOAB”, and Amman was merely a police post manned by 2 British and 9 Arab police.

  2. @Edgar

    Read Sykes “Crossroads to Israel”.

    Yes, I agree and highly recommend it, as it provides a highly granular review of the period.

  3. PELONI-

    It was circa 1921-22 when Churchill offered Jordan to Emir Abdullah who’d straggled up as far as Amman during a 10 month journey. His aim was to avenge the insult to his brother Feisal (Lawrence’s friend) who had seized Damascus and declared himself Arab ruler, thus being booted out by the French, whose Mandate it was, within 3 months.

    He was then given Mesopotamia.

    Anyway, Churchill, alarmed as the possible break-down of the always very shaky French- UK alliance, rushed out there in a rickety WW1 Plane and offered the area to Abdullah to stop him “attacking” the French with his 900 bandits.

    Abdullah grabbed it with both hands and feet. …Thus Transjordan, supported by the UK on a yearly pension.

    Read Sykes “Crossroads to Israel”. (he was the son of the Sykes-Picot guy with access to all his papers) A definitive account.

  4. I suggested that a while ago on other sites.
    The people who call themselves “Palestinians”, have and are hijacking Jews’ history and as we all know have zilch to do with Palestine. High time to write the wrong on this issue too.

  5. We need to start with ourselves.
    Make a law in Israel that any one using the term “West-Bank” while referring to Judea and / or Samaria, will be punished for aiding and abating the genocidal enemy.

  6. Few live in my world of the future.

    ALL the jealous goyim will be gone !

    Our solar system will be proud of PLANET IL !

    Imagine ALL EARTHLINGS ARE ISRAELIS !

    AM ISRAEL CHI

    Eddie…..aka…..tzvi

  7. Wonder how many Jewish Democrats will go for this.

    Since October 7th not one of the 35 Jews in Congress have left the Democrat Party. Israel means nothing to these Jewish politicians – they would sell out their family and country to keep their place in Congress.

  8. It’s such a shame that considered allies like USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand nonetheless prefer the temporary naming of Judea and Samaria as gospel. Many of their soldiers reached Palestine during WW2 and should know better. I prefer not to mention the elephant. It’s probably their fault.