A Senate Bill to Bring Back ‘Judea and Samaria’ to Replace ‘West Bank
Peloni: I am so grateful to Sen. Cotton and his allies for bringing this subject to the fore and acting with a sense of historical prudence in striking the pejorative term of “West Bank” from American documents. This term lies pregnant with the falsity that Judea and Samaria are not Jewish Lands, that Jews have no right to live there, and that they will one day be divested from Israel for yet another attempt to placate the Pals. None of these implications are true, fair or defensible. The reconstituted state of Israel has the only right to these lands which were stolen from the Jews in both ancient and modern times, while the indigenous rights to these lands continue to belong to the Jewish people alone. Hence, it is a welcome sight to see the rise of the Republican legislative majority come to be coincident with the bi-partisan recognition of the truth that there is no West Bank, and never will be again.
By | Feb 2, 2025
In 135 A.D., following the suppression of the revolt by the Maccabees, the Roman overlords of what was then called Judaea decided to change its name to “Syria Palaestina” — “Syria of the Philistines” — which was then shortened to “Palestine.” The Romans wanted to efface, through a change of toponym, the connection of the Jews to the land that was made obvious in the place name “Judaea.” They also attempted to change the name “Jerusalem” to “Aelia Capitolina” but, unlike “Palestine,” that place name never caught on.
