West Bank or Judea and Samaria?

This article reprinted from Israelnow.blogspot.com

One of the biggest distortions that have ever emerged during the Arab Israeli conflict is terminology that has been used on lands, people and so forth. For example Arabs became Palestinians, Judea and Samaria became West Bank, Israel became Palestine, Arab Israeli conflict became Israeli Palestinian conflict and the list continues. All of those distortions deserve their own articles, but here I want to zoom only into the so called the West Bank.

The British Mandate that was established on the ruins of the Ottoman Empire after the World War I, incorporated present day Jordan and Israel under one name Palestinian Mandate. It was supposed to become the home of both Jews and Arabs; Arabs to the east of the Jordan River and Jews to the west. Clearly we have two states Arab and Jewish states side by side. Let me make myself clear that present day Jordan is the first Arab (Palestinian) state. The Balfour Declaration was forged in 1920’s, as we all know that series of events took place between 1920’s and 1947 U.N. Partition Plan among them World War II and Holocaust.

Jewish people were desperate for their own land and were ready to agree to almost anything offered. After independence of Israel was proclaimed Arab bloc unsuccessfully attacked 650,000 Jewish inhabitants of new state. Even though the Jewish State survived this attack the Arabs in Gaza and Judea and Samaria were occupied by Egypt and Jordan respectively before they ever announced their statehood. Now we have Egypt and Jordan who occupied those lands, and guess what none of the Arabs (Palestinians) committed suicide on Jordan or Egyptian lands so they could liberate their so called Palestine.

In 1967, the Six Day War erupted where Arabs once again unsuccessfully tried to annihilate Jews. This time only unlike in 1948 Israeli army was able to conquer vast amount of territory including Judea and Samaria. One would think judging from history that when you are attacked and you win the war you would be able to keep that conquered lands. Like it happened during WWI and WWII, Russia still to this day owns parts of Japan, China, and Germany. France owned Rhinehart that belonged to Germany before WWI. United States still owns part of Mexican territory (Texas, California, Colorado, Utah, Arizona) has anyone seen Mexican suicide bomber? Would France, Russia, or U.S.A. surrender those lands because once upon time they were under control of certain entity? The answer is no. Understanding that Arabs have lost even Judea and Samaria they had to rethink their strategy which brought forth the series of distortions that could help break the Jewish connections to those lands. If you get your hands on old maps even before Israel was established you could locate Jerusalem, you could locate Judea on the map. Since there is a connection that can be seen they had to come up with something that would put an end to this link so Arabs called it West Bank, let me tell you something it is one of the biggest banks in the world they should record it in the Guinness Record book. (It was a joke) Has anyone seen a bank of the river that was as long as the West Bank or even close to that? There is no such a thing. But to our dismay major news agencies, politicians, even Israeli politicians refer to this land as West Bank not Judea and Samaria because Judea=Descendants of Judah=Jews.

Oh no! That can’t be there was a never Jewish presence here, there were no Jewish Temples, and they just came here from Europe to steal our lands. Quick note Jews outnumbered Arabs in Jerusalem 2 to 3, before major migration from Europe took place. So next time when you hear West Bank please know that it incorporates Hebron (Tombs of the Jewish Patriarchs), East Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and so forth. The proper name for these lands is Judea and Samaria because if we use West Bank we delegitimize the Jewish connection to this important to Jewish existence lands. So what is this West Bank or Judea and Samaria is up to you decide when you will name those lands in your next conversation. For me it is Judea and Samaria.

Mr Bagel:
So when are we going to start calling nthe 'West Bank' (Judea and Samaria) by their historically correct names?? The expression West Bank should have no place in our daily discussions and certainly should not be used within Israel's media. The arabs are masters of distortion let us not help them in their process.

References:
Israel Act Now: West Bank or Judea and Samaria

Further Reading:
Palestine Facts: Early History Judea and Samaria

Hattip: thanks to 'Jewish Refugee' for the writing of this article
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