January 26, 2016
West Bank, Judea and Samaria, or Yehuda and Ephraim:
How was the name Judea and Samaria defined?
A few days ago, Brigadier General (res.) Ephraim Lapid asked us when the name of the "West Bank" was changed to "Judea and Samaria"? As a result, we embarked on a small study.
During the Six-Day War, the IDF took control of the western part of the Kingdom of Jordan, that area west of the Jordan River, officially named by the Jordanians as "the West Bank" [after its 'annexation'] [and see text here].
On June 7, 1967, Major General Haim Herzog was appointed commander of IDF forces in the region The West Bank, which was held by the IDF (and then completed his term as the national radio announcer.) This area also included East Jerusalem before the decision to unify it with West Jerusalem (June 28, 1967). A week later, Herzog finished his position and his powers were transferred to Major General Central Command Uzi Narkis.
However, some Israelis were uncomfortable with the use of the name "West Bank" because the name testified to the acceptance of Jordanian rule in this area - although almost all the countries of the world refused to recognize de jure Jordanian rule in that area. A study of the "Historical Jewish Press" website (which does not include the newspapers Haaretz [now, yes] and Yedioth Ahronoth) shows that from the end of August 1967, the phrase "Judea and Samaria" began to penetrate the public discourse, for example an article by Hannah Zemer in Davar of September 8. [I found one in LaMerchav on August 25; and on July 11, 1948, Maariv, quoting Reuters, complained about Glubb Pasha taking over the hills of "Judea and Samaria"] On December 27, 1967, Davar reported the appointment of Col. Rehavia Vardi as Commander of the Judea and Samaria Region, in which, from June 1967 until December 1967, the term "Judea and Samaria" was mentioned 22 times, while the phrase "West Bank" was mentioned 1,121 times in the first half of 1968 [at least]. The references to "Judea and Samaria" rose to 75 times, while references to the "West Bank" dropped to 202 times.
On February 5, 1968, MK Eliezer Shostak, a member of the "Free Center" faction that advocated the idea of a "Greater Israel," tabled a parliamentary question in which he protested the use of the term "West Bank" and not "Judea and Samaria" by government ministers and spokesmen. Eshkol replied: "The official name used by government ministries and the IDF is Judea and Samaria. It is difficult for me to enter into historical research, ... or to enter into gynecology - how the name 'West Bank' was born"("Divrei HaKnesset ", p. 915-914). The Minister of Defense, Moshe Dayan, stated the next day: "I do not imagine that it is possible to remove from the sphere of connection of the Jewish people in their homeland the same areas of Judea and Samaria that were the cradle of the Jewish people" (Davar, 7.2.1968).
Dr. Haim Gavriahu, chairman of the Bible Research Society and former head of the Bible Lectures at David Ben-Gurion's home, appealed the name "Judea and Samaria" on the grounds that the person who gave the area the name Shomron was the Assyrians and appealed to Dayan to adopt "and Ephraim". As a result, on May 23, Dayan approached the government secretary, Yael Uzai, and asked the government to discuss the matter (this document and the other documents in this post are taken from file 6432/30). Eshkol apparently was not enthusiastic about bringing the matter up for discussion in the government plenum for fear that such a discussion would ignite a dispute between the ministers. He therefore instructed Ozai to consult with the Rector of the Hebrew University, Professor Nathan Rotenstreich, who replied that he intended to discuss this with Prof. Benjamin Mazar. On July 9, Rotenstreich replied that Mazar recommended using the term "Judea and Samaria" because the person who gave the area the name "Samaria" was king Omri
and Uzai gave the answer to Dayan and added that the matter would be referred to the government Names Committee. Dayan agreed to transfer the matter to the Government Names Committee, provided that it did not delay its decision. It should be noted that the geographer Professor David Amiran also objected to the name "Yehuda and Ephraim" and addressed Eshkol on this issue - while apologizing to his office manager Aviad Yaffe for disturbing the Prime Minister.
Following the receipt of Mazar's opinion, Uzai turned to Dr. Avraham Biran, chairman of the Government Names Committee. On July 22, 1968, committee coordinator Reuven Alkalai replied that the committee had determined that the area would be called "Judea and Samaria". Uzai distributed the information to Aviad Yaffe and Shlomo Shlomo Gazit from the Defense Ministry. Alkalai also distributed the decision to the Government Press Office. The newspaper Ma'ariv also reported this on July 28. On July 30, Aviad Yaffe announced to Yael Ozai that the prime minister had authorized the publication of the committee's decision. The next day, Yafe sent a letter to Prof. Amiran in which he reported to him that the Government Names Committee had decided to accept the name "Judea and Samaria".
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P.S.
I found, in a letter to the editor expressing wishes for the New Year published in Herut, October 7, 1951, the term "Judea and Samaria:
reading "and a day will yet come, and we will again break through eastward, and we'll ascend the hills and mountains, and again lights will be lit on the New Year on the hills of Judea and Samaria..."
P.P.S. The 1946 Palestine Survey notes "Samaria" as an administrative district.
More mentions there of "Judea and Samaria" and not one of "West Bank":
There was, however, a "Western Palestine" (meaning Eastern Palestine was the other part of the same country)
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2 comments:
"Western Palestine" isn't the same as "the West Bank", though: it corresponds to what is now Israel, not just the area near the Jordan River.
My point was:
there was a "Palestine".
It was first a general region outh of Syria along the coast.
It then became, in Latin, the name the Romans decided would replace "Judaea", the country they conquered.
It extended to both sides of the Jordan River.
That was well known and the 19th century and many others attest to that.
"The West Bank" however, was historically unknown until 1950. It never existed and there was no such geographical nor geopolitical unit as such.
Therefore, to today call an area as the "West Bank" is to lie and ignor history, political documents and,, ultimately, the resident Arabs own conceptualization into the 1930s that there were Southern Syrians and "Palestine" was a fiction of the British and was but Southern Syria and should be united with the French Mandate over Syria to be come "Greater Syria".
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