Israeli Knesset Votes Overwhelmingly to Apply Sovereignty to Judea and Samaria

The areas also referred to as the West Bank. The votes is non-binding, but it is an indicator of a course and a direction that Israel—at least under this government—is heading. From the Knesset’s statement: In the vote, 71 Members of Knesset voted in favor of the declaration, versus 13 who opposed it. Speaker of the Knesset MK Amir Ohana (Likud): “The Knesset has made a historic declaration that supports the application of Israeli sovereignty over the homeland regions of Judea and Samaria. It is a great privilege to be the Speaker of the Knesset who says in a firm voice—this is our land and this is our home. Eretz Israel belongs to the people of Israel. In 1967 the occupation did not start, it ended. That is the historical truth, and the one and only way to reach genuine peace is from [a position of] power. We are here to stay, and the Knesset has said this by a large majority” …. Following is the wording of the proposed summary statement sponsored by the Likud, Shas, Religious Zionism, Otzma Yehudit, Yisrael Beitenu, New Hope—The United Right, Noam and MK Idan Roll: “Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley are an inseparable part of Eretz Israel—the historical, cultural and spiritual homeland of the Jewish people. Hundreds and thousands of years before the state’s establishment, the forefathers and the prophets of the nation lived and acted in these regions, and the foundations of Jewish culture and faith were laid in them. Cities such as Hebron, Shechem, Shilo and Beit El are not just historical sites, they are a living expression of the continuity of Jewish existence in the land (Knesset).

Finally!

World Israel News: Eight American states are moving forward with bills mandating state agencies refer to territory occupied by Jordan from 1948 through 1967 by its historic and biblical name, highlighting Jewish ties to the area.

According to a report by Yedioth Ahronoth, state legislatures in Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Utah are poised to pass legislation requiring that all official state documents referencing the territory west of the Jordan River but east of the 1949 Armistice Line (the Green Line) be referred to as Judea and Samaria, rather than as the “West Bank.”

Captured by the Arab Legion in 1948 and occupied until 1967 by Jordan, the territory roughly matches the borders of the regions known in the Bible as Judea—representing much of what was once the holdings of the Tribe of Judah—and Samaria, the heartland of the ancient Kingdom of Israel, which split from the southern Jewish kingdom and established its capital in the city of Samaria.

In 1950, however, the Kingdom of Jordan annexed the territory captured in the 1948-49 war, renaming it the “West Bank.”

The terminology of the territory has become politically charged, with Israel retaining the historical name, Judea and Samaria, while most countries have over the years adopted the term “West Bank.”

Supporters of Israel’s settlement enterprise have pushed for a return to the historical terminology, which highlights Jewish ties to the area.

Use of “Judea and Samaria” has gained support on the American Right, with activists at the American Conservative Union’s annual gathering, CPAC, voting in February to endorse a motion endorsing Israeli sovereignty over the area, referring to the “biblical heartland” as “Judea and Samaria.”

Later that month, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee instructed Republican staffers working with the committee to use the term “Judea and Samaria” in place of the term “West Bank.”

House and Senate Republicans, in recent years, have pushed legislative measures to formally replace the term “West Bank” with “Judea and Samaria” in all federal documents.

Yossi Dagan, chairman of the Samaria Regional Council, hailed the decision by legislators from eight US states to refer to the area as Judea and Samaria as a “revolution.”