US Republicans Push to Replace ‘West Bank’ with Judea and Samaria
Republicans push to rename the West Bank in U.S. documents, while Trump hints at an annexation decision.
Republican lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives have introduced bills to ban the use of the term “West Bank” in U.S. government documents. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump stated that he has not yet taken a position on Israel’s annexation of the West Bank.
According to The New York Times, the proposed legislation seeks to replace “West Bank” with “Judea and Samaria,” the biblical term for the area, as part of an effort to bolster and support Israel’s claim to the territories it occupied during the 1967 war.
The newspaper quoted Congresswoman Claudia Tenney as saying that “a number of lawmakers have decided to establish the ‘Friends of Judea and Samaria Caucus’ in Congress to promote policies that support Israel’s plans to control the land.”
Senator Tom Cotton also issued a statement on the legislation, asserting that “the legal and historical rights of the Jewish people to Judea and Samaria go back thousands of years.” He called on the U.S. to “stop using the politically charged term ‘West Bank.’”
Trump’s Position
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump stated that he is considering Israel’s annexation of the West Bank but has not yet made a decision.
During a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump was asked whether he would support Israel’s annexation of the West Bank. He responded, “An announcement on this issue may come sometime in the next four weeks.”
A few days earlier, Trump had declined to answer a journalist’s question about whether he supported Israel’s potential annexation of parts of the West Bank. However, he remarked that Israel is “a very tiny piece of land.”
Using an analogy, he compared the size of his desk to a large table and placed a pen at its edge, saying, “My desk represents the Middle East, and this pen is Israel. That’s not good, right? You see, it’s a very big difference.”
He added, “The comparison I made is very accurate. In reality, it’s a very small piece of land, and what they’ve managed to achieve is amazing. When you think about it, there’s a lot of good, smart mental power involved, but it’s still a very tiny piece of land.”
On his first day back at the White House, Trump rescinded an executive order issued by his predecessor, Joe Biden, which had imposed sanctions on “extremist Jewish settlers who threaten security in the West Bank.”
Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli military and settlers have escalated their attacks in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. According to official Palestinian sources, these attacks have resulted in the deaths of 905 Palestinians, the injury of approximately 7,000 others, and the arrest of 14,300 individuals.
In recent months, several ministers in the Israeli government, including Netanyahu himself, have openly expressed their intention to annex the West Bank, which has been under Israeli occupation since 1967.
