Excellent

Submitted by Zahava Englard (United States), Jan 5, 2005 at 10:50

Excellent article on the case for semantics in the Arab and Israeli conflict. Your article, however, would even carry more weight, if you would use the correct terms of Judea and Samaria when refering to the so-called "West Bank". By using the term, "West Bank", a name invented by Jordan in 1953, it implies that the territory in question is the West Bank of the Kingdom of Jordan. Judea and Samaria, however, has historically always been the very heartland of the Land of Israel and was never part of the Kingdom of Jordan, or what was known earlier as TransJordan. TransJordan, as you know, was wrongfully carved out of the biblical Land of Israel that was slated for a Jewish homeland as promised in the 1917 British agreement to the Jewish people (Balfour Declaration).
Jerusalem, Hevron, Gush Etzion, is all part of Judea. Shchem, Israel's first capital,where our Mishkan stood for 369 years is in Samaria. These land contain the roots of our nation and it is imperative that we accord them their respected names- Yehuda (Judea) and Shomron (Samaria).

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Daniel Pipes replies:

I use the term "West Bank" because it is the term of art for the area you describe; Judea and Samaria are vague approximations of it.

DP