What’s In a Name?

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) has drawn some fire as a result of his legislative initiative in proposing the “Retiring the Egregious Confusion Over the Genuine Name of Israel’s Zone of Influence by Necessitating Government-Use of Judea and Samaria Act”—for short, the Recognizing Judea and Samaria Bill. In essence, it requires all official U.S. documents and materials to use the historically accurate term “Judea and Samaria” instead of the “West Bank.” Moreover, it calls the term “West Bank” as language that is “politically charged.”

Writing last month in the New Republic, Hafiz Rashid, a journalism graduate at the University of Maryland, noted that Cotton is soon to assume the chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairmanship and pushed speculation theories that Republicans will be supporting Jerusalem’s plans “to annex the West Bank” with American backing. Rashid added that this and other steps are part of a plot “to ignore Palestinians.”

Read Full Article »