"An Alabama lawmaker has pre-filed a bill that would prohibit the use of the term West Bank in all government documents when referring to the Palestinian territory on the Jordan River. HB 81, sponsored by Rep. Mark Gidley, R-Hokes Bluff, would require the area to be referenced by its "historically, biblically, and legally accurate" names of "Judea" and "Samaria." Gidley said in an interview that the change is necessary because the West Bank is left over from the time that Jordan controlled the territory."
"According to the United Nations, Palestine was put under administration from the United Kingdom in 1922 by the League of Nations and served as a "national home for the Jewish people." In 1947, the UN took over decisions about Palestine, which proposed an Arab state and Jewish state. Jordan controlled the part of the region known as the West Bank today. In 1967, Israel took over the West Bank and the Gaza Strip after the Six-Day War."
Representative Mark Gidley pre-filed HB 81 to prohibit use of the term West Bank in Alabama government documents and to require usage of the names Judea and Samaria, described as historically, biblically, and legally accurate. Gidley frames the West Bank as territory remaining from Jordanian control prior to Israeli administration. Similar bills have been filed by conservative lawmakers in Florida, Tennessee, Arkansas and Missouri, and a federal bill was introduced by Sen. Tom Cotton. United Nations records note British administration from 1922, a 1947 partition proposal, Jordanian control of the West Bank, and Israeli control after 1967.
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