Republican controlled states agreed to advance a law compelling the use of the term "Judea and Samaria" to replace the "West Bank" in official documents after Arkansas legislated such a bill last month.
The initiative was advanced by a West Bank settlement regional council leader Yossi Dagan as part of a move to convince U.S. President Donald Trump to support Israeli annexation of the area.
2 View gallery
Prime Minister Netanyahu with former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman examining a map of the West Bank
(Photo: U.S. Embassy)
Utah, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Idaho, Iowa and Oklahoma were considering the bill that would include declaring the West Bank as the biblical cradle of the Jewish people and the therefore it could not be considered occupied territory.
Get the Ynetnews app on your smartphone: Google Play: https://bit.ly/4eJ37pE | Apple App Store: https://bit.ly/3ZL7iNv
A similar initiative to pass a federal bill was also underway. Brian Mast, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, recently said that the committee would adopt the historic names.
The state legislators announced their decision after meeting Dagan at the annual conference of The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). After Dagan addressed the conference, ALEC unanimously decided to accept the legislation.
Dagan said the aim was to advance a bill that would reflect historic justice and that his mission was to extend Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank, "the land of the bible."